0
Nearly every week we hear of the sickness pervading every aspect of our universities. Sometimes the inner rot is nuanced and needs explanation. But sometimes the filth encountered on university campuses is so apparent all I need do is report.
At the University of California, Irvine (UCI), a disturbing series of events is taking place. Last week, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) held a sick and twisted version of “Holocaust Memorial Week.” If you’re thinking of that little incident a half century ago with the Nazis and the Jews in Germany, you’re thinking a little narrow for the fellas in MSA.
On Tuesday, their first speaker was Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor (that would be the real Holocaust, a distinction that will be important later). Her topic was “Surviving the Nazis: Remembering is not enough,” which is not exactly a promising way to kick off a Holocaust Memorial Week. Usually such a talk comes at the end of a memorial week, after sufficient time has been given to sobering reflection on the tragedies of a troubled time. Epstein is a strong supporter of the Palestinian movement and has protested against Israeli action.
On Wednesday, MSA brought in the Washington DC Muslim Cleric Abdel Aleem Musa, a notorious holocaust denier and outspoken supporter of Islamic terrorism. But rather than describe this despicable character and his murderous ideology, I’ll let him speak for himself.
At UCLA in January 2001:
If you were to say that the Soviet Union was wiped off the face of the earth . . . people would have thought you were crazy, right? The people of Afghanistan didn’t have the intellect or historical knowledge to know that they wasn’t [sic] supposed to wipe out the Soviet Union, is that right? … We saw the fall of one so-called superpower, Old Sam is next.
At UC, Irvine on September 9, 2001:
You think Zionism and Palestine is [sic] the only dictatorial power in the world? We’re telling you about apartheid right here in America. Not an apartheid of the 1960s, but an apartheid right now today. When you fight Old Sam, you are fighting someone that is superior in criminality and Nazism.
At a rally on June 8, 2002:
They are not suicide bombers, they are heroes. That's a part of our religion. Let's not become weak-boned and apologetic.
Hannity and Colmes February 18, 2007:
Hezbollah is a great movement and a great organization…Hezbollah are [sic] a good group of people practicing Islam.
If Bin Ladin is a Muslim and if he is alive...I have to like him.
While on Hannity and Colmes, this delightful fellow claimed Bush was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and refused to answer the straightforward question, “Did the Holocaust occur?” Maybe it’s just me, but he doesn’t seem appropriate for a “Holocaust Memorial Week.”
To wrap up the three day event, Ward Churchill spoke on Thursday. You remember the guy; he was the professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who called the people who died in the 9/11 attacks “technocrats” and “little Eichmanns,” questioning the injustice of their deaths. The ensuing uproar prompted an investigation, which produced allegations of plagiarism and academic misconduct. Ward Churchill is a despicable character and a fraud. His topic: “Manifest Destiny and the American Holocaust.”
Some “Holocaust Memorial Week,” huh?
The MSA is following up last week’s disgraceful events with “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected” this week. According to the itinerary on Facebook, events include “Zio-Nazis,” “The Trail of Tears—Roots of Israeli Apartheid,” “Antisemitism: The Zionist Façade,” Israel: A Mockery of Democracy,” “Terrorists, Freedom Fighters and the Holy Land,” and “The UC Intifada: How You Can Help Palestine.”
Intifada: an Arabic term which, in political context, means “uprising.” After a two week-long discussion of how the Holocaust is overblown, how Israel is a fascist state, how anti-Semitism is a “façade,” the MSA at UC-Irvine is going to encourage an “uprising” on behalf of Islam.
The speaker for the last two events is Amir Abdel Malik Ali. His speech for this event last year was titled “Israel: the Fourth Reich.” Among his many memorable quotes were the following:
There’s a genocide happening in the Holy Land; there’s oppression happening in the Holy Land. And it must be fought, it will be fought, and it is being fought.
The truth of the matter is your days are numbered. We will fight you; we will fight you until we are either martyred or until we are victorious.
Oh, the Religion of Peace.
