During a recent visit to several university campuses in the U.S., I discovered that there is more sympathy for Hamas there than there is in Ramallah.
Listening to some students and professors on these campuses, for a moment I thought I was sitting opposite a Hamas spokesman or a would-be-suicide bomber.
I was told, for instance, that Israel has no right to exist, that Israel’s “apartheid system” is worse than the one that existed in South Africa and that Operation Cast Lead was launched only because Hamas was beginning to show signs that it was interested in making peace and not because of the rockets that the Islamic movement was launching at Israeli communities.
I was also told that top Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in prison for masterminding terror attacks against Israeli civilians, was thrown behind bars simply because he was trying to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Furthermore, I was told that all the talk about financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority was “Zionist propaganda” and that Yasser Arafat had done wonderful things for his people, including the establishment of schools, hospitals and universities.
The good news is that these remarks were made only by a minority of people on the campuses who describe themselves as “pro-Palestinian,” although the overwhelming majority of them are not Palestinians or even Arabs or Muslims.
The bad news is that these groups of hard-line activists/thugs are trying to intimidate anyone who dares to say something that they don’t like to hear.
When the self-designated “pro-Palestinian” lobbyists are unable to challenge the facts presented by a speaker, they resort to verbal abuse.
On one campus, for example, I was condemned as an “idiot” because I said that a majority of Palestinians voted for Hamas in the January 2006 election because they were fed up with financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority.
On another campus, I was dubbed as a “mouthpiece for the Zionists” because I said that Israel has a free media. There was another campus where someone told me that I was a ‘liar” because I said that Barghouti was sentenced to five life terms because of his role in terrorism.
And then there was the campus (in Chicago) where I was “greeted” with swastikas that were painted over posters promoting my talk. The perpetrators, of course, never showed up at my event because they would not be able to challenge someone who has been working in the field for nearly 30 years.
What struck me more than anything else was the fact that many of the people I met on the campuses supported Hamas and believed that it had the right to “resist the occupation” even if that meant blowing up children and women on a bus in downtown Jerusalem.
I never imagined that I would need police protection while speaking at a university in the U.S. I have been on many Palestinian campuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and I cannot recall one case where I felt intimidated or where someone shouted abuse at me.
Ironically, many of the Arabs and Muslims I met on the campuses were much more understanding and even welcomed my “even-handed analysis” of the Israeli-Arab conflict. After all, the views I voiced were not much different than those made by the leaderships both in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. These views include support for the two-state solution and the idea of coexistence between Jews and Arabs in this part of the world.
The so-called pro-Palestinian “junta” on the campuses has nothing to offer other than hatred and de-legitimization of Israel. If these folks really cared about the Palestinians, they would be campaigning for good government and for the promotion of values of democracy and freedom in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Their hatred for Israel and what it stands for has blinded them to a point where they no longer care about the real interests of the Palestinians, namely the need to end the anarchy and lawlessness, and to dismantle all the armed gangs that are responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Palestinians over the past few years.
The majority of these activists openly admit that they have never visited Israel or the Palestinian territories. They don’t know -and don’t want to know - that Jews and Arabs here are still doing business together and studying together and meeting with each other on a daily basis because they are destined to live together in this part of the world. They don’t want to hear that despite all the problems life continues and that ordinary Arab and Jewish parents who wake up in the morning just want to send their children to school and go to work before returning home safely and happily.
What is happening on the U.S. campuses is not about supporting the Palestinians as much as it is about promoting hatred for the Jewish state. It is not really about ending the “occupation” as much as it is about ending the existence of Israel.
Many of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas officials I talk to in the context of my work as a journalist sound much more pragmatic than most of the anti-Israel, “pro-Palestinian” folks on the campuses.
Over the past 15 years, much has been written and said about the fact that Palestinian school textbooks don’t promote peace and coexistence and that the Palestinian media often publishes anti-Israel material.
While this may be true, there is no ignoring the fact that the anti-Israel campaign on U.S. campuses is not less dangerous. What is happening on these campuses is not in the frame of freedom of speech. Instead, it is the freedom to disseminate hatred and violence. As such, we should not be surprised if the next generation of jihadists comes not from the Gaza Strip or the mountains and mosques of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but from university campuses across the U.S.
No matter how much you suck up for the zionists , you will always be a Palestinian and nothing else . remember the zionists who uprooted you from your land and your grandfathers land , and now you dont even deserve the right to be free and Live a normal life . I say Enough sucking up , that s all i noticed in your Articles , Mr Abu tuameh (name suits you fine )
At minimum, you are an idiot. If you are a Palestinian, then you are worse than that - how to put it lightly? oh .. yes .. an "uncle Tom" or a "Palestinian House Negro" (RIP X). I understand your need to make $$ and make something out of yourself with the degree you spent the family jewels on, but come-on, really, your voice is a "nashaz" if you really know Arabic - amongst the global call, not alone the Palestinian victims blood over 60 years. "Aih boss - whatever you want me to do boss - yes yes boss, what is that industry-strength lubricant for boss?"
go back and report to your bosses, that the world now stands against them, then quit and go herd some cheep - you can tell them all what you want. Hey they may even call you "boss" - cause you will never be in the place you are now...
I think these college campus protesters are people who actually hate their own country, the United States of America, and have a need to lash out using Israel as a proxy for their anger. We are at an odd point in history because the US government itself is now a fully radicalized leftist institution, with the most leftward leaning president in its history in power.
Still, we have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a President who may soon begin to understand that it takes more than exoriating businessmen, military leaders, and "Republicans" to run a country. Also there are still rich folks and poor folks. And we're still driving cars powered by gasoline.
So for the hardcore radicals among us, President Obama will eventually "sell out," if he hasn't already. So, who does the left cast as the villian? Israel. The Jewish State is the proxy for the western culture they despise. This is a vile self hatred, and a cultural toxin.
"...they no longer care about the real interests of the Palestinians..."
Did they ever care about the real interests of the Palestinians?
My admiration to Khalid.
I can only remember an expression that says it all: "We are living in an insame world," Prof. Barry Rubin wrote.
One-sided point of view about the conflict. No merit. The people have finally opened their eyes is all, and are not blinded by Israeli propaganda. With that said, debating should be an open fourm, and no one should put down others verbally, or threaten someones life either. Freedom of speech is very important.
Well Thank God you are around to educate. Keep up the great work.
Bravo Khaled,
Exposing what's happening on American campuses with regard to the anti-israel movement is tremendously important work and you cover it in exactly the right tone. It will take the work of people such as yourself, those with first hand knowledge of the realities on the ground, to call out these anti-semitic thugs who cover themselves in the cloak of anti-zionism.
You're on the money when you say "What is happening on the U.S. campuses is not about supporting the Palestinians as much as it is about promoting hatred for the Jewish state. It is not really about ending the “occupation” as much as it is about ending the existence of Israel."
Keep up the good work, we need it.
I have been appalled at the amount of support that has been given to the Palestinians here in Europe. I live in Sweden and during an anti-Israeli demo the leader of the opposition party was seen carrying a Palestinian flag and laughing while an Israeli flag was burned! Over in the UK where I originate from a Labour MP has raised £75,000, organised an aid convoy and was photographed handing the money over to the Hamas. Later he was given a Palestinian passport! The world is going to hell in a basket and I can't figure out why no one in authority is doing anything about it. People on the street are recognising now that Islam is a real threat but European politicians, for the most, don't want to see.
Unfortunately, the trend for pro-Palestinian dogma on campus at US universities is equally well entrenched at UK academic institutions.
I have a son at Nottingham University where the pro-Palestinians recently occupied a law lecture theatre until a set of demands were met by the university, you know, the usual stuff around delegitimising Israel and official recognition for Hamas. They left after 2 weeks of considerable disruption without any concessions by the university.
What is sad is that there is an absolute ignorance of historical or factual context allowing reasonable debate. Many actual Palestinians engage in dialogue that could, one day, lead to a 2 state solution but the unholy alliance of Far Right, Extreme Left with a few Anarchists thrown in for good measure are actually motivated by something far more sinister than the destruction of zionism or the State of Israel - that is just an increasingly politically correct mask which hides a new, virulent form of international anti-semitism.
It is still, fortunately, difficult to express openly anti-semitic views in public in Western democracies. Holocaust denial will never be perceived as legitimate. Nobody outside of the Arab world really believes that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was not a forgery. Jews do not drink the blood of Christian children at Passover.
However, the new anti-semites can re-write Middle Eastern history (up to yesterday's news if so desired) in a way that delegitimises Israel, accuses it of all the things that are actually wrong with its surrounding Arab neighbours, calling for its destruction simply because it is a Jewish State. The anti-semites cannot stand the fact that the Jewish people have expressed their legitimate right to self-determination, and this manifests itself in modern anti-zionism.
I can highly recommend a superb new book by the non-Jewish MP Denis Mcshane called "Globalising Hatred - The New Anti-Semitism". The general thesis of the book is that until the anti-semites masquerading as anti-zionists are exposed a political solution to the problems of the Palestinian people is a remote possibility.
we can only thank the wonderful american media for their fair and balanced reporting... they are the real culprits of our demise.
Lets face it, the Palestinians are their own worst enemy.
Here they sit, " subjugated " by Israel," imprisoned " , " tortured " , " defiled as human beings ", and all the while, twenty miles away, they have a country of their own.
Twenty miles.
Where they speak the same language, worship the same G-d, and are all related.
I know a guy who drives twenty miles for the best steak in the country.
Lots of Americans rode a bus for peace.
Why can't the Palestinians?
Thank you Khaled Abu Toameh.
From our shores we have watched Israel and the Palestinian territory erupt into fear and devastation - the only thing that's going to stop the violence is an understanding that peace means being responsible for creating a future one's children can thrive in.
Our college campus radicals are saddled with ignorance and driven by simplistic hatreds that defy logic and put the lie to their claims of wanting peace. They want war, against Jews, and the bloodier the better. Shame on them.
Can't we just acknowledge that this is only Jew-hatred in another guise? There's no logic, no facts in the idiots' ventings. Jews in command? Without pointed hats or a Jew-badge? Unthinkable. It's unchanged for centuries. Why cover it with a Middle East veil?
I want to thank Mr. Toameh for being one of the most reliable sources of information about the Palestinian people. I have never seen a word he has written ever retracted. I only wished the Obama administration relied on him for making its mid east policy decisions.
Mr. Toameh, you comments are completely consistent with my recent experience as a Board member of a middle-east studies program at a major university. Most of the information you describe stems from the strong Anti-Israel and anti-semitic positions of leading Middle East Studies Professors who refuse to even investigate different perspectives and subtley or expressly inhibit students' opinions that are not consistent with their line. The problem lies with the American college professors who feed these lies to our children.
Orwell was on target
Eddie Vic,
Are you trying to prove that degenerates described in the article exist outside of campus? There is no need, we know that.
I am 24 years old, living in Canada (Toronto) for the past 12 years. I was born in Israel (Haifa). My parents made their move to Israel in the 70's and watched it grow, progress and yes, go to war.
What I learned from living in a multicultural environment is that most of us LEFT OUR HOMES BECAUSE OF WAR! No one likes it, I don’t. The difference between people who would like to see a change and those who don’t, is simply the ignorance that was taught by the parents. Just like Hollywood, the media (CNN) portrays Israel as a blood sucking nation that wants to be in the centre of attention. Well, good morning to everyone. Israeli’s just want to wake up in the morning, go to work or school, go on vacations and celebrate holydays just like everyone else (no matter their religion) without getting blown up or have about 100 soldiers fully loaded waiting for the unexpected. That’s no way of life either.
Those who protest the Israeli state or Jews as a whole should take a look back into history and find out what really happened back in 1948, when the British had Palestine territory under their command.
What’s happening between Israelis and Palestinians is hate that is brought on by uncompromised living arrangements. Would you really kill your neighbor if they park their car one foot on your driveway?? No. You would ask them to move it, if it really bothered you. Why can’t these rules be applied everywhere?
Great piece...i put it up on my blog.
Best,
Bruce
Compare the productivity between the Israelis and their neighbors on all sides while having one arm tied behind their backs with security related issues.
If only the arabs would mobilize their populations (all men and women) toward positive productivity instead of hatred and violence toward Israel,the west, and often their own people, their lives would rapidly improve.
Israel is far from perfect and security actions are often ugly, but these are required to protect itself. Israel has given back a hundred fold in science and arts compared to it's neighbors that comprise over 300 million more in population and all the rich natural resources of the world...
Eventually all people will recognize Israel's great contributions toward improving the world and end the irrational hatred. It is toward this end that those on college campuses should strive... see the positive achievements from the tiny state of Israel and ask what the other side has contributed toward improving their own lives.
The vicious comments of Leyla and Eddie Vic represent the kind of thinking to which Abu Toameh refers. But as Dan points out, this hatred is spread by the Arab elite - the professors of Middle East Studies and their Jewish and Israeli fellow travelers, who poison our campuses, while our administrators sit idly by and rationalize their inaction.
And these are the messages for which parents pay up to $50k per year. Letting the campus travesty persist in respect to Israel - the latest incarnation of the "Jew" - shows the weak underbelly of our society and needs to be confronted by all people of good will. We simply need to stand up to the campus demagogues! They are not subject to reasoning.
The comments of Leyla, Eddie Vic and Ahmed are of interest because they obviously ignore anything written by Abu Toameh and simply lash out.
If these three are students, then somewhere along the line something got screwed up in their education. Their simplistic insults and verbal violence hurled at Abu Toameh show not just an inability to engage in debate, but also an inability to reason.
Thus you get supposedly educated people supporting Hamas, a movement that is contrary to most principles you find on a college campus. In order to support Hamas, they have to actively ignore the nasty aspects of Hamas policy and philosophy (which includes attacking unarmed civilians, ignoring honor killings, suppression of womens' rights, recruitment of children for military purposes, etc etc).
More troubling is that college administrations have knuckled under to the bullying and permit racist and hate-inspired actions by pro-Palestinian groups. There have been many instances of campus protests with pro-Hamas/Palestinian supporters calling for death and destruction, yet they are allowed to do so with impunity.
Israelis have less to fear from these people than Palestinians. The obvious low-level of engagement does not present a threat to Israel, but is just an annoyance. The Palestinians, on the other hand, should be worried that their support is coming from radical elements who are showing support for the creation of just another tyrranical regime in the middle east.
Khaled Toameh is smart, intelligent and brave man. He is capable to face the facts. You, Leyla, are not. Or you disrespect your own people. If you wish them good things, you would ask yourself simple questions: why Arabs in Gaza are still in poverty if they get the highest financial aid in the world? who is responsible for death of Arabs who don't agree with Hamas? Why Walid Shoebat, Nonny Darwish and other dissidents get threats all time? Why Arab text books full of hatred to Israel? Nobody took "your" land. Two states were created in 1948: Israel for Jews and Jordan for Arabs. Israel was attacked immediately. Arab countries who started the war asked Arabs to leave and give couple of weeks (they hoped to win quick war and to kill all Jews). Then these refugees were supposed to come back and live happily. It didn't happen because Jews (sorry) were not ready to get killed.
Sorry about your experiences in America.
Sadly, the Liberals gained control over much our educational system some time ago and have used it to indoctrinate our youth into their ideology, an ideology that includes a great deal of Antisemitism and love for terrorism and terrorists.
I am an Australian protestant, a retired academic, caucasian, who would welcome a peaceful two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. Here too in Australia we have the sort of anti-Israel fanaticism described by Mr Toameh. And university campuses are alas a prime source. Anti-US hysteria is at the bottom of a lot of it. The US supports Israel, to a degree - that's enough to bring out the usual suspects. This despite the fact that the US along with Tony Blair has fought a number of often costly wars in Muslim interests - the first Gulf war to liberate Kuwait, the Balkans to stop the disgraceful ethnic cleansing of Muslims there, Afghanistan to liberate the country from the theocratic Taliban, the second Gulf war in part to save the Iraqi Shia and Kurds. The US also funds the Palestinians quite substantially. No matter, the ideologues need a US Satan in their drama so that they themselves will get another chance to play God. Why complicate this emotionally vivifying drama by any real history, like the fact that the Palestinians lost their 1947 state primarily not to Israel but to Jordan (West Bank) and Egypt (Gaza strip). In 1967 Israel got the West Bank but offered it back to Jordan in return for peace, an offer Jordan rejected at the time. So don't blame Israel - or Uncle Sam.
Mr. Abu Toameh is no Zionist. He is a sensible man (I've had the pleasure of meeting him) who tries to tell the truth, and, in doing so, attempts to promote co-existence between Jews and Arabs.
What a terrible place we have reached where such modest goals make someone a hero.
I had the pleasure to attend one of Mr Abu Toameh's speeches at my campus, UC Santa Barbara. In my opinion, there was nothing aggravating at all of his statements. He presented his arguments eloquently and logically with no emotional pleas and sought to educate the audience by simply putting the facts on the table. His opinion is very valuable because he represents an element of Arabic Israeli society which is seldom heard. Throughout his speech, although focusing mainly on the Hamas and Fatah dynamics, he saves no criticism towards Israel and the US for exacerbating certain situations.
Of course, the dissenters in the audience, many of whom I know for a fact have never visited the region, seem to be in this persistent state of denial where everything Israel does is an affront to peace and the Palestinians are merely innocent victims.
I wonder how it is for the Israelis and Palestinians to look at the outside world and see what a ridiculous drama this relatively small conflict generates.
Thank you for publishing this article. It now focuses on anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments. It really should wake up people like me who sit back and "observe", rather than behave.
As a result of this article's publication here, I have immediately increased my contributions to CAMERA. I urge those who read my comment to use these organizations to mobilize a response to the world's concern with those who would "punish" Israel.
Further, I urge you to support the Friends of Israel Defense Forces (IDF). While this organization can only fund non-combatant programs to enhance the well-being of the IDF. That we can relieve Israel and its people from expanding some or all of the non-combatant activities, the funds raised by taxes and contributions of Israelis can be used to expand the military equipment and weaponry needed to maintain the being of Medinat Yisroel.
AM YISROEL CHAI!!!!!
It is unfortunate that under the banner of Freedom of Speech, so many college students do not recognize how they are being treated like pawns in the hands of anti-democratic anti-semitic heretics whose sole purpose is to subjugate them in the name of Sharia law. Mr. Tomeh should be commended for his articulate examination of the hate speech filling college campuses across the United States.
So sad that some people are so threatened by alternative perspectives.
David Olesker-
Just by virtue of his writings, it is easy to see that Mr. Toameh is a Zionist. Meaning, he supports the existence of a Jewish state in Israel and believes in the right of Jews to self-determination. That is the sole meaning of Zionism; please do not fall prey to anti-Semitic propaganda comparing Zionism with racism in your attempt to defend Mr. Toameh's admirable remarks.
Way to not listen, Leyla!
Read it again, slowly, and think about what the man is actually saying.
To get the facts as reported after 7 years of intensive research please all of you take the time to read Joan Peters book, " From Time Immemorial". I was born and raised in Egypt and was there when Israel was born and the 1948 war or rather attack on Israel took place and was lost by Egypt and all those Arab countries who participated.
The author is, of course, quite correct. The driving force behind this virulence is anti-Semitism in the form of anti-Zionism, and the Palestinian people are being used as cannon fodder, sacrificed to this ideology. Anyone with the slightest regard for the Palestinian people, and this includes many Jews, knows that their future welfare would best be served by peace and diplomatic negotiations rather than sacrificing themselves against a superior force for dramatic effect; but the litany of "Zionism = Nazism" requires the continuation of this unequal battle, in order to produce the perpetually static tableau of an imbalanced death toll. In pursuit of this public relations coup, the Arab states have since 1948 refrained from giving the Palestinians any real help, instead feeding them on a diet of frustrated rage and violence as if they were dogs being bred for dogfights. To the everlasting shame of Western progressives, their natural sympathy for the little guy has putrefied into the same attitude; making them armchair advocates of martyrdom for the sake of primitive militaristic fantasies of "dignity" and "honor", inflamed by simplistic one-sided myths of absolute Innocence violated by utter Evil. But these newfound “friends” of the Palestinians have no real empathy for suffering; were it not for the irresistible lure of the 2,000 year old stereotype of the evil Jews' plots against the nonJew, they would pay the Palestinians as little heed as they pay to all the other Arab or Muslim victims of much worse oppression and violence, anywhere else in the world.
Gzuckier, quite astute observations.
Mr. Toameh, of course, my compliments to you, first and foremost. Keep up the good fight, as the prospect for a healthy Palestinian state lies with folks like you. Or at least, it should.
I want to share a brief something something with you. A number of years ago, I met an acquaintance of my wife's, a Palestinian-Israeli woman, now living in the US. She by far was not the first Palestinian I've encountered. I live in Chicago, there's a fairly sizable Palestinian community in our south burbs. So, I've worked and interacted with quite a few of them over the years. Commonly, the views I hear from them about Israel...well, let's just say they wouldn't be booed at those college campuses you visited.
Anyways, about this Palestinian-Israeli lady, small talk followed and somehow wandered towards the Middle East, Israel, Palestine, that sort of thing. Here we go, I thought, expecting the usual party line of one form or another, and as customary, laced with resentment and anger.
But, what's this, it never materialized! Instead, I heard about fond memories living next to, working with, and socializing among Israeli Jews. And really, not much of anything bad to say about Israel itself. Odd, I thought, very very odd.
And now, I read your article! Can it be, is it possible, are there really Palestinians out there not filled with self-defeating delusions of perpetual victimization at the hands of the nefarious "zionazis"? I've got renewed hope for mankind. :)))
I too have experienced anti - israeli comments on my blog.
Even thought I havent said anything.
I personally think both sides are wrong in the
conflict.
But than again, its uncomfortable to get these extremely liberal comments slammed in once face, because liberals are often too good at telling people what side they should be on.
Yes, I do have a bit experience with that, since my mother is a communist.
Even though the idea of anti - war, welfare, etc in liberalism might be well ment, its not a positive way to make discussions, when you front people by not trie to be open to disagreements.
And that is the problem with people in the liberal left.
Fascinating observation about the difference between the Arab/Muslim community and the non-Arab pro-Palestinian crowd. I generally don't have time for the pro-Palestinian westerners (as well as those pro-Zionist Christians). My stereotypes of them is that they are generally filled with opinions rather than solid facts, and are so fixated on a particular narrative that they are not able to consider the many nuances in this conflict. This is not to say that such problem does not exist among Palestinians/Arabs and the Jewish community. However, the key difference is that Palestinians and Jews have a direct stake in the conflict, so even their misconceptions are worth listening to, and they are more likely to be aware of the nuances in the conflict. The 'typical' pro-Palestinian westerners (and pro-Zionist Christians) are intellectually dull and lazy, as evidenced by some of the responses you have been getting.