One February 2010, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was invited to lecture about US-Israel relations at UCI (University of California Irvine). Soon after he started, students started to stand and interrupt him shouting statements such as:” Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech”. A total of 11 students stood up and yelled, 8 from UCI in Orange County, but also 3 from Riverside.
The students were speaking on cue, even using cards, in what clearly appeared to be a “rehearsed show”.
The connection with the MSU (Muslim Student Union) shouldn’t be missed, as they had denounced Oren’s visit hours prior. The same MSU is responsible for organizing a yearly event in the Spring that has been known as Hate-Fest, when they invite anti-Israel speakers, many of them having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and even the terrorist group Hamas.
UCI has the reputation of being the most virulent anti-Semitic campus in America, yet Michael Drake (UCI chancellor) has been quoted to say that there was no such problem on campus. To his credit, he decided to revoke the MSU charter for one year and put them on probation for another year. Thus they did not have the opportunity to organize their annual anti-Israel rallye in 2010. They quickly resumed in May of 2011 with another week of vitriolic diatribes while on probation. Well, we are back to freedom of speech I guess!
The anti-Israel rhetoric is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing or anti-Semitism in disguise. That is of course if we agree that anti-Israel sentiment, as the lesser of two evils is indeed the “sheep”, and this is hardly a fact!
Almost one year later, on February 4, 2011, the disrupting students were facing charges by the Orange County District Attorney. This was already a small victory against the poison of radical Islam and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by both Jewish and Muslim communities. This was small but worth mentioning in our politically correct self mutilating society. And yet, the verdict had not come out!
On September 23rd, the Santa Ana Court in Orange County, California made their final deliberation and to much surprise, found the students GUILTY. They were sentenced to community service and put on a three-year probation.
This is a great victory in the history of campus anti-Semitism. This creates a precedent that will for sure dictate how other universities will and should react to hate speech, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. It sends a message to those who go on spewing hatred, thinking that they will go unpunished.
This is one case where “Campus Intifada” has been defeated because there were enough outraged people within and without our legal system, and they were not afraid to speak up and defend the truth.
An anti-Semitic group attempted to propagate hate speech by misusing free speech but Judeo-Christian ethics prevailed over radical Islam lack of ethics.
Chutzpah prevailed over Sharia and may the momentum continue!
Anti-Semantic or anti-Semitic?
If WE hurt YOU, make sure YOU apologize!
In recent days, the Obama administration as requested that the Israeli government issue a public apology to the Turkish government over the flotilla incident of May 2010 when several ships sent from Turkey attempted to pierce through the Israeli Gaza security blockade.
Prime minister Netanyahu has- RIGHTFULLY SO- refused to apologize to Turkey, remarking that if anybody owed an apology, it was Turkey to Israel (article here).
It amazes me how the world continues to slap Israel in the face and accuse the Jewish nation of being the NUMBER ONE REASON why there is no peace in the middle East.
During the middle ages, popes, kings and nobles repeatedly committed the same crimes. Many attempts were made at ostracizing, de-humanizing and even destroying the Jews, while using Jewish property and wealth in the process. Some might wonder why I bring the middle Ages into all this?
Personally, I see great similarities between the forced apology for an act committed against Israel and the fact of having Jewish people finance their own demise.
We kill you but YOU pay for it!
We aggress you but YOU apologize!
In both cases it is a humiliating and antisemitic approach that I believe is only meant to further demonize the Jewish people and Israel.
I stand behind Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision not to apologize for an act NOT committed.
I wonder how much more the Obama administration needs to do to prove to the world that America
has finally turned its back on Israel?
The Bible states in Hebrews 10:31 that “it is a terrifying thing to fall int the hands of the living God”.
It is also in the Bible, in the book of Genesis that we find God’s foreign policy regarding Israel.
In Genesis 12:3 we are reminded of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants: “I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you”.
The clock is ticking!!!
How Close Are We?
The Bible promises us that in the end days, Jewish people from all over the world will all be reunited before the Second Coming of Yeshua the Messiah (Zec 12:10, 13:9, Matt. 23:31-39). This return of the Jewish people (mostly in unbelief) has already started with a major wave of Jews from the former Soviet Union…and it continues.
35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day, And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:
36 “ If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease From being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus says the LORD, “ If the heavens above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD.
I also know that God doesn’t want for anyone to perish but the Bible is clear that all (and He includes Muslim, Jews and everybody else) must put their trust in the death and resurrection of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus) for their sins. This decision to trust Yeshua is the only way for anyone to secure an eternity in God’s presence. The alternative is too HOT to handle!
(Psalm 2:12, Isaiah 59:2, Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1 Tim 2:5, John 14:6)
Is Anti-Semitism on the decrease in America?
According to a recent poll in October 2009 by the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitism is at its lowest in America since 1964. from a high of 29% in 1964 it has fluctuated up and down to only 12% in October of 2009. In a sense, this is a victory, but no matter which way you look at it this still means that there are about 30 million people in the United States that are anti-Semitic. This is still too many by any standards.