Speech seeks to foster dialogue, not divide
Editor,
An Open Letter to the NM Jewish Federation, UNM Hillel, and the Anti-Defamation League:
In recent weeks, the directors of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico and UNM Hillel co-wrote a letter to two UNM departments discouraging them from sponsoring Palestinian American Ali Abunimah’s Nov. 7 appearance at the University of New Mexico.
Along with several other campus and community groups, Abunimah’s talk is also sponsored by UNM student organization Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME).
The coalition’s goal in having Abunimah speak on our campus is to broaden the Israel-Palestine discussion to include the human rights of everyone in the region, not to suppress that discussion — as JFNM and Hillel seem eager to do.
For the record, CPJME’s mission is “to educate, advocate and collaborate for peace, justice and the human rights of all people.”
JFNM and Hillel authors write: “Abunimah is a representative of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a global movement intent on destroying Israel and her credibility in the world … according to the Anti-Defamation League, ‘BDS is about the three “Ds”: demonization, delegitimization and applying a double standard.’ This movement is disinterested in peace, the exchange of ideas or legitimate dialogue. … This is all anti-Semitism in its clearest, most noxious form.”
Who is guilty of the three Ds?
Not once has Hillel or JFNM engaged CPJME in public dialogue about this issue. Instead, supporters write nasty letters to the editor and on Internet blogs attacking campus and community members critical of Israeli policies. They employ character assassination and ad hominem attacks — typical hasbara (Hebrew for propaganda) tactics – to stifle dialogue and constructive debate.
In contrast, the coalition is bringing Abunimah to our campus in order to unite all sides of the Israel-Palestine issue through dialogue about peaceful resolutions to this ongoing conflict. BDS is not about demonizing, delegitimizing and applying a double standard nor is it a strategy intended to punish the Jewish or Israeli people.
BDS is a nonviolent movement that advocates the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of a country that for too long has been violating international law and dispossessing the Palestinian people of their land, their civil rights and, for so many, their lives.
Similar to strategies that helped put an end to South African apartheid, the overriding purpose of the BDS movement is to encourage Israel’s government to end its illegal occupation and make peace. Implicit in the BDS philosophy is the understanding that a lasting peace can only come about when all people, Israeli and Palestinian, are seen as equals with their rights fully respected.
JFNM and Hillel’s false and tired accusations must be brought to light once and for all. Instead of demonizing any who disagree with Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people — a strategy that can only perpetuate conflict — the coalition invites JFNM and Hillel members to step out from behind their self-imposed separation wall and dialogue with us publicly.
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To JFNM and Hillel: You might not agree with our invitation to Abunimah, but know this: Abunimah’s talk, “From New Mexico to Palestine: The Global Struggle for Human Rights and Equality” (nothing outrageous or out of the ordinary reflected in this title), will go forward as planned.
We will not back down, and we will not give in to your misleading ways. CPJME will not let one letter or a million letters get in the way of this event.
The Coalition for Peace & Justice in the Middle East and its many sponsors will unambiguously communicate to every single person in the room that denouncing Israel’s inhumane policies is not a crime, nor is it anti-Semitic. We will take this opportunity to educate and raise awareness on the UNM campus and in the larger Albuquerque community about the Israel-Palestine issue and the BDS campaign.
Abunimah personally invites JFNM and Hillel members to attend his talk on Sunday, Nov. 7 and “to ask me any questions they want.” Join in the dialogue!
Danya Mustafa
UNM student and CPJME
co-president
Margaret Leicester
UNM graduate student and CPJNM co-founder
Richard Forer
community member
Arab world uses conflict solely to attack Israel
Editor,
UNM’s departments of American studies and peace studies and several other “peace and justice” groups on campus are jointly sponsoring an upcoming talk given by a Palestinian-American journalist named Ali Hasan Abunimah.
Abunimah is a co-founder of “the electronic Intifada,” which is self-described as a publication committed to comprehensive public education on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In reality, this group’s actions are far from educational. Its entire coverage and discussions are devoted to the “crimes” Israel has committed against the Palestinians. No serious or constructive discourse is to be found on Palestinian economy, politics, refugees, etc.
In identical fashion to the Arab world and the Arab media, there is no genuine concern of the well-being of the Palestinians. On the contrary, the greater their distress, the more passionate and poisonous the propagandists become. The Arab states’ abuse of their Palestinian “brothers” is not to be discussed. Massacres of tens of thousands of Palestinians by Lebanese, Syrians, Kuwaitis, Jordanians, and mass expulsions from Libya, Kuwait and Iraq are not of interest as it cannot be used as a weapon against Israel.
The treatment of Palestinians as sub-humans or degraded citizens all around the Arab world is not worth mentioning for them. The fact that 90 percent of the Palestinian-Israelis are terrified by the idea of losing their Israeli citizenship and join their Palestinian brothers in the future Palestinian state (without being displaced), does not confuse Abunimah or other propagandists.
Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser blatantly expressed it saying that, “The Palestinians are useful to the Arab states as they are. We will always see that they do not become too powerful.”
Abunimah and his colleagues could care less for Palestinian well-being and its rehabilitation. They solely strive for the destruction of the state of Israel. The demonizing of Israel and the obsessive accusations of Israel for every misfortune in the Arab world lead to nothing positive, but possibly to a decreased support in Israel by the American public and decision makers.
Abunimah and his friends are unmistakable anti-Semites. Their obsessive attacks on Israel, predominantly by spreading falsehoods, and the portraying of Israel’s monstrosity on every occasion, are all aimed at delegitimizing the existence of Israel.
To this we may add their view in regard to the omnipotent “Israeli Lobby,” and one must be blind not to see the similarities with historic anti-semitism and Nazism. It is a shame and disgrace for UNM to host such hateful events, and it is outrageous that students and tax payers need to fund the employment of faculty members who promote hateful ideas and pass them to their students.
Yuval Carmi
UNM student
