[wvns] Harvard Pimps for War on Iran

Mobilization for Attacking Iran
Thursday, October 08, 2009
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2009/10/followup-mobilization-for-attacking.html

I attended Charles Small's Harvard Lowell House talk. It was probably meant to put as many Jewish students and faculty as possible on the same page in order to start the fabrication of a fake grass roots movement agitating for an attack on Iran just as the SaveDarfur movement propagandized for an intervention in Sudan.

Altogether attendance was rather pitiful and totaled 14 including the speaker and me. Attendees included

Ruth Wisse, who seems to be aging rapidly,
Benjamin Owen, who I thought identified himself as President of Harvard Students for Israel,
Sarah Bayefsky-Anand, who seems to be president of HSI according to a search of the Harvard website, and
Albert, whose last name I did not catch and who was a Boston-area Iranian Jew who wanted to make sure Small did not go off the deep end.
Overall the lack of interest surprised me because I remember that Graham Allison and Noah Feldman filled this room in the early days of the War on Terror.

Owen introduced Small by summarizing his biography on the website of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism.
Small started off by acknowledging both Ruth Wisse, who was his former teacher at McGill, and Anne F. Bayefsky, who is a self-described pro-Israel human rights activist and possibly related to Sarah Bayefsky.

Next Small described a letter that was sent to him by a Jewish faculty member who accused Small of creating a perception of Jewish dual loyalty by banging the drum so strongly for action against Iran.
Small is extremely disappointed that US and Western intellectuals in general do not understand the threat of radical (not ordinary) Islam as he and other Zionists do.

Small argues radical Islam challenges fundamental Western values and assumptions whereas he and his colleagues follow the social democratic tradition of Charles Taylor and try to integrate the other into Western society according to human rights principles and in conformance with the Talmudic ethics of Emanuel Levinas.

Small rejects the assertion that modern society must accommodate all narratives and those practices and attitudes which like subordination of women and hostility toward homosexuals are an anathema to modern Western society.

According to Small, it is an abomination for Ahmadinejad to reject Israel's right to exist and to incite the extermination of Jews.
Small and Edward Kaplan coauthored a study that found a high degree of correlation of anti-Semitism (as they defined it) with opposition to Israel.

[According to Small the study used belief that Jews engage in unfair business practices as an indication of anti-Semitism. As an expert in Jewish political economy in the modern period, I object to the use of such an indicator because unfair business practices and corrupt social networking have constituted the essence of Jewish economic life in Europe at least since the 16th century.]

7-9% of Europeans that are anti-Semitic according to the Small-Kaplan criteria are also extremely anti-Israel.

In contrast 56% of anti-Israel Europeans are anti-Semitic according to the Small-Kaplan criteria.

Small then went on to explain that Iran has created a sense of urgency for Elie Wiesel in a way that he has not felt since 1945. Wiesel sees the possibility of another genocide against Jews and considers it an indignity to have to discuss genocide against the Jewish people in this day and age. He is bothered that nobody is doing anything.

Small contrasts the current situation with the efforts that he and other college students (including me) made on behalf of Soviet Jews in the 70s and 80s. He met with Anatoli Shcharanski in 19754-5. Shcharanski claimed to know Soviet Jews would become free because of the efforts of American college students.

[Note that I feel I was scammed in this movement because I later came to the conclusion that even up to the collapse of the Soviet Union the communist leadership remained disproportionately Jewish and that Soviet policy toward Jewish nationalism differed in no way from Soviet policy toward any other form of nationalism.]

After finishing with discussion of Shcharanski, Small listed the usual Zionist sins of the Iranian regime:

It is anti-democratic.
It consistently blames Jews for everything.
It uses the narrative of The Protocols of the [Learned] Elders of Zion, which paved the way for pogroms and genocide.

After some confusion of the 12th Imam with al-Mahdi, Small then accused Shiite Islam of inherent anti-Semitism by associating Jews with najis (ritual uncleanliness equated with tum'ah in Judaism).
According to Small, Ahmadinejad claimed in 2005 that Judaism was a stain of disgrace on the garment of the Islamic world and in 2008 that Israel was like a dried rotten stinking corpse hanging in a tree.

Small also asserts that Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust myth a swindle that is being used to squeeze money out of Western states.
As a consequence Gregory Gordon [Voices on Antisemitism: Gregory S. Gordon (Director, Center for Human Rights & Genocide Studies and Assistant Professor, School of Law, University of North Dakota] and Alan Dershowitz have teamed up in order to bring an indictment against Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide.

According to Small the Iranian regime is clearly out to create nuclear weapons as everyone agreed at the 2008 Pugwash Conference. The conferees only debated when Iran would finally complete development. He then complained that no one has been particularly upset even though Iran has been caught in a lie about its newest research facility.

Small went on to propose the refusal to act was connected with anti-nationalist post-modernism and with a developing Red-Green alliance such as seen at York University (where Anne Bayefsky is a professor of political science).

Small pointed out that the attacks no longer focus on Israel but also on anyone that supports Israel.

Small asserts that American Jews are becoming embarrassed by any association with Israel even as Israeli Jews are becoming aware that anti-Israelism is just the old anti-Semitism reborn.

Small analogizes the current situation with the 30s when American Jews embarrassed by the primitiveness of Shtetl Jews refused to speak up when they could have hindered or stopped Hitler's murderous plans.

Then Small opened up the talk for questions, which mostly related to Palestinian terrorism and the anti-Semitism of the Hamas Charter, which is supposed clear in the reference to The Protocols of the [Learned] Elders of Zion. I pointed out the the actual text only indicates the total ignorance of the writer of the charter with the actual content of The Protocols and added that I had confirmed my impression with Hamas supporters that remembered the history of the creation of the Charter. Small somewhat indignantly asked me if I would research American racism by consulting someone like David Duke. I said, "Damn right, I would, and when I was researching the Holocaust in the Ukraine, I spoke with people that I suspected of being Hilfswillige [shooters for the German Nazis]. It is important to get direct testimony on their perspective if possible."

Small claimed that repeated references to Freemasons indicated the indebtedness to The Protocols. I argued that references to Freemasons in ME conspiracy theories is generally the way one describes fellow travelers. The Charter's repeated references to the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B'nai B'rith and the like is probably an early attempt to describe the Israel Lobby with vocabulary understood by members of Hamas.

Small asserted that Hamas leaders had an obligation to learn enough about European anti-Semitism to avoid the Freemasonry terminology associated with bigotry against the Jews.

I pointed out that I was not sure the Freemasonry terminology was specifically anti-Jewish, that Small showed a similar problem in his discussion of Iran because he confused the 12th Imam, the Mahdi and the Masih, and that Hamas leaders probably had bigger issues on their mind than learning intricate details of the history of European anti-Semitism.

Small asked, "Which issues?"

I said, "Dealing with the theft of their country by E. European invaders."

Small responded, "Aha, Anti-Semitism."

I replied, "It's their experience and perspective. What do you expect? Gratitude toward Jews?"

Albert the Iranian Jew concluded the open forum by calling the Iranian threat a paranoid fantasy because he could safely state as a frequent visitor that Iran was too militarily weak, too backward industrially and too much of an economic mess to represent a danger either to Israel or to the USA.

===

[Harvard] Mobilization for Attacking Iran
Sunday, October 04, 2009
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2009/10/harvard-mobilization-for-attacking-iran.html

The following event may be of interest to readers in the Boston area.

The Israel Lobby is sponsoring these events all over the country (see Facing the Iranian Threat) in order to get as many Jews as possible on the same page before making the big push for an attack. (See Jewish Majority Now Backs Attack On Iran, Disagrees with Obama on Settlements.)

THE CHALLENGE OF THE IRANIAN REGIME: GENOCIDAL ANTI-SEMITISM IN A TIME OF SILENCE

When: Mon, 10/05/2009 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Where: Lowell JCR

Join us for a presentation by Professor Charles Small, Director of the Yale Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, on the Challenge of the Iranian Regime. This timely event is crucial to those interested in the political situation in Iran and the tense standoff regarding its nuclear program. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

This event is sponsored by HSI. Questions? Contact Matt (cohen5@fas)
Helen Cobban attributes the drumbeating for war at the Washington Post to individual insanity, but the combination of newspaper articles, broadcast news reports, and incitement throughout the organized Jewish community looks more methodical than mad.

[Note that the Boston Sunday Globe continued the scare-mongering with an article entitled Iran may be able to build A-bomb.]

BTW, here is more material on Small's efforts at Yale. Notice the focus on demonizing Iran, Islam, and Arabs as anti-Semitic.

Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective

Anti-Judaism, or the controversial term coined in the 1870s by Wilhelm Marr, Antisemitism, is one of the most complex and, at times, perplexing forms of hatred. It spans history, infecting different societies, religious and philosophical movements, and even civilizations. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, some contend that Antisemitism illustrates the limitations of the Enlightenment and modernity itself. Manifestations of Antisemitism emerge in numerous ideological based narratives and the constructed identities of belonging and otherness such as race and ethnicity, nationalisms, and anti-nationalisms.

This seminar series, co-sponsored with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, aims to explore this subject matter in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework from an array of approaches and perspectives as well as regional contexts. Eminent scholars and researchers are invited to present seminar papers in an informal setting. To enhance the level of discussion, papers will be made available online one week prior to the seminar.

The Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective seminar series meets on Thursdays from 4:15-5:45 p.m. at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A002 OR Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High Street, Room 101 OR 102.
Organizer: Charles Small, Director, Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA).

Contact for information: Lauren Clark, (203) 432-5239

Seminar Series 2009-2010

Current Fall 2009 Semester
Oct. 1
ISPS A-002
Orly Rahimiyan
PhD
Candidate, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Ben-Gurion University;
Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman Fellow, Center for
Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"Representations of Jews in Revolutionary Iran"

Oct. 1
TBA
*7:45pm* Professor Jytte Klausen
Professor, Comparative Politics, Brandeis University; Affiliate, Center for European Studies, Harvard University
"Blasphemy and Inquiry: 'The Cartoons That Shook the World'"

Oct. 7
SSS 114
*7:30pm* Professor Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law
Gloria Greenfield, Film Producer, Doc Emet Productions, Inc
"The Case For Israel" - Free Public Screening

Oct. 8
ISPS A-002

Brandon Friedman
Research Fellow, Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University
"Iran: Ideology and Foreign Policy, from Khomeini to Khamene'i"

Oct. 15
LC 101
Professor Barry Rubin
Director, Global Research in International Affairs Center (GLORIA); Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Israel
"How the PLO 'Adapted' Antisemitism as 'Anti-Zionism'"

Oct. 22
ISPS A-002
Jennifer Roskies
Consultant, YIISA; PhD Candidate, Gender Studies, Bar Ilan University
"Missing from the Map: Feminist Theory and the Omission of Jewish Women"

Oct. 22
Luce Auditorium
*7:30pm*
Ben-Dror Yemini
Editor, Maariv Daily Newspaper, Israel
"The Industry of Lies: Myths and Facts regarding the Middle East Conflict"

Oct. 29
LC 101
Shoaib Choudhury
Journalist, Editor and Publisher, Weekly Blitz newspaper, Bangladesh
"Hate Speech and Political Islam: Root Cause of Religious Extremism, Terrorism and Jihad"
Paper

Nov. 5
LC 101
Judge Hadassah Ben-Itto
Honorary President, The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
"The 'Jewish Conspiracy': A Strategic Weapon to Demonize Jews and Delegitimize Israel"

Nov. 12
ISPS A-002
Professor Ernest Sternberg
Professor, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Buffalo, SUNY
"Purifying the World: What the Radical Anti-Empire Ideology Stands For"

Nov. 19
LC 101 Professor Gregory Stanton
Founder and President, Genocide Watch; James Farmer Professor in Human Rights, University of Mary Washington
"Lecture Title TBA"

Dec. 3
ISPS A-002
Dr. Florette Cohen, The College of Staten Island, CUNY
Dr. Lee Jussim, Rutgers University
"The New Antisemitism Israel Model: An Empirical Approach to Modern Antisemitism"

Spring Semester 2010
Jan. 21
ISPS A-002
Professor Robert Wistrich
Director, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA), Hebrew University, Jerusalem
"The New Antisemitism"

Jan. 28
Luce Auditorium Professor Michael Walzer
Professor, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)
"A Conversation with Michael Walzer: The Implications of Contemporary Global Antisemitism"

Feb 4
ISPS A-002

Dr. Diana Gregor
European Affairs Associate/Political Analyst/Researcher, Réalité EU, New York
"Austria's Marriage with Iran - Support for Nuclear Program Versus Historic Responsibility?"

Feb. 18
ISPS A-002
Ayala Tamir
Assistant Director, Kupferberg Holocaust Center, Queensborough Community College, CUNY
"Architecture and Exhibition in Holocaust Centers: A Case Study"

Mar. 4
ISPS A-002 Berthe Kayitesi
PhD Candidate, University of Ottawa
"Our World of Contradictions: Faces of a New Antisemitism, Denial of Genocide Against Tutsis in Rwanda and Never Again"

Mar. 25
TBA
Reuvan Paz
Director, The Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM), The Gloria Center, The Interdiscpilinary Center Herzliya
"Between Islamist Anti-Israelism and Anti-Judaism: Is There A Difference"

Apr. 15
ISPS A-002 Professor Bryan Cheyette
Chair, Modern Literature; Professor, School of English and American Literature, University of Reading, UK
"Lecture Title TBA"

Apr. 22
TBA Professor Asher Susser
Senior
Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv
University; Senior Visiting Fellow, Crown Center for Middle East
Studies, Brandeis University
"Israel, Jordan and Palestine: One State, Two States or Three?"

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