Recent Entries:

Author: abs

  • October 26, 2011

    Professor Calls for “Death to Israel”

    julio pino.jpg
    Julio Pino

    Tenured Professor Julio Pino disrupted a CAMERA-sponsored event with Ishmael Khaldi, a Bedouin-Muslim Israeli, former diplomat and current advisor to Israel’s Foreign Minister, at Kent State University last night.

    According to a student-run news website:

    Standing at the back of the auditorium, Pino asked Khaldi how he and his government could justify providing aid to countries like Turkey with blood money that came from the deaths of Palestinian children and babies. The crowd fell into an awkward silence as the two continued to exchange words from across the auditorium.

    “It is not respectful to me here,” Khaldi said.

    Pino responded by saying “your government killed people” and claimed Khaldi was not being respectful to him.

    “I do respect you, but you are wrong,” Khaldi said. “It’s a lie.”

    The exchange ended as Pino stormed out of the auditorium shouting “Death to Israel!”

    In 2002, Pino published a eulogy in the campus paper praising Palestinian terrorist Ayat al-Akras, who murdered two Israelis, Rachel Levy and Chaim Smadar.

    Pino has been accused of having ties to terrorists and had his home raided in 2009 by the U.S. Secret Service.

  • October 3, 2011

    Civil Rights Investigation against Columbia University

    prof-joseph-massad-during-his-keynote-address.jpg

    The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation of Columbia University upon the request of The Institute for Jewish and Community Research (IJCR). The OCR is investigating allegations that university faculty “steered” a Jewish student away from taking a class.

    In January, the student got some troubling guidance from Barnard’s Middle East studies department chair. The young woman told the chair that she was interested in taking a course on the Arab world with Prof. Massad, who is notorious for his animosity towards Zionism. Massad, whether fairly or not, has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. The chair looked at the young woman, whose Orthodox background is apparent in her modest attire. Then, as the student tells the story, the chair told her that she would not be “comfortable” in Massad’s class and that she should instead consider a course on Ancient Israel.

    According to Professor Kenneth Marcus, the Director of IJCR and the former head of OCR, Columbia violated the Jewish student’s civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 by deterring the student from taking the class.

    By suggesting that a Jewish student may feel uncomfortable in Professor Massad‘s class, Columbia faculty are implicitly acknowledging allegations that Massad creates a hostile environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students. But instead of creating classroom environments where all student feel welcome, Columbia seems to think segregation of Jews might be the solution.