Where's the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?

[Better Believe It]

December 31, 2008

Targeting Islamic University
Where's the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?
By NEVE GORDON and JEFF HALPER

Neve Gordon is chair of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and author of Israel’s Occupation (University of California Press, 2008).

Jeff Halper Jeff Halper is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and author of An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel (Pluto Press, 2008).
------------------------------------

Not one of the nearly 450 presidents of American colleges and universities who prominently denounced an effort by British academics to boycott Israeli universities in September 2007 have raised their voice in opposition to Israel’s bombardment of the Islamic University of Gaza earlier this week. Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, who organized the petition, has been silent, as have his co-signatories from Princeton, Northwestern, and Cornell Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Most others who signed similar petitions, like the 11,000 professors from nearly 1,000 universities around the world, have also refrained from expressing their outrage at Israel’s attack on the leading university in Gaza. The artfully named Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, which organized the latter appeal, has said nothing about the assault.

Established in 1978 by the founder of Hamas — with the approval of Israeli authorities — the Islamic University is the first and most important institution of higher education in Gaza, serving more than 20,000 students, 60 percent of whom are women. It comprises 10 faculties — education, religion, art, commerce, Shariah law, science, engineering, information technology, medicine, and nursing — and awards a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Taking into account that Palestinian universities have been regionalized because Palestinian students from Gaza are barred by Israel from studying either in the West Bank or abroad, the educational significance of the Islamic University becomes even more apparent.

Those restrictions became international news last summer when Israel refused to grant exit permits to seven carefully vetted students from Gaza who had been awarded Fulbright fellowships by the State Department to study in the United States. After top State Department officials intervened, the students’ scholarships were restored — though Israel allowed only four of the seven to leave, even after appeals by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “It is a welcome victory — for the students,” opined The New York Times, and “for Israel, which should want to see more of Gaza’s young people follow a path of hope and education rather than hopelessness and martyrdom; and for the United States, whose image in the Middle East badly needs burnishing.”

By launching an attack on Gaza, the Israeli government has once again chosen to adopt strategies of violence that are tragically akin to the ones deployed by Hamas — only the Israeli tactics are much more lethal. How should academics respond to this assault on an institution of higher education? Regardless of one’s stand on the proposed boycott of Israeli universities, anyone so concerned about academic freedom as to put one’s name on a petition should be no less outraged when Israel bombs a Palestinian university. The question, then, is whether the university presidents and professors who signed the various petitions denouncing efforts to boycott Israel will speak out against the destruction of the Islamic University.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon12312008.html

note: I posted this excerpt earlier today in this forum. It appears to have been totally removed. I've haven't received any message indicating that it was removed by any moderator so it probably was just a technical glitch.

[stillcool]

1. The rest of the world is outraged...

maybe that's enough this time. I just started reading a book called "The Art of Political Murder" about the assassination of Bishop Gerardi in Guatemala City. All these 'conflicts' over land and power sound the same after a while.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. No its not

Multiple non-Isreali sources have pointed out the weapons development work that was underway there. At the University where I teach, the faculty pretty much agreed that if you build bombs you should expect to get bombed.

[stillcool]

5. Oh really...

if you build bombs, you should get bombed? What a great idea! Let's not forget Israel's part in supplying weapons to Iran during the Iran/Contra years either.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Feel free to take this out of context as well...

Since you did not dispute it, I will take it that you agree that the targeted structures were indeed being used for rocket development. That makes them legitimate targets under the current set of circumstances (a shooting war). That they were bombed should surprise no one.

Save your outrage for those who endangered the students and staff by placing a high value target on campus.

[stillcool]

13. I have no idea..

there is very little coming out of this that I believe, except that bombs kill people. I hope some International Organization is counting bodies..that I will believe. Oh yeah...I have no 'outrage' for any country but my own.

[aquart]

26. Building bombs that will kill other people sometimes gets the bomber killed.

But I appreciate how you feel Israel should have ZERO reaction to endless shelling from Hamas.

Never mind. This is as good as a recruitment drive for Hamas. Look what they're doing for their people.

[stillcool]

28. Zero reaction?

I appreciate how you derived my thoughts and feelings about the 'zero' reaction on the part of Israel from what I posted. I have to admit, making the land uninhabitable goes a long way towards confiscating it. Hopefully that will work out for us yet in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I'm certain that Iran will be tied into this somehow. Maybe a "Nigerian Yellow-cake" thing will appear. And Lebanon as well. What was their last bombing about..I forgot already.

[Better Believe It]

33. Except in Israel: In Israel They Get Medals

[ProgressiveProfessor]

35. They can also get killed

[Better Believe It]

39. Not In Israel! Can you cite any cases where Israeli bombmakers (nuclear or otherwise) were killed?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

44. So some how its not fair that that Hamas can not reach them?

This is a shooting war and very asmmetric. Isreal has good internal security and military defences. Hamas has already sworn personal vengeance on Israeli leaders.

Hamas thought they knew what they were doing when they stepped up the rocket attacks and used longer range rockets. They and the people of Gaza are now hurting based on that miscalculation.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Where is the academic outrage over the development of munitions at a University

which turned it into a legitimate military target?

[stillcool]

7. Probably where it was back then...

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Israel/Nuke_Nation.html
THE ISRAELI BOMB
The Israeli nuclear program began in the Late 1940s. It was established at the Department of Isotope Research at the Weissman Institute of Science under the direction of Ernst David Bergmann, "the father of the Israeli bomb," who in 1952 established the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission.
From the very beginning the U.S. was heavily involved in developing Israel's nuclear capability, training Israeli nuclear scientists and providing nuclear-related technology, including a small "research" reactor in 1955 under the "Atoms for Peace" program.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Consider JHU/APL in this country

Pretty place to work though

[stillcool]

14. kind of like Los Alamos?..

and Robert Oppenheimer?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Better, more diverse. prettier country

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stillcool]

30. No..how about you?

I have this weird thing about blaming any group of people, for anything their government, or what other individuals do. I am married to someone who is part Russian and part Polish, and I don't blame him a bit for what Putin or Poland does. Next time he doesn't take out the garbage, perhaps I'll bring it up. See how it flies.

[Violet_Crumble]

32. They didn't even mention Jews, unlike you with yr nonstop obsession...

Just curious, but do you project bigotry onto other posters because of how yr one yrself?

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Israeli universities are also legitimite targets then...

You can't have it both ways. Israeli universities also have programs that develop munitions and high tech military stuff. Personally, I don't think that makes any university a legitimate target, especially when that university is bombed when students are there, but if you insist otherwise, then it also applies to Israeli universities, not just Palestinian ones...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. Pretty much

Hamas and Israel are in a shooting war and weapons development facilities are fair game. The real difference is that Hamas chose to have their primary development at the Islamic University of Gaza, while Israel does most of theirs in secure commercial facilities.

Also remember that Hamas attacks public buses with suicide bombers, the checkpoints that are bring in needed supplies, and civilian villages with rockets. They seem to be deliberately avoiding military related targets...its a clue

[Violet_Crumble]

22. No, a lot of weapon development is done at Israeli universities...

That makes them every bit as much of a target as any Palestinian university....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. Little is done on Israeli campuses

There is a lot of cross transference and sharing of personnel, but the work is physically done at Elisra, Elbit, IMI, IAI etc. The universities lack required physical security measures.

[Violet_Crumble]

25. That's bullshit...

ISRAEL's Ben-Gurion University has been accused by the United States government of breaching an agreement on the supply of a supercomputer by using it for nuclear research.

The allegation came to light three months ago when the university was included in a register published by the US department of trade, listing institutions and commercial enterprises throughout the world which have illegally sold US-supplied weapons on to third parties, or used US-supplied technology for uses other than those intended.

Avishai Braverman, the president of Ben-Gurion University, which is in the Negev, responded to the discovery that his university was on the register by writing to the US ambassador in Israel, Martin Indyk.

Professor Braverman said he was angry that his university had been singled out and that they were required to get a special licence to buy certain types of supercomputers from the US. He denied the allegation that the university was "engaged in research which might lead to weapons development or production".

He added that the university's work was done for peaceful aims, and that they cooperated with US and other foreign universities on nuclear medicine.

"We have never been accused of wrongdoing," he said. "If someone says that Ben-Gurion University cannot have a supercomputer because it is near Dimona, it is hogwash. The physical proximity is not an issue."

Other universities in the region have been listed in the register but were recently removed following a relaxation in the US authorities' interpretation of what constitutes "inappropriate use" of a tech-nology.

Ben-Gurion University re-mains on the list. It is the only university in the country with a nuclear engineering department and has been "suspected" by the US of doing research on nuclear arms development. The US indicated that this suspicion was "strengthened" by the university's proximity to the nuclear power plant at Dimona.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=103651§ioncode=26

Today, Israel is an R&D pioneer in software, telecommunications, biotechnology and the life sciences. ?t is an undeclared nuclear power, and the world?s 5th largest exporter of advanced weapons systems. Much of that was accomplished through institutionalized TT from abroad and from indigenous innovations at its government and university laboratories using the US model as reviewed in Reisman and Cytraus, (2004).

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=579883

[ProgressiveProfessor]

29. Did you ever read your own quotes?

Yes nuclear work is being done at Ben-Gurion, but nukes are a small fraction of weapons development in terms of dollars, or in this case shekels.

The SSRN link points out that there is a great deal of technology transfer from abroad AND government/university labs. The technology transfer is to industry using the US model. It also says that Israel is the 5th largest export of weapons systems. Those weapons are made by IMI, IAI, El Bit...not universities.

You asked if I thought weapons development at universities in Israel were fair targets. I agreed. I also pointed out that unlike Gaza which has really no military development companies, Israel does most of theirs off campus via commercial companies.

Summary
- Weapons development sites are legitimate targets in a shooting war
- Most of Israeli weapons development is done commercial arms companies
- Most of Hamas weapons development was done at the University since they don't commercial arms companies

[Violet_Crumble]

31. I did, which is why I posted them...

You don't seem to be understanding. It doesn't matter one iota how much weapon development is done elsewhere. There is weapon development carried out at Israeli universities and that makes them a legitimate target according to what you've said in this thread...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

34. I fully concur that *any* weapons development site is a fair target in a war

The difference that we disagree with is the amount of it done on site at Israeli Universities vice at commercial companies.

[aranthus]

4. I have read that linking to CounterPunch is not allowed,

however, my quick read of the forum rules and general rules didn't turn up that particular prohibition, and I don't know why it should be.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. No, it's allowed...

I think it tends to be at the discretion of the moderators about which articles stay and which go, kind of like posting from Arutz Sheva or something like that. If the author of the article is a credible one who isn't bigoted, it tends to stay, and if not, it gets vanished...

[aranthus]

15. Thanks for clarifying.

I couldn't think of any reason for not allowing it (unless someone at CounterPunch complained).

[Violet_Crumble]

18. No worries. It's probably best to check with Lithos to make sure...

..but from what I've seen here, it seems to be how it works. I saw a thread locked a long while back coz it was from CounterPunch and the article (if i recall correctly) was a bit on the whiffy side, so I found an article at CounterPunch by Uri Avnery and posted it as a new thread and it wasn't locked. CounterPunch is one of those sources where people have to use some discretion with what they post here coz it is prone to publish some rather bigoted stuff at times...

[Duckhunter935]

6. Two buildings

Two building destroyed out of how many? If they were being used to develop and build rockets, yes they should be hit. The university also had been evacuated earlier

[EFerrari]

11. Part of the communication lag is the timing.

While I was teaching college, the end of this semester was a marathon and if we were lucky, we managed to close out our classes, our own work and grab a few days with neglected family by Christmas. The first two weeks of January were the first since November or so that we got to raise our heads and look around. Or, that's how it was at Cal. I don't know about other departments or other universities in other countries.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. We ended up having an emergency Faculty Senate meeting on Gaza this week

barely made a quorum. Most had no interest in coming in, family time was a higher priority. FWIW the resolution to protest the bombing of the University in Gaza lost. A couple of my colleagues left in a spitting rage.

[EFerrari]

19. This is a much higher pressure time for active academics than the end of the school year, imho.

I'd be willing to bet they get their act together shortly after the 1st.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. I don't think our Faculty Senate will take the issue up again

but there will be the usual sets demonstrators when we start back up. Be interesting to see if there is more energy or anger than usual.

I am pretty much cruising at this point even though I am teaching a full load.

[EFerrari]

23. I was a student at Cal during the Apartheid demonstrations in the 80s

and I don't remember anything except I went to them and that Jesse Jackson showed up just when we were about to fold.

I don't remember what the Faculty Senate was doing at that point. I don't remember what I was eating. There was just a lot of work and putting your head down. Some of my very favorite professors tried to talk us out of it. That's all right. It worked out, somehow.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

36. Union urges immediate boycott following Gaza university bombing

Appeal, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, 30 December 2008

The following appeal was issued on 29 December 2008:

The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees condemns in the strongest possible terms the bombing today of the campus of the Islamic University in Gaza. This wanton destruction of an academic institution is only the latest in the ongoing lethal campaign launched by the Israeli government and army against Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. This murderous rampage has caused more than 300 deaths and the injury of close to 1,500 Palestinians. And the carnage continues with impunity.

We add our voice to the urgent appeal issued two days ago by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) urging international civil society not just to protest and condemn Israel's massacre in Gaza, but also to join and intensify the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel to end its impunity and to hold it accountable for its persistent violations of international law and Palestinian rights. We agree that, without sustained, effective pressure by people of conscience the world over, Israel will continue with its gradual, rolling acts of genocide against the Palestinians, burying any prospects for a just peace under the blood and rubble of Gaza, Nablus and Jerusalem.

Today, at the height of the lethal Israeli assault against the Palestinian people in Gaza, we are met with deafening silence emanating from the Israeli academy. Does it condone the murderous bombing campaign that its government is carrying out in the name of all Israelis? Are the members of the academy dutifully preparing for the reserve call-up just approved by their government, ready to serve in the death squads committing war crimes around the clock? Are Israeli universities willing to call for an end to the occupation? Are they going to cut their organic and deep-rooted ties with the military-security establishment? There is no doubt that the aggression against the Gaza Strip has reached horrendous proportions, described by many international public figures as constituting war crimes and a continuation of the ethnic cleansing unleashed 60 years ago.

We urge academics around the world to intensify their boycott of Israeli academic institutions, and to isolate the Israeli academy in international forums, associations of academics, and other international venues. Israeli academic institutions are complicit in the entrenched system of oppression practiced by the Israeli state, and their silence at this critical moment is only the most vociferous indicator of this complicity.

Dr. Amjad Barham
President
Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees


http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10075.shtml

[Better Believe It]

37. Thanks for the information

[ProgressiveProfessor]

38. Our Faculty Senate decided on no action since even the Palestinians have said it was

being used for weapons development. That made the two buildings legitimate targets.

[Better Believe It]

40. Which representatives of the Palestinian people said that?

Credible links please.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

41. Start with Ma'an

There are others

[Better Believe It]

43. Still waiting for the credible links

[question everything]

42. The chemical labs in the university

have been used to design and improve explosive devices.

Even a CNN reporter earlier today, clearly sympathetic to the Gaza cause, admitted that with the high density of Gaza, all the tunnels, the labs the training that lead to attack on Israel are inside residential buildings.

[EFerrari]

45. CA Scholars for Academic Freedom sent out a press release today.

California Scholars for Academic Freedom Condemn Bombing of Gaza Educational Institutions

by California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Contact: Sondra Hale, 310-836-5121 (UCLA)
Rabab Abdulhadi, 914-882-3180 (AMED-SFSU)
Sherna Berger Gluck, 310-455-1028 (CSULB)
Jess Ghannam, 415-726-3951 (UCSF)
January 3rd, 2009

CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM (CS4AF), a group of 100 scholars at 20 California institutions of higher learning, condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have targeted the Islamic University and other educational sites.

While we decry Israeli war crimes and violations of human rights, and condemn the massive Israeli bombardment of Gaza which has caused hundreds of deaths, as educators in California institutions of higher learning, we are especially appalled at the destruction of educational institutions and student casualties.

On December 27th, Human Rights Watch reported that an Israeli air-to-ground missile struck a group of students leaving the Gaza Training College, adjacent to the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in downtown Gaza City, killing eight students and wounding 19 others. Two days later, on 29 December 2008, Israel bombed the Islamic University of Gaza, destroying the science laboratory block and destroying or damaging other blocks of buildings, including the library. Although Israel has claimed that the science laboratory facilities were used as "a research and development center for Hamas weapons," this claim has been denied by officials of Gaza Islamic University, and according to the NY Times of 01/01/09 Israel has not produced any evidence for its claim.

These direct assaults on Palestinian students and educational institutions are only the latest chapter in Israel's ongoing denial of the right to education guaranteed in international conventions. Since the first uprising in 1987, Israel has systematically frustrated or denied Palestinian students their right to study, not just in the Occupied Territories, but at universities abroad, as most recently demonstrated by the Israeli government's refusal to allow students awarded prestigious Fulbright fellowships to leave for the United States. University students living in Gaza have not been able to leave in order to attend universities throughout the world, let alone Birzeit University, and students in the West Bank itself have to negotiate roadblocks and checkpoints to get to their classes – often never making it.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=18023