Neither the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nor Mahatma Gandhi whined whenever they were jailed. They knew they violated the local burg’s usually unjust laws; endured their punishment like adults; and never blamed the Jews.
Not so the 11 overgrown delinquents who disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at the University of California, Irvine, last Feb. 8. They might have violated criminal laws common to all 50 states; bawled about facing charges for their deeds; and - you’ll never guess - blamed the Jews.
The UCI incident is among the latest of tasteless tactics employed by anti-Israel activists during the last several years, and some of those acts amounted to criminal offenses which usually were not dealt with sufficiently. Until now.
Campus police arrested these students, eight of whom attend UCI, and will forward an investigative report to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, which will decide whether to press misdemeanor charges of disrupting a lawful meeting, explained UCI spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon.
In the Canadian province of Ontario, a joint police agency is investigating Toronto’s Salman Hossain for posting bigoted rantings on an Internet site where he urges yet another Jewish genocide in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Finally, two law enforcement agencies in North America are doing what should have been attempted long ago. Little or nothing was done when anti-Israel protesters periodically violated the law. Now these agencies have initiated the investigative process that would compel any lawbreakers to face justice.
Of course, prosecution of possible crimes is always necessary. It deters more crimes like it. We recognize that there is no guarantee that these probes will lead to convictions, but at least they have taken the necessary first steps.
The UCI case has already shaken up the pro-Arab side. In early March, students at a speak out claimed that the “Irvine 11” was exercising its freedom of speech. A group called Stand with the Eleven issued a news release the following week accusing “external Zionist organizations” of influencing the university.
The release stated, “We call for an immediate investigation into the communications and agreements between UC leadership, including President Mark Yudoff, and external Zionist organizations that threaten the academic futures of the ‘Irvine 11’ and derail the academic freedom of all UC students.”
Their concept of freedom of speech and academic freedom was to spread through the audience of 500 or more and interrupt Oren 10 times as he tried to address the crowd. “Israel is a murderer,” one shouted. “How many Palestinians did you kill?” cried another. Under Pennsylvania criminal laws, a case could probably be built on charges of disorderly conduct, harassment and conspiracy. California no doubt has comparable laws on the books.
The eight students at UCI also face disciplinary action which could include a warning, behavioral probation, suspension or dismissal, Lawhon said. They were cited with violations of the student conduct code and received a letter detailing the violations. They were slated to meet with the chief judicial officer in Student Affairs, who must make a determination as to their consequences, she added. The process is confidential.
If these suspects did nothing wrong, then why should they worry about being investigated?
A few thousand miles to the northeast, Salman Hossain of Toronto is being investigated for recent Web site postings where he urged that “a genocide should be perpetuated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe,” according to the Toronto-based National Post. He calls moderate Canadian Muslims “traitors,” berates Christians and refers to Jews as “the scum of the earth” and “mass murderers.”
Hossain posted on an Arizona-based Internet site called www.filthyjewishterrorists.com where he also wrote, “No one in this world can take our history away from us. Especially not the cancerous group of people calling themselves Jews or Judeo-Christians who are going to be genocided in the near future.”
Hossain is being investigated by the Hate Crimes Extremism Investigative Team, which is composed of representatives of 13 Ontario Province municipal police forces, spokesman Abbee Corb confirmed to The National Post.
According to the newspaper, Canada’s hate crimes law bars support or promotion of genocide as well as the communication of statements that willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group, with the exception of what is said in private conversation. Under Pennsylvania laws, a case might be made for committing the offense called “terroristic threats.”
Hossain was unrepentent in an e-mail exchange with a Post reporter, stating, “Your hate laws are only being used to stop the truth from being spoken. I don’t fear telling the truth and I don’t answer to racist genocidal Jews who want to call ME a hater, when Jews hate ALL NON-JEWS. It’s not my fault you people rape babies, then cry foul when someone exposes it.”
The pro-Arab side might readily question if there are Jews who break the laws in these situations. They can point to a break-in and minor degree of vandalism inside the quarters of a Muslim student organization at Brandeis University in suburban Boston. One can wonder if the culprits are pro-Israel hardliners since Brandeis is a heavily Jewish institution.
We have no idea if the offenders at Brandeis are Jewish, and whoever did it should be prosecuted. Criminal conduct cannot be tolerated no matter who commits the offenses. However, most who engage in offensive and sometimes criminal behavior in this conflict advocate for the Arabs.
It is a relief that Orange County authorities are sending them a blunt message. Let’s hope they heed it.
Bruce S. Ticker is a freelance journalist from Philadelphia. He can contacted at Bticker@comcast.net.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Shaking up an Israel critic's credibility
William Delahunt - who lives in the same city as two early presidents - began the fateful day of Feb. 12 telling a reporter he may leave Congress this year before flying to Israel. There, he verbally dueled with right-wing politicians while hundreds of miles south of home a female professor’s shooting spree would hand him a potential political nightmare.
On Friday, he announced that he will not run for re-election next November after representing Cape Cod and Boston’s southeastern suburbs for the last 14 years. He claimed that the professor’s crime did not prompt his decision as he considered retirement before.
During his Middle East trip, Delahunt’s linkage with two organizations accused of anti-Israel positions led to a snub he shared with Bob Filner of San Diego from deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon, while a triple murder in Alabama exposed a botched investigation of a 1986 fatal shooting in Braintree, Mass. - caused by the present-day killer - when Delahunt was the local district attorney. Delahunt’s actual role at this writing remains a mystery, pending an investigation.
This string of coincidences has a biblical or Shakesperean touch to it that suggests irony at best and raises questions of hypocrisy at the worst. The Alabama episode can demolish the credibility of a controversial critic of Israel.
Delahunt’s experience is a downhill work in progress. He left for Israel on Feb. 12 on a trip sponsored by the J Street Education Fund and Churches for Middle East Peace. Some Israel backers bash these groups as habitual Israel-bashers, which may be an unfair characterization. J Street is at best irrelevant because the new lobbying group ardently urges the creation of a Palestinian state without regard for recent history - moderate strides by Israel and sharply increased hostility from the Arabs.
Delahunt, a resident of Quincy, vehemently complained when Ayalon refused to meet with a five-member congressional delegation led by Delahunt. He was uncharacteristically silent that same week amid questions about his role in the investigation of the 1986 shooting.
On Feb. 12, a woman who grew up in Braintree - Amy Bishop, 45, a biology professor - shot to death three of her colleagues and wounded three others at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Possibly her anger at being denied tenure reached the boiling point that day.
In 1986, a 21-year-old Amy Bishop was released from custody by Braintree police after she fatally shot her brother Seth, 16, with a shotgun and afterward held two strangers at gunpoint and demanded a car to get away, according to The Boston Globe and other media sources. Bishop was never charged with a crime as the shooting was ruled an accident. State police and the district attorney’s office said Braintree police never informed them of the events following the shooting. The district attorney’s office could have charged her with these other offenses.
Bishop was released from custody shortly after her mother met with the Braintree police chief, the Globe reported.
Bishop later graduated Harvard with a doctoral degree and became a biology professor at the University of Alabama. She was denied tenure last year, and she shot her six colleagues on Feb. 12.
Delahunt’s schedule in Israel included meeting with top Arab officials, the king and prime minister of Jordan and members of the Knesset, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Delahunt was joined by Filner and Lois Capps, also of California; Donald Payne of New Jersey; and Mary Jo Kilroy, Ohio.
All five recently signed onto a House resolution calling for Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza. They neglected to mention the ongoing detention of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped from an Israeli military base on June 25, 2006.
While overseas, Delahunt made no attempt to enlighten anyone as to how Bishop eluded charges. “I haven’t had a real opportunity to get into the details of the case, but I suspect when I return I’ll have an opportunity to become debriefed,” he told the Associated Press.
Back in Massachusetts, Delahunt blamed Braintree police for failing to make its report available, yet this argument was undermined by attorneys who said that a state trooper assigned to Delahunt’s office should have sought this information.
As quoted in the Globe, Delahunt said, “Why did we not receive the information? We operate on the information we have before us.”
Frank J. McGee, who represents arresting officer Ronald Solimini, retorted, “If you have a shooting and someone is dead, the very first thing you do is get the police reports and, secondly, interview the arresting officer.” John Kivlan, Delahunt’s top aide in 1986, conceded that the state trooper assigned to Delahunt’s office was responsible to ensure he “gets all the information” from local police.
Aside from Delahunt’s official responsibilities, many police officers, townspeople and political insiders likely talked up a storm about the shooting and its aftermath, which means that Delahunt might have heard things through the grapevine that were worth checking out.
Delahunt may well be sincere in an attempt to improve conditions in the Middle East, but he is wasting his time aligning himself with J Street, an organization which outlived its usefulness before it was created. J Street is taking stands on issues that were satisfied by Israel nearly five years ago.
While Delahunt expended time in Israel, he could have been back in Quincy - also the home of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams - helping law enforcement authorities sort out the facts of a 24-year-old shooting death.
If these details expose serious flaws on Delahunt’s part, one can understand why he was reluctant to leave Israel.
Most importantly, if it turns out that Delahunt exercised poor judgment or acted on political motives, Israel can readily dismiss any criticisms from Delahunt because he has lost all credibility.
On Friday, he announced that he will not run for re-election next November after representing Cape Cod and Boston’s southeastern suburbs for the last 14 years. He claimed that the professor’s crime did not prompt his decision as he considered retirement before.
During his Middle East trip, Delahunt’s linkage with two organizations accused of anti-Israel positions led to a snub he shared with Bob Filner of San Diego from deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon, while a triple murder in Alabama exposed a botched investigation of a 1986 fatal shooting in Braintree, Mass. - caused by the present-day killer - when Delahunt was the local district attorney. Delahunt’s actual role at this writing remains a mystery, pending an investigation.
This string of coincidences has a biblical or Shakesperean touch to it that suggests irony at best and raises questions of hypocrisy at the worst. The Alabama episode can demolish the credibility of a controversial critic of Israel.
Delahunt’s experience is a downhill work in progress. He left for Israel on Feb. 12 on a trip sponsored by the J Street Education Fund and Churches for Middle East Peace. Some Israel backers bash these groups as habitual Israel-bashers, which may be an unfair characterization. J Street is at best irrelevant because the new lobbying group ardently urges the creation of a Palestinian state without regard for recent history - moderate strides by Israel and sharply increased hostility from the Arabs.
Delahunt, a resident of Quincy, vehemently complained when Ayalon refused to meet with a five-member congressional delegation led by Delahunt. He was uncharacteristically silent that same week amid questions about his role in the investigation of the 1986 shooting.
On Feb. 12, a woman who grew up in Braintree - Amy Bishop, 45, a biology professor - shot to death three of her colleagues and wounded three others at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Possibly her anger at being denied tenure reached the boiling point that day.
In 1986, a 21-year-old Amy Bishop was released from custody by Braintree police after she fatally shot her brother Seth, 16, with a shotgun and afterward held two strangers at gunpoint and demanded a car to get away, according to The Boston Globe and other media sources. Bishop was never charged with a crime as the shooting was ruled an accident. State police and the district attorney’s office said Braintree police never informed them of the events following the shooting. The district attorney’s office could have charged her with these other offenses.
Bishop was released from custody shortly after her mother met with the Braintree police chief, the Globe reported.
Bishop later graduated Harvard with a doctoral degree and became a biology professor at the University of Alabama. She was denied tenure last year, and she shot her six colleagues on Feb. 12.
Delahunt’s schedule in Israel included meeting with top Arab officials, the king and prime minister of Jordan and members of the Knesset, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Delahunt was joined by Filner and Lois Capps, also of California; Donald Payne of New Jersey; and Mary Jo Kilroy, Ohio.
All five recently signed onto a House resolution calling for Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza. They neglected to mention the ongoing detention of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped from an Israeli military base on June 25, 2006.
While overseas, Delahunt made no attempt to enlighten anyone as to how Bishop eluded charges. “I haven’t had a real opportunity to get into the details of the case, but I suspect when I return I’ll have an opportunity to become debriefed,” he told the Associated Press.
Back in Massachusetts, Delahunt blamed Braintree police for failing to make its report available, yet this argument was undermined by attorneys who said that a state trooper assigned to Delahunt’s office should have sought this information.
As quoted in the Globe, Delahunt said, “Why did we not receive the information? We operate on the information we have before us.”
Frank J. McGee, who represents arresting officer Ronald Solimini, retorted, “If you have a shooting and someone is dead, the very first thing you do is get the police reports and, secondly, interview the arresting officer.” John Kivlan, Delahunt’s top aide in 1986, conceded that the state trooper assigned to Delahunt’s office was responsible to ensure he “gets all the information” from local police.
Aside from Delahunt’s official responsibilities, many police officers, townspeople and political insiders likely talked up a storm about the shooting and its aftermath, which means that Delahunt might have heard things through the grapevine that were worth checking out.
Delahunt may well be sincere in an attempt to improve conditions in the Middle East, but he is wasting his time aligning himself with J Street, an organization which outlived its usefulness before it was created. J Street is taking stands on issues that were satisfied by Israel nearly five years ago.
While Delahunt expended time in Israel, he could have been back in Quincy - also the home of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams - helping law enforcement authorities sort out the facts of a 24-year-old shooting death.
If these details expose serious flaws on Delahunt’s part, one can understand why he was reluctant to leave Israel.
Most importantly, if it turns out that Delahunt exercised poor judgment or acted on political motives, Israel can readily dismiss any criticisms from Delahunt because he has lost all credibility.
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