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“Myth, Illusion, and Israel’s Democracy” to hit Chicago

April 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Like most campuses, the University of Chicago is a hotbed for unsubstantiated and state-sponsored rhetoric when it comes to “discoursing” about Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Most recently, Michael Oren addressed students and faculty earlier this month, arguing for further settlement building and an invasion of Iran. Although he repeatedly referenced the idyllic nature of democracy, he failed to acknowledge Israel’s non-democratic and discriminatory policies that seek to further segregate Arabs, particularly Palestinians. The University of Chicago ate it all up.

But the record must be set straight once and for all. The idea of a democratic Israel is a myth, a mere illusion. And award-winning journalist Max Blumenthal will be the one to say it.

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, please join Blumenthal for a talk about the realities of a democracy that refuses to serve Arabs, particularly those under its military jurisdiction. This talk is long overdue.

The event details can be found here.

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U of Chicago SJP’s Oren protest makes newspaper’s front page

April 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

The caption is straightforward enough. “Student and community protestors gather[ed] outside International House, where Israeli ambassador Michael Oren spoke Monday afternoon about a global response to Iran’s nuclear program, settlements in the West Bank, and his country’s standing abroad.”

After one particular campus administrator attempted to cage protestors behind something to the equivalent of a plastic Fisher Price playpen and after at least two other administrators unsuccessfully tried to keep protestors from utilizing public sidewalks, it comes as quite a surprise to see this photograph on the front page of the University’s newspaper.

The best part of it all is that the posters, at least the two on the right, are easily readable and pretty much sum up the point of the protest. [Read more...]

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‘U of Chicago wanted us to protest behind a cute little playpen’: Report-back from Oren protest

April 2, 2012 By 6 Comments

On Monday, April 2, the University of Chicago hosted Israeli ambassador Michael Oren to speak to a crowd at the International House about how Israel and America share parallel struggles and how relations between the two countries will determine whether or not the Middle East will ever see peace.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Chicago worked with students and community leaders to organize an emergency protest. The following is a report-back of what took place.

Before the event

The event was scheduled to begin on a Monday at 4:15 pm before the 9-to-5 workday even ended. The inconvenient timing of the event could have been a glaring sign that administrators and event organizers had consciously attempted to outmaneuver any expected protests. Nevertheless, SJP members and protest participants gathered at the appropriate location and at the appropriate time.

We were met by two UCPD officers, one uniformed and one plainclothed. Eric, the plainclothed officer, directed our attention to a plastic yellow fence across the street and all the way at a corner of a public park. [Read more...]

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U of Chicago, Oren’s newest propaganda playground

April 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

After inviting former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to speak about leadership and peace just months after authorizing a brutal invasion of the Gaza Strip, it comes as no surprise that the administration at the University of Chicago welcomes Israeli ambassador Michael Oren with open hands.

At this university in particular, discourse concerning Israel’s occupation of Palestine is typically circumvented or distastefully kept under the radar. Instead, campus administrators feign objective neutrality and, for once afraid to challenge the status quo, make it a point to “show both sides” by presenting students with state-sponsored propaganda that virtually absolves Israel of any regional responsibility.

We saw this firsthand in October 2009 when the University invited Olmert to speak about moral leadership even though he faced indictments for criminal corruption charges. Asked about his idea of a lasting peace, he failed to mention that he had recently called for “disproportionate” assaults against the Palestinian people.

We saw this again earlier in the week when the University invited Oren to solicit American support in his campaign to whitewash Israel’s abuse of Palestinian rights.

Oren is currently on an extended tour of college campuses. His purpose at each campus is to draw parallel’s between U.S. democracy and Israel’s Jewish democracy and to stress the importance of the U.S. as a staunch ally and military financer. Organized by Israel’s Consulate General, his talks are blatant attempts to put Israel in a favorable light without ever considering its policies towards Palestinians under its occupation. [Read more...]

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Chicago activists, we’ve been called out

March 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

Administrative note: It’s finals week at the University of Chicago so there will be little activity here on SMP until after I get through these exams. Rest assured, though. SMP will be back on track soon.

Chicago activists, we’ve been called out.

Waiting in my inbox today was an email from a colleague linking me to an opinion piece in The Times of Israel. Written by Michael Kotzin, a Senior Counselor at the Jewish Federation who spends much of his time trying without success to rebrand Israel as a humanitarian state, the article complains that campus groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are effectively linking Israel to apartheid and calls on Israel’s advocates to counter SJP and other likeminded movements who have the potential “to shape the American mind”.

I took most of the article with a grain of salt. I’ve seen dozens of these opinions try to frame any activism against occupation as an imminent threat to Israel’s existence. At the end of the day, what individuals like Kotzin are telling us is that Israel needs to occupy and oppress Palestinians to survive. Being unable to do so would lead to the destruction of the only beacon of hope in the Middle East. So, they say, put your morals away and keep Israel strong.

As you can see, Katzin’s article is laughable at best. But he’s got one paragraph in there that hits hard, and that’s why I couldn’t take the entire article lightly. Regarding Israeli Apartheid Week, he writes (emphasis mine): [Read more...]

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U of Michigan students to dismantle the myths of Israeli democracy

January 24, 2012 By 1 Comment

This Thursday, January 26, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) at the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor will be bringing renown author, journalist, and commentator Ali Abunimah for a groundbreaking lecture discussing, “Colonial Reality: Dismantling the Myths of Israeli Democracy. Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, will address the campus community on the reality of Israel’s claim as the region’s only beacon of light, a terms it regularly assigns to itself. (Editor’s note: Event information can be found at the end of this post.)

Rhetoric surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict has continuously revolved around the argument that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Such claims are not only false and biased, but have harsh implications in terms of the public opinion regarding the question of Palestine. These falsehoods propagated by the media and other outlets have lead to the pardoning of Israel for their blatant racist, discriminatory and colonizing practices and have characterized the Israeli government as the only nation in the Middle East that has any promising future because of its democratic ideals. These falsehoods lead to the Israeli exceptionalism that we see so often. Forgetting about the war crimes, violations of international law, illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing of a people, we see figures of power praising Israel for democratic traits they do not truly possess. We hope that this event will shine light on the realities of the that most college-age students at a public university may never hear. This topic is crucial because it will, as the title suggests, dismantle the myths that have been propagating popular opinion. [Read more...]

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SJP UChicago addresses Israel’s confusion on how the invasion of Gaza backfired

January 11, 2012 By 3 Comments

There is no doubt in my mind that Israel is utterly confused with the outcome of its invasion of Gaza three years ago. First, Gaza hasn’t yet collapsed into a state of abject humanitarian dispair. Yes, support for Hamas has waned since then but Hamas’ political stability does little to accurately represent the resilience of the territory’s population.

Second, the case against Israel is mounting. After denying all accountability for violating dozens of international law treatises and human rights accords and after managing to convince the once honorable Richard Goldstone to argue against himself, Israel is forced to reckon with the fact that criticism against its policies towards Palestinians in general continues to grow in terms of scope, material evidence, and support.

Third, the siege that remains over Gaza even though Gilad Shalit is out of Hamas’ custody has encouraged debate within Israel. The disillusionment that manifests itself in the minds of those who finally see the occupation for what it is inspires discontent. Israel’s social protests do a tremendous job of ignoring Israel’s treatment of Palestinians so I will not say that the internal debate it encourages has in mind the best possible solution for Palestinian sovereignty, but I will say that the emergence of a social consciousness within at least a few sectors of Israeli society was not on the government’s agenda. Twenty-two days of righteousness in 2008-2009 went down the drain, just like that. [Read more...]

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Lifting Spirits: Chicago’s Balloon Release for Gaza

December 31, 2011 By 8 Comments

On the third anniversary of Israel’s twenty-two day invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip, Chicagoans took to the streets to honor the fallen with a mass balloon release.

Among the 1,400 Palestinians killed during Israel’s invasion were at least 340 children who were, in most cases, playing soccer in the streets, sleeping with their favorite stuffed animals, or running errands for mom and dad when the missiles hit. Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights (CMPR), a youth-led collective, organized this gathering to symbolically commemorate these lost lives. Organizers in Nabi Saleh arranged an identical event the day before but were attacked with Israeli tear gas and water cannons.

Each balloon was tagged with the name and age of one of the killed children. The materials used were all biodegradable and the seed paper used for the tags is expected to bloom flowers wherever the tags land, a small but powerful tribute to the beauty and resilience of our fellow Palestinians in Gaza.

[Read more...]

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Chicago: Massive balloon launch for Palestinian children

December 29, 2011 By 10 Comments

If you’re in town, join the Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights as it releases hundreds of balloons into the sky to honor the children killed during Israel’s invasion of Gaza three years ago.

Each balloon will carry a tag with the name of the martyred child printed on seed paper. Wherever these (biodegradable) balloons land, flowers will eventually sprout from the seed paper in a way that resembles life in Gaza — blooming vibrantly and standing tall.

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Report-back of AMP’s Conference on Palestine, Part 1

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) hosted a quality conference over Thanksgiving break to celebrate the growth of the solidarity movement for Palestine, to give a status update on the movement’s condition in the United States, and to inspire attendees to continue pushing forward. Here is the first part of a two-part report-back on all the conference had to offer.

Hosted in Rosemont, just outside of Chicago, the conference venue featured four main halls, a dozen auxiliary rooms, a dining hall, and at least two boardrooms that were virtually filled to capacity for three straight days. Over 1,700 activists, community members, academics, and students gathered to further establish the Palestinian narrative. AMP did an excellent job of mobilizing the nation. [Read more...]

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