Gary Fouse on Anna Baltzer
Posted by: Jonathan Constantine | 05/15/2008 10:12 AM
Gary Fouse also attended the Baltzer lecture:
Today, the Muslim Student Union continued their "Palestinian Holocaust" Week at UCI. Today's featured speaker at noon was Anna Balzer, a young Jewish-American activist, who has traveled often to Israel and the Palestinian-occupied territories. She is a Palestinian sympathizer, and is associated with the International Women's Peace Service.
I should state that Ms Balzer does not come across as a "bomb thrower" (no pun intended.) Her presentation argued that Palestinians are being treated unjustly by Israel in the name of maintaining a Jewish state. She did not blast the United States, unlike many of the other MSU speakers. She is opposed to Israel as a "Jewish state".
It was what she didn't say that I would criticize. Nowhere in her talk did she mention the suicide bombings that led to the creation of the wall. Nowhere did she mention the rocket attacks that are lobbed regularly from Gaza into Israel. In describing the poor conditions under which Palestinians are living in Gaza, she neglected to mention that they are under the control of Palestinians, not Israelis, specifically, Hamas.
In the question and answer session, a Jewish student asked her about the suicide bombings. In her response, Balzer described them as horrific and conceded that human rights abuses are being conducted by both sides. She then added that the Palestinian violence has to be considered in context; in other words, one could hardly expect the Palestinians to act non-violently in the face of their suffering. She also advocated deinvestment and boycotting Israeli products.
Balzer was preceded to the microphone by Dennis Lopez of the Student Worker Alliance, a radical group that condemns everything the US does. He described (among other things) the Iraqi War as being driven by a desire for US corporations to enrich themselves with Iraqi oil (even though the US has not taken Iraqi oil from Iraq). Though speaking in a calm and rational manner, the occasional buzz words came out: imperialistic US, imperialistic powers, capitalist US-you get the picture.
Finally, there was a brief spiel by Israeli (anti-Zionist) professor, Ilan Pappe, who previewed his speech later this evening by encouraging his audience to visit Israel to learn about the situation, inform others about the injustices committed by Israel and to protest, protest, protest. (Pappe is detested by many in Israel because of his anti-Israel activism.)
Today's speakers, at least during the noon hour, were subdued. I noted that Craig and Cindy Corrie were in the audience. I sincerely hope they stay around for tomorrow's appearance by the vicious, racist, anti-Semite, Amir Abdel Malik Ali. It might be an eye-opener.
Below is the text of my letter to New University Newspaper (UCI). I don;t know if it will be printed.
Now that the Israel 60th Birthday celebration and the “Palestinian Holocaust” week have concluded, I would like to make a few brief comments. I have commented in the past on the words of Amir Abdel Malik Ali and Mohammed Al-Asi, so I won’t repeat them here.
I would hope, however, that casual student observers will compare and contrast the tone of each week. The Israeli celebration was upbeat and happy, while some of the MSU’s speakers (not all) used inflammatory language to describe Israel and America. At least three of the speakers (Malik Ali, Al-Asi and Norman Finklestein are vocal supporters of Hamas and Hizbollah-terrorist organizations.
There were two items on the “Wall” put up by the MSU that drew my attention. First was a quotation from former Black Panther, H. Rap Brown (who now bears a Muslim name that escapes me). H. Rap Brown now sits in prison for the murder of a police officer (that had nothing to do with any “struggle“). Second was a picture of Ariel Sharon, drawn in the old style of Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer, a virulent, anti-Semitic Nazi newspaper of the Third Reich. The picture featured the big hooked nose, big lips and all that. To anyone who is unfamiliar with Streicher and Der Stuermer, I urge you to do the research. That a university would even allow this type of picture on its campus is a disgrace. It is anti-Semitic and racist.
During Finklestein’s appearance, hundreds came to hear him speak including professors and deans. Yet the same week, about 20 people came to hear Nonie Darwish, a courageous former Muslim who has put her life on the line to defend Israel, America and condemn terror. I was the only faculty member present (and I am only a part-time teacher).
During Al-Asi’s vitriolic speech, several deans scurried about playing hall monitor, moving Jewish protestors here and there and keeping walkways clear for students. That‘s all well and good, yet, during the speech, a busload of about 20 young schoolchildren, visiting the campus for a tour, stood outside their bus just yards from Al-Asi’s vitriolic speech. I wonder if there were any Jewish children in that crowd. Why did any of those kids have to be exposed to this? Where were the hall monitors?
To be sure, a few of the MSU’s speakers were not vitriolic. I am referring to Ms Anna Balzer and Mr and Mrs Corrie, who tragically lost their daughter. They seem like decent people, there was nothing objectionable in what I heard the Corries say, and I sympathize with them. I wish, however, that they had been present on Thursday to hear the words of Malik Ali (I don‘t believe they were present.) It might have given them pause.
Finally, David Horowitz, in his campus appearance singled out UCI as “the worst campus in this country” for anti-Semitic activity. In the question and answer period, I informed Mr Horowitz that 99% of the students at UCI have nothing to do with this ugliness. I also told him that there are two problems: first, the MSU (that brings in hateful speakers); second a university administration that is hiding under their desks, either out of fear, apathy or that they just don’t care about the concerns of their Jewish students.
The public needs to know what is going on at UCI, and I hope Horowitz and others keep the spotlight shining.
Gary Fouse
Adjunct teacher
UCI-Ext