The Professor's Obsession
by Cinnamon
Stillwell
FrontPageMagazine.com
June 2, 2009
http://www.meforum.org/2156/the-professors-obsession
Stanford Middle East history professor Joel Beinin's
appearances on the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center (PPJC) Palo Alto
cable television program "Other Voices" reliably produce anti-American,
anti-Israel invective. In September 2008, Beinin declared, "The
American empire is going down," and during a taping for the February 2009
show, "Gaza
and the Future," he pronounced, "The United States aids and abets
Israeli war crimes."
What Beinin labeled Israeli "war crimes" (i.e. defending its
citizenry) and U.S. collusion therewith were central to his discussion, as
the show aired soon after Israel's military incursion into Gaza in
December 2008.
One might have thought Obama's election would make Beinin
optimistic about the prospects for weakening U.S. support for Israel, but
his mood was decidedly downbeat. Obama, Beinin predicted, would "act like
all America presidents" by "pushing U.S. interests with foreign policy."
(What country doesn't pursue its own interests with foreign policy?) But,
Beinin allowed, if Obama were to simply issue a "statement" telling Israel
"it's committing war crimes," "going against U.N resolutions," and that
"the U.S. will no longer sell Israel weapons," "the Israel Lobby and AIPAC
would crumble." The crowd of mostly aging hippies murmured in
agreement.
Jimmy Carter, the most rabidly
anti-Israel U.S. president and author of the widely criticized book,
Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, was the only American leader
Beinin praised. Beinin lauded Carter as a "deeply religious man" but, he
qualified with a chuckle, "in a good way." Apparently, he only sees the
minority of practicing Christians who toe the anti-Israel line as
palatable.
In a case of tortured logic, Beinin blamed Israel for making
"Hamas and Hezbollah…heroes in the Arab world" with its defensive military
actions. "It's almost as if Israel was trying to make Hamas appear to
represent the Palestinian cause," Beinin continued—apparently forgetting
that Gazans elected Hamas by a landslide—and then quipped, "not to get
conspiratorial or anything."
Beinin proceeded to do exactly that by echoing many of his peers
in the perennially anti-Israel field of Middle East studies with the
statement:
The Gaza operation was premeditated. It had nothing to do
with rockets, terrorism, or anything the Israeli government
claims.
Regarding Hamas's
deliberate use of civilians as human shields and civilian buildings as
targets, Beinin made the equally preposterous statement:
Of course Hamas hides among civilians. Gaza's a very
small, densely populated place. Where else are they going to
hide?
Similarly, on the advisability of either Israel or the U.S.
negotiating with Iran and Syria, Beinin made the axiomatic statement that,
"You have to talk with the people you're trying to negotiate with."
On the prospects for a two-state solution, Beinin claimed
that "successive Israeli administrations have done everything to prevent
it from happening: The settlements, the wall, the roads." There was no
word on the role of Palestinian violence toward Israelis in the failure of
the "peace process," which, he allowed, was "effectively dead."
Beinin also avoided focusing on internecine battles
among Palestinian factions, either in the Middle East or in the U.S. When
an audience member asked him about a highly circulated video produced by Minnesotans Against
Terrorism depicting a pro-Palestinian rally at the state capital in
St. Paul that descended into a pitched battle between Fatah and Hamas
supporters, Beinin was clueless. (The rally featured the first Muslim
congressman, Minnesota's Keith Ellison, being shouted down by followers of
Hamas, apparently for not being radical enough.) Seemingly unaware that
Minnesota is a center
for Islamist activity, Beinin was surprised that a story from that
state could have any significance and brushed the question off.
Beinin's actions since this interview have amplified his
anti-Israel credentials. Although Middle East studies academia has largely
avoided Israel
Apartheid Week since its inception in 2005, Beinin took part this
year, with a talk
at the University of California, Berkeley on March 5th. So too
did University of Massachusetts Boston political science assistant
professor Leila
Farsakh, who spoke at York
University the same day. Beinin's participation in this propagandistic
and offensive week of Israel-bashing further affirms his lack of
objectivity on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Although Beinin's audience at the Peninsula Peace and
Justice Center likely consists of like-minded viewers, his students are
another matter. They should treat most of what he says with the skepticism
one reserves when listening to ideologues.
Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for
Campus Watch, a project of
the Middle East Forum.
Related Topics: Academia, Arab-Israeli debate in the
U.S., Middle East
studies Cinnamon
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