Jewish students call UC Irvine a hotbed of anti-Semitic hara

[drdon326]

Full title:

Jewish students and activists call UC Irvine a hotbed of anti-Semitic harassment

Once a sleepy suburban university, UCI has joined the ranks of Columbia University and UC Berkeley as a hotbed of anti-Zionism. The situation has become so tense that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — in reaction to a complaint filed by the conservative Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) — is investigating allegations of anti-Jewish harassment at UCI and administration indifference.

In recent years, UCI Muslim student groups have invited speakers like Malik Ali to attack Israel and its supporters in language that has the unmistakable ring of anti-Semitism.

Pro-Israel students say they have been sworn at and intimidated by Muslim students. They say that a few pro-Palestinian activists have followed Jewish students around campus, pushed placards in their faces equating Zionism with Nazism and, in one instance, threatened violence.

Muslim students and some UCI faculty members say that Jewish groups have exaggerated the problems and, at times, contributed to campus tensions by taking their slanted case to the media at every opportunity. Others argue that UCI is a hospitable place for the vast majority of the university’s 750 to 1,000 Jewish students, and that the loudest complaints come from a core of pro-Israel advocates who confuse anti-Zionism, or criticism of Israel and its supporters, with anti-Semitism.

To be sure, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiment have become ever more common at American universities. In recent years, campus support for divesting university funds from Israel has grown, reflecting the decline of the Jewish state’s standing since the beginning of the second intifada. Still, UCI students and their activist supporters say the frequency and intensity of anti-Zionism and sometimes anti-Semitism at UCI has earned the school a particularly tarnished reputation.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=13779

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Just Lovely.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Very disturbing

Let's have imagination time now. {{{Al-Queda colors are red and teal. 30 students show up to graduation with red and teal sashes with the number 3000 embroidered on it.}}} What would the university's reaction then?

I have no issue with people protesting the policies of the nation of Israel, anymore than I take issue with people protesting our government. What I do have an issue with is WHY some of these people protest Israel. Look at any number of the "Israeli" threads and you can see the difference between those protesting based on politics and those protesting on emotion (or something deeper). I will freely admit that sometimes the line between anti-Israel and anti-Semitism can be razor thin. However, it is coming to the point now that people don't even disguise their contempt for Jews, then back-pedal and claim its Israel's policies they hate! :eyes:

[Colorado Blue]

2. Agreed. I'm disturbed and saddened by this and don't have

the vaguest clue what to do about it.

I should would appreciate any tips on how to deal with it. The sense of being greatly outnumbered is definitely becoming uncomfortable.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. Same problem at Cal State San Francisco

[Ellen Forradalom]

4. So I've heard.