Cinnamon Stillwell

Ahmadinejad's Academics

2009-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

My latest article for Campus Watch, which is posted today at Frontpage Magazine, takes a look at the changing (and not-so-changing) relationship between Middle East studies academia and contested Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It begins like so:

What a difference a popular uprising makes.

It seems like just yesterday that the Middle East studies establishment was busy defending Iran's theocratic regime and its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the alleged predations of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy. Yet in the wake of the unrest in response to the stolen election, suddenly American academics have succumbed to intellectual honesty and moral clarity. Despite the best efforts of the Iranian regime to drum up conspiracy theories blaming the West for the uprising, the Iranians themselves have taken center stage.

This signals quite a shift. When Ahmadinejad, the supposedly elected leader at the heart of the current crisis in Iran, spoke at Columbia University in September 2007, his appearance was applauded by many academic apologists as a means of "reaching out."

Continue reading "Ahmadinejad's Academics"

The Professor's Obsession

2009-06-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

My latest for Campus Watch; posted at Frontpage Magazine:

Stanford Middle East history professor Joel Beinin's appearances on the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center (PPJC) Palo Alto cable television program "Other Voices" reliably produce anti-American, anti-Israel invective. In September 2008, Beinin declared, "The American empire is going down," and during a taping for the February 2009 show, "Gaza and the Future," he pronounced, "The United States aids and abets Israeli war crimes."

What Beinin labeled Israeli "war crimes" (i.e. defending its citizenry) and U.S. collusion therewith were central to his discussion, as the show aired soon after Israel's military incursion into Gaza in December 2008.

One might have thought Obama's election would make Beinin optimistic about the prospects for weakening U.S. support for Israel, but his mood was decidedly downbeat. Obama, Beinin predicted, would "act like all America presidents" by "pushing U.S. interests with foreign policy." (What country doesn't pursue its own interests with foreign policy?) But, Beinin allowed, if Obama were to simply issue a "statement" telling Israel "it's committing war crimes," "going against U.N resolutions," and that "the U.S. will no longer sell Israel weapons," "the Israel Lobby and AIPAC would crumble." The crowd of mostly aging hippies murmured in agreement.

Continue reading "The Professor's Obsession"

Who Speaks For Islam? Not John Esposito

2009-05-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

Stanford undergraduate and Stanford Review features editor Jonathan Gelbart has written an article for Campus Watch on radical Islam apologist John Esposito's recent appearance at Stanford. The article is posted at Frontpage Magazine and it begins like so:

Georgetown University Professor John Esposito is the media's favorite go-to man for questions about Islam. As the founding director of the Saudi-financed Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown, he is also notorious for downplaying radical Islam. Stanford University hosted his latest round of apologetics on May 13.

Esposito, who spoke at Stanford last year, was on campus to promote the film version of his recent book (co-authored with Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies), Who Speaks For Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. He was joined by the film's executive producer, Muslim convert Michael Wolfe. The 55-minute film claims to present the results of the "largest, most comprehensive study" of Muslim opinion ever done.

Continue reading "Who Speaks For Islam? Not John Esposito"

Whitman's Shampa Biswas: Instigator or Educator?

2009-04-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

My latest at the Campus Watch blog:

Writing at his new blog, The Rubin Report, Gloria Center Director Barry Rubin points to Shampa Biswas, Whitman College Director of Global Studies and associate professor of politics, as an example of the "terrible, anti-democratic, and anti-American ideas" pervading higher education. As demonstrated in a glowing profile at the Whitman College web site and a 2007 convocation address, Biswas is yet another Edward Said acolyte helping to turn the field of Middle East studies (in which she specializes) into a forum for political activism and moral relativism.

Continue reading "Whitman's Shampa Biswas: Instigator or Educator?"

Recommended New Blog: The Rubin Report

2009-04-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Anyone who keeps up on Middle East politics should know about Barry Rubin, Director of the Global Research for International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal (MERIA). Rubin's books, articles, and mailing list have lent expertise, common sense, and wisdom to the complicated morass that is the Middle East. He has been a contributor to the Middle East Quarterly and many of his useful insights into the field of Middle East studies have been reprinted and referenced at Campus Watch.

Now Rubin has started his own blog: The Rubin Report. Here is the GLORIA Center announcement:

Dear readers:

We hope you enjoy getting articles from us and find it useful. We will continue to send out 1-3 articles a week. Many more pieces, which will not be sent out, appear on our http://www.gloria-center.org as does MERIA Journal.

However, since we don't have space for all our writings and also to keep up with the times, I have started a new blog called Rubin Reports at http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/ which contains many additional articles and shorter pieces. You are welcome to visit the blog, subscribe to it, and send out links if you so wish.

Do let me know if you have any questions

Best regards, Barry Rubin, Director,

GLORIA Center

Profbarryrubin@yahoo.com

Rubin's previous work has proven indispensable, and the Rubin Report will doubtless do the same. I recommend it highly.

Cross-posted from the Campus Watch blog.

On Hiatus

2009-03-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

As readers may have noticed, I've been on a blogging hiatus for some time now. Without going further into the details, I'll have to plead to a simple lack of inspiration. I'll post more information soon, but I just wanted to leave some sort of explanation for now. In the meantime, there's plenty in my archives for those who are so inclined.

Rashid Khalidi Gets Caught in a Lie

2009-02-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

My latest at the Campus Watch blog:

Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies, has been caught in a lie. Khalidi concluded a January 8, 2009, op-ed that appeared in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune with the following quote ascribed to former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon:

"The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."

The problem is Ya'alon never made this statement and both publications have since had to excise it from the op-ed and issue corrections

Continue reading "Rashid Khalidi Gets Caught in a Lie"

Benny Morris Defends Israel on NPR

2009-01-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

I've suspected as much for a while, but it's now confirmed: Israeli post-Zionist historian Benny Morris has clearly had a change of heart. His interview today on NPR's "Forum with Michael Krasny" is really worth catching. Much to the consternation of NPR's liberal listenership (who have been indoctrinated by "pro-Palestinian" propaganda), Morris stood up for Israel admirably.

Catch the interview here once it's archived.

Qaddafi Goes to Georgetown

2009-01-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

My latest at the Campus Watch blog:

In yesterday's "Best of the Web" (OpinionJournal.com), James Taranto took the New York Times to task for providing Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi an op-ed platform upon which to wax poetic about his supposed solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Qaddafi is a proponent of the "one-state solution," whereby Israelis and Palestinians are to live together in a single, secular, democratic state he terms "Isratine." He's even written something called the "White Book" outlining his proposal.

{snip}

...Not coincidentally, the one state solution is popular among the Middle East studies establishment, which, by and large, is obsessed with putting an end to the Jewish state. This may explain why Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) hosted a videoconference earlier this week on the very same subject given by none other than Muammar Qaddafi.

Continue reading "Qaddafi Goes to Georgetown"

Hamas's Academic Cheerleaders

2009-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

Those searching for wisdom on Israel's military campaign in Gaza from the leading voices in Middle East studies might want to look elsewhere. The reflexively anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, or in this case, pro-Hamas, viewpoints expressed by many of these "experts" betray the bias afflicting the field.

In my latest Campus Watch article, which was published today at Frontpage Magazine, I provide excerpts from op-eds and interviews with these academics that speak for themselves. Here's a sampling:
"…Hamas is the poor and impoverished representative of a poor and impoverished people. The obscenity of first demonizing Hamas and then blaming it for the vicious war crimes that Israel is perpetrating against Palestinians has now passed any measure of common decency. Hamas is the legitimate and democratically elected representative of Palestinian people - a grassroots organization deeply embedded in and integral to the Palestinian national liberation movement."

Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

"The claim that Hamas will never accept the existence of Israel has proved equally misinformed, as Hamas leaders explicitly announce their intention to do just that in the pages of the Los Angeles Times or to any international leader or journalist who will meet with them."

Mark LeVine, professor of Middle East history, University of California, Irvine

"Hamas is not a monolith…yes, Hamas engages in terrorism, Hamas carries out certain terrorist actions, but Hamas is not just a huge monolith. There are multiple points of view and narratives within Hamas."

Fawaz Gerges, Christian A. Johnson Chairholder in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies, Sarah Lawrence College

"Hamas has been branded a terrorist organization by U.S. and Israel and much of the international community. I think that's very unfortunate…Hamas is first and foremost a deeply rooted political organization with social and cultural and other dimensions to it. It was elected. It has come forward many, many times to negotiate a truce with Israel, including recently…"

Beshara Doumani, associate professor of history, University of California, Berkeley

"Hamas is a group that has grassroots backing from the Palestinian people. Hamas has been leading a resistance against a colonial occupation. …I think any resistance against a colonial occupier is justified. …I would defend Hamas as actually, you know, doing practical things to fight Israeli colonialism."

Pranav Jani, assistant professor of English, Ohio State University
To read the entire article, click here.

Arab-Israeli Conflict Plays Out in the West

2008-12-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

Israel's long overdue military response to the daily barrage of Gaza rockets aimed at its citizens has led to the usual round of protest/counter-protest confrontations in the West. Whether it's here in the San Francisco Bay Area or across the United States and Europe, Arab protesters and those on the left who have bought into their false victimhood narrative are enraged. They have directed their hatred and vitriol towards the few pro-Israel counter-protesters who have shown up to counter their monolithic message, and in some cases rioting and violence has ensued.

For the most part, the mainstream media continues to tell only one side of the story and unsurprisingly, it's not the pro-Israel one. (Click here to watch a CBS5 clip on the protest in San Francisco). For those who wish to know the real story, Atlas Shrugs has photos and reports from citizen journalists, the last bastion of truth.

The insanity of blaming a nation for defending its citizens after years of turning the other cheek in the face of a ruthless campaign of violence and in the larger picture, a fanatical and genocidal enemy, is self-evident. And yet it goes on.

Thus it has always been and unfortunately, will likely be. Israel and her defenders must remain firm against a world (with the notable exception of the U.S., Australia and a few others) gone mad.

Update: Israel Matzav reports that "a Palestinian opened fire on a group of Israelis in a supermarket just outside of Copenhagen." There's more at Israel National News.

Update II: Check out Phyllis Chesler's "Gaza Comes to America. Hate Demonstrations Against Israel on the East and West Coasts" at Pajamas Media.

Update III: Past and future congressional candidate and retired Army Ltc. Allen West (who I interviewed in 2007) can be seen among the pro-Israel crowd in Atlas Shrugs' post on "Floridastan," and also here.

Update IV: Richard Landes reports on the latest Pallywood productions over at Augean Stables. He also notes that Hamas is victimizing its own people by not availing itself of Egyptian ambulances, probably for propaganda purposes, just like the fake blackouts and manufactured humanitarian crises.

On a similar note, Palestinian Media Watch has been circulating a video of a Palestinian girl who lost family members in Israeli air strikes blaming the true cause of the violence: Hamas.

And let's not forget the ongoing murder of alleged Gaza "collaborators."

The Christmas Kerfuffle Redux

2008-12-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Time to revisit my 2005 SFGate column on the annual Christmas kerfuffle, that is. With this column (reprinted below), I tried to provide a Jewish, albeit secular, perspective on the ongoing and, in my opinion, needless controversy over Christmas. And last year, I expanded on the subject with a post titled, "Are Jews Oppressed by Christmas?" My answer was a resounding, "No!" Read on...

***

The Christmas Kerfuffle
Cinnamon Stillwell
December 20, 2005

Upon leaving a San Francisco shop last week, I wished the clerk a cheery "Merry Christmas," only to be met with a surly "Happy Holidays" in return. With that simple exchange, our positions at opposite ends of the political spectrum were revealed.

The celebration of Christmas has indeed been overshadowed by politics in recent years, to the point where every greeting is pregnant with meaning. And even non Christians are swept up in the Christmas kerfuffle.

As a member of the Jewish faith, I've never once felt intimidated, bothered or offended by Christmas. In fact, I grew up celebrating Christmas and still do to this day. Not the religious aspects, but rather the festive trappings of the holiday. I also light the menorah candles each year to mark Hanukkah. While this might earn me the disapproval of traditionalists on both sides of the fence, I confess it simply to illustrate that one holiday need not endanger another.

Yet the political battle over Christmas rages on. Conservatives are upset over what has been dubbed the "war on Christmas," while liberals accuse them of overreacting to what is essentially a non-event. But who's right?

Skeptics of the "war on Christmas" narrative often point out that the trappings of Christmas are everywhere. The commercialization of Christmas has led to an onslaught of retail madness in recent years; the evidence is all around us. But the religious underpinnings of Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ), not to mention the actual name of the holiday itself, are at risk of disappearing from the public sphere.

All across the country, city halls, chain stores, and public squares are erecting "holiday trees" in lieu of Christmas trees. Nativity scenes are being banned in town squares, public buildings and even some malls. The singing of Christmas carols such as "Silent Night" in public schools and caroling in public parks and public housing are becoming rarities. Court cases brought by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have taken the clause that never appeared in the constitution to ridiculous levels -- and chipping away at Christmas is just one of the results.

The Wages of Diversity

The retail world has been the focus of much anti-Christmas activity. While profiting from the holiday, many stores seem to feel that specifying Christmas threatens the "inclusiveness" to which they seem to be pledged. A trip to Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears or just about any other department store these days will almost always result in the ubiquitous "Happy Holidays" greeting from employees as you pass through the door.

Target in particular has taken a lot of heat for allegedly eliminating the word "Christmas" from its stores. Although they deny this policy, a brief look around any Target store will prove otherwise. Whether it's the advertising, the store decorations or the favored greetings of employees, "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" has obviously overtaken Christmas. An online petition, signed by over 500,000 shoppers, produced a promise from Target to add more Christmas to the mix as the 25th approaches, but the result remains to be seen.

PC Greetings From the White House

Even President Bush, the supposed leader of a new Christian theocracy (to hear some on the left tell it), seems to have succumbed to the forces of political correctness. The White House recently sent out its Christmas card. But as has been the custom since the Clinton presidency, it was instead a "holiday card." There was nary a mention of the word "Christmas."

The bland holiday card angered many of Bush's supporters, while doing nothing to lessen the president's reputation among liberals as some sort of new pope. So one has to wonder why the White House promulgated a form of self-censorship with little or no reward involved. That Bush is the first president to honor Hanukkah and Ramadan at the White House certainly need not preclude mention of Christmas in the White House holiday card.

The excuse given by the White House for honoring this precedent is that one must be sensitive to the other holidays occurring at the same time of year -- Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and for the few pagans out there, Winter Solstice. But they really have nothing to do with the discussion. The federal holiday that the country is celebrating on the 25th of December is Christmas, period. With the exception of Hanukkah this year, which coincidentally begins on the 25th, that particular date does not belong to any other holiday. So what's wrong with acting accordingly?

Why is it that Christmas is the only holiday that must be downplayed so that other religions feel more "included"? We don't insist on calling the Muslim holiday of Ramadan by any other name, nor do we impose such restrictions on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. In all fairness, we would have to label all religious and cultural occasions "holidays," not just Christmas. I wonder how long it would take for members of other religions to express their outrage? Yet when Christians fight back, as they are now with a concerted campaign to stem the anti-Christmas tide, they are ridiculed or vilified by their opponents.

This double standard when it comes to Christians can be seen in many spheres. A friend was shopping recently in one of those cute little neighborhood stores San Francisco prides itself on when she noticed that the man ringing her up was wearing a T-shirt that read, "So Many Rightwing Christians, So Few Lions." No doubt this was intended to be humorous, but the message has serious implications. Simply substitute the words "Jews," "blacks" or "gays" and the outrage would be immediate. But when it comes to Christians, such offensive rhetoric is somehow acceptable. There's even a term for it -- Christianophobia.

Often, the reason given by those who espouse this bigotry is that Christians themselves spew hatred toward other groups. But mostly what's being referred to is disapproval, not hatred. Criticism of another's lifestyle is not equivalent to hating someone or acting violently on hatred. While there will always be the few extremists, the majority of Christians espouse a peaceful approach to their fellow human beings. It would be nice if that fact were acknowledged now and then.

The Holiday With No Name

So what's at the heart of this campaign to erase Christmas? I argue that it's the creeping multiculturalism that has taken hold of our nation. Instead of a melting pot, we have a system whereby Christianity, the majority religion, is being subordinated to all the others in the interest of "equality." Accordingly, Christmas has to be diminished so that no feels left out.

But this sort of excessive pandering to "diversity" is becoming ludicrous. Have we become a nation of insecure adherents to psychobabble? Does the mere presence of Christmas really threaten non-Christians?

During such times, I'm reminded of my mother's childhood in Australia and her experiences being the sole Jewish child in what was essentially a Christian school. Far from feeling left out, she simply accepted the situation at face value. Jewish traditions were kept alive both at home and in a thriving Jewish community, so they didn't need to be shared by the entire school for her to feel secure. She was never insulted or put upon for being Jewish -- that's just how it was. The point is, simply being a member of a minority group is not tantamount to being oppressed.

Perhaps we should remember that lesson when thinking about the Christmas kerfuffle. And the next time someone wishes you a "Happy Holidays," wish them a hearty "Merry Christmas" in return.

Annual Campus Watch Corrections Update

2008-12-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

Campus Watch has been keeping very busy the past year issuing corrections to the numerous smears and false allegations made against us. From incorrect attributions to paranoid conspiracy theories regarding the "Israel lobby," Neocon cabals, and the like, the fun never ends!

Excerpts and links to our 2008 "Setting The Record Straight" entries are posted at the Campus Watch blog. Click here to access all corrections to date.

Joel Brinkley: Right on Falk, Wrong on Academia

2008-12-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

My latest at the Campus Watch blog:

Stanford University journalism professor and former New York Times foreign policy correspondent Joel Brinkley has written a commendable article in the San Francisco Chronicle questioning Princeton University professor emeritus of international law Richard Falk's role as special representative of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Falk is charged with investigating alleged Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinians or, in other words, drumming up false charges against Israel on behalf of a "human rights council" that includes the Organization of the Islamic Conference, among other unsavory participants.

Continue reading "Joel Brinkley: Right on Falk, Wrong on Academia"

The Mumbai Atrocities: Where is the Outrage?

2008-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

In my latest SFGate column, I bemoan the indifference with which the horrific attack on Mumbai was met, as well as the complacency towards Islamism that seems to be on the rise. Here are the opening paragraphs:

It was often said after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that everything had changed. And for a few years afterwards, indeed it had. After decades of denial, America and its allies went on the offensive against Islamic terrorism, both militarily and morally. Most importantly, there was no hesitancy to name the enemy or to condemn his inhumanity.

But if the lack of outrage over the Islamic terrorist assault on Mumbai, India last month was any indication, everything has changed back.

Continue reading "The Mumbai Atrocities: Where is the Outrage?"

Update: Two earlier columns that strongly reflect my thoughts on this subject are Steven Emerson's "They're Winning" and Daniel Pipes' (with whom I work) "Still Asleep After Mumbai."

Latest inFocus Features Campus Watch

2008-12-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

The Winter 2008 issue of inFocus, the quarterly journal of the Jewish Policy Center (JPC), is now available and it concentrates on all things campus-related. My Campus Watch article, "Rashid Khalidi, Campus Watch & Middle East Studies," is among the offerings. In it, I take a look at the radical past and propagandistic career of Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi, examples of other Middle East studies academics with radical associations, and Campus Watch's role in calling attention to such matters. Other contributors include Campus Watch adjunct scholar Asaf Romirowsky, David Horowitz, Alan Dershowitz, Larry Greenfield, Sarah Stern, and many more.

JPC executive director Matthew Brooks elaborates on the issue in a recent mailing, which is reprinted below:

Academia has become a hotbed for activist professors who preach anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Israel rhetoric. Students are taught that the myriad problems in the Middle East are the fault of Israel and the United States. Programs teaching these and other Leftist canards are often funded by Arab petrodollars, or even federal taxpayer funds.

The JPC has solicited experts to identify and provide solutions to this mounting challenge that threatens future generations of Americans, and impacts the issues and policies we all care about.

This issue features an article by JPC distinguished fellow David Horowitz, who offers a first-hand account of how campus elements with radical agendas intimidate students and encourage Islamist hate speech to flourish.

The JPC is proud to publish in this issue a candid interview with distinguished Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, which highlights the depth of anti-Israel sentiment on campus.

We are also proud to print a great piece on alumni activism by JPC supporter Robert Lewit, who writes on behalf of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

This journal showcases writing from a broad coalition of campus watchdogs and scholarly organizations that seek to reform our universities. They include Campus Watch, the Association for the Study of Middle East and Africa, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, and others. Here's the full table of contents:

David Horowitz - A Survey of Challenges on Campus

Cinnamon Stillwell - Rashid Khalidi, Campus Watch & Middle East Studies

Larry Greenfield - The Rise of Campus Anti-Zionism in California

Sarah Stern - The Wahhabi Jihad for Young American Minds

Mitchell Bard - Israel Studies Grows on Campus

Alan Dershowitz - Interview: Making the Case for Israel on Campus

Asaf Romirowsky - The Academy and the Palestinian Refugees

Michael I. Krauss - Challenging the Status Quo in Middle Eastern Studies

Erin O'Connor and Maurice Black - Academic Freedom and Middle East Studies

Patrick Coyle - Campus Conservatives Can Succeed With the Right Strategy

Robert Lewit - Trustees Can Hold Middle East Studies Accountable

Click here to access the Winter 2008 issue of inFocus online. Print issues are available with a subscription.

Vassar's Joshua Schreier Promises Zero Objectivity

2008-12-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

My latest post at the Campus Watch blog:

Biased Middle East studies professors are nothing new, but what about a professor who actually states in his course syllabus that he has no intention of presenting a scholarly, balanced approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict? This is how Vassar College history professor Joshua Schreier introduces the syllabus for his fall 2008 course, "The Roots of the Palestine-Israel Conflict"...

Continue reading "Vassar's Joshua Schreier Promises Zero Objectivity"

R.I.P. Dan Kliman

2008-12-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Dan Kliman, 38, who was a founding member of San Francisco Voice for Israel (SFV4I). I knew Dan from my days as a Bay Area pro-America, pro-Israel grassroots activist, which included a year-long stint with SFV4I. Alongside Dan, other SFV4I members, and members of Protest Warrior, I counter-protested the local Israel-haters on many an occasion and it became an integral part of my political education. (Read some of my after-reports here, here, and here).

Dan was dedicated, passionate, and very in-your-face, both as an outspoken Zionist and a gay activist. Indeed, his proud defense of Israel as the lone haven for gays in the Middle East was a wonderful contrast to the confusion of groups such as Queers for Palestine (now ludicrously known as QUIT or Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism). To make his point, Dan would often hold aloft an Israeli flag and a rainbow flag side-by-side, no doubt causing great cognitive dissonance on the other side. Between Dan and my staunchly pro-Israel, Palestinian-American friend Gus, we helped prove that being pro-Israel need not spring from one's creed nor political affiliation.

The suspicious circumstances surrounding Dan's death (he allegedly fell into an out-of-use elevator shaft in the building where he was taking Arabic classes) are difficult to ignore, particularly since he was a man who did not shy away from making enemies. And among them, no doubt, were those who hated him for being an unapologetic Jewish Zionist. However, the SFPD are maintaining that it was an accident, so for now, we'll have to take a wait and see approach. (Go to Zomblog for a round-up of links on the case and a photo tribute).

Whatever the case, Dan Kliman will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace.

Rashid Khalidi, Campus Watch & Middle East Studies

2008-12-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

In an article appearing in the Winter 2008 issue of the Jewish Policy Center magazine inFocus, I take a look at the radical past and propagandistic career of Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi. Other examples of Middle East studies academics with radical assocations or sympathies come into play, as well as Campus Watch's role in shedding light on these important issues. Here are the opening paragraphs:

For a brief time during the 2008 presidential campaign, Columbia University's Edward Said professor of Arab studies Rashid Khalidi was the most famous Middle East studies academic in the country. Khalidi's relationship with now president-elect Barack Obama brought him national attention and unprecedented media scrutiny. At the heart of the controversy was Khalidi's role as a spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) when he lived in Beirut in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During those years, the PLO was listed by the State Department as a designated foreign terrorist organization.

But this was not the first time that Khalidi's PLO past had come back to haunt him. In 2004, Campus Watch (campus-watch.org), a project of the Middle East Forum, broke the story with a Washington Times article by Asaf Romirowsky and Jonathan Calt Harris titled, "Arafat Minion as Professor." Among other indicators, the authors pointed to a June 9, 1982, Thomas L. Friedman column in the New York Times describing Khalidi as "a director of the Palestinian press agency." Adding further confirmation, Middle East studies historian Martin Kramer, who has written extensively about Khalidi, recently augmented the compendium of attributions linking him to the PLO.

Propaganda As Scholarship

One need only examine Khalidi's history of anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric to perceive his ideological underpinnings, something that Campus Watch has been doing since its inception in 2002. Given its mission statement of "reviewing and critiquing Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them," Campus Watch has consistently pointed to Khalidi as an example of the politicization and apologia that has compromised the field. As far back as 1986, Daniel Pipes, who would go on to found both the Middle East Forum and Campus Watch, reviewed Khalidi's book, Under Siege: P.L.O. Decisionmaking During the 1982 War, and noted its transparent partisanship. As he put it, "Under Siege is propaganda parading as scholarship."

Continue reading "Rashid Khalidi, Campus Watch & Middle East Studies"

To Ban a Book: The Fuss Over "Jewel of Medina"

2008-12-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

My colleague, Campus Watch director Winfield Myers, has an article at Frontpage Magazine today examining the unnecessary controversy surrounding The Jewel of Medina, thanks in large part to University of Texas Middle East studies professor Denise Spellberg. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Political correctness is at its most parodic precisely when it seems beyond parody. The latest bit of history to support this adage is the Middle East studies establishment's reception of Sherry Jones's novel The Jewel of Medina (Jewel), a life of Aisha, the favorite wife of Muhammad. As Robert Spencer writes in his review of Jewel for the Winter 2009 issue of the Middle East Quarterly, Jones set out to "be a bridge-builder" who chose her historical sources selectively to ensure that her work would present a flattering picture of her subjects.

Enter Denise Spellberg, who teaches Islamic history at the University of Texas. She heard of Jewel pre-publication because Jones, in her naiveté, asked her then-publisher Ballantine, an imprint of Random House, to obtain an endorsement from Spellberg to splay across the back of the dust jacket. Spellberg is author of Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of Aisha bint Abi Bakr, which Jones cites as one of her sources. She is, in addition, a typical practitioner of the blatant bias toward things Muslim and, more particularly, Arab that has become almost ubiquitous among practitioners of Middle East studies. Put simply but accurately, this means that things Arab/Muslim = good; things American/Western = bad. Under this regime, dispassionate, fair-minded research that takes a critical look at the Middle East is more likely to be rewarded with professional ostracism than advancement.

Continue reading "To Ban a Book"

It's Tough Being Joel Beinin

2008-11-21T11:29:00.001-08:00

My colleague, Campus Watch director Winfield Myers, has penned a satirical blog post on Middle East studies professor Joel Beinin. It begins like so:

Poor Joel Beinin: the world consistently fails to measure up to his high standards of conduct. Year after year, uncaring, boorish individuals fling darts straight through his thin skin and into his pure heart.

The most recent episode of brutish cruelty came earlier this month when, according to Beinin, two professors at Portland State University asked the Stanford professor inappropriate political questions during his interview for a position in PSU's history department. Beinin complained about this roughhouse ordeal in an email to Ken Ruoff, who headed the search committee that invited Beinin for an interview. Willamette Week in Portland published a story on the controversy (in which they erroneously clamed that Campus Watch is run by David Horowitz) along with Beinin's email to Ruoff.

Let's take a look at the email, with my comments and translations in bold...

Continue reading "Everybody's Always Picking on Joel Beinin"

I've written about Beinin on several occasions myself. Click here, here and here to read.

Confessions of a McCain Voter

2008-11-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

My latest SFGate column begins like so:

I have a confession to make. I voted for John McCain, and yet I'm incredibly relieved that Barack Obama won the presidential election.

Let me explain.

The past eight years have been defined largely by Democratic and leftist opposition to George W. Bush and to all things deemed Republican. As someone who rallied to Bush's side after 9/11 and supported him in the 2004 election, only to find myself deeply disappointed both in his second term and in the arrogance and complacency of the GOP, I've grown quite weary of the partisan culture wars. So it's with great relief that I contemplate a forthcoming Obama term in which Democrats control the White House, Congress, and possibly the Senate, and therefore have no one to blame but themselves.

Continue reading "Confessions of a McCain Voter"

Bali Bombers Executed, But Bashir Still At Large

2008-11-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Three of the terrorists involved in plotting the 2002 Bali bombing were executed today in Indonesia, by firing squad no less. It was a fitting end for Mukhlas, Amrozi, and Imam Samudra who took part in the murder of 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians (some of them Muslims), all for the "crime" of being in or around a Bali nightclub.

However, it's unfortunate that radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was not among the executed. He's the "spiritual leader" of Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and he was a mentor (and in effect, accomplice) to the Bali bombers. Yet all he did he was spend 26 months for conspiracy in an Indonesian jail.

Sure enough, he later blamed the attack on "a conspiracy between America, Australia and the Jews."

And here's what Bashir had to say about the executions:

Their fighting spirit in defending Islam should be followed...We will win the fight in this world or die as martyrs. Even if they are murdered they will die as Islamic martyrs.

Why this guy is still breathing is beyond me.

Victor Davis Hanson: The Day After

2008-11-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

The indispensible Victor Davis Hanson writes eloquently about "The Day After." Definitely worth the read.

Bret Stephens: From 9/11 to 11/4

2008-11-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal expresses my thoughts exactly in "From 9/11 to 11/4: How Soon We Forget."