ZGram - 5/7/2002 - "Et tu, MIT?"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGRAM - WHERE TRUTH IS DESTINY

MAY 6, 2002

GOOD MORNING FROM THE ZUNDELSITE:

Somebody sent me the following, with a little intro paragraph:

"Well, things are looking better, I suppose, if even universities so 
heavily Jewish and Zionist in their faculties and student bodies as 
Harvard and M.I.T. are the sites of anti-"Israeli" protests.  I am 
sure that the many pro-Zionist goons on both campuses will make for a 
rather stormy confrontation.

"It would be interesting to hear about the out-come of these protests."

[START}

Some on Harvard, MIT facilities (sic) urge divestment in Israel

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff, 5/6/2002

A teach-in on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
today is the latest development in an ongoing protest of Israeli 
policy by some MIT and Harvard University professors.

About 75 faculty members at the two institutions have signed an 
online petition asking the schools to divest from companies doing 
business in Israel until its forces withdraw from occupied 
territories, among other conditions. Noam Chomsky, the well-known 
linguist and activist, will speak at today's event, along with other 
critics of Israel.

Nancy Kanwisher, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive science and 
one of the petition's organizers, said she had been ''politically 
dormant'' until she saw photographs of the Jenin refugee camp, where 
Palestinians allege Israeli forces massacred hundreds of civilians 
and violated the international laws of war during a three-week siege.

''I looked to see where the protest was, and I couldn't find it,'' 
she said. ''I was shocked.''

Working with a Harvard faculty friend and input from Chomsky, 
Kanwisher modeled the petition after one organized at Princeton 
University. It states that signers are ''appalled by the human rights 
abuses against Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government,'' 
and that they ''find the recent attacks on Israeli citizens 
unacceptable and abhorrent.''

''But these do not and should not negate the human rights of the 
Palestinians,'' the petition adds.

Supporting faculty include members of MIT's departments of 
linguistics and philosophy, architecture, literature, political 
science, and mathematics. At Harvard, professors of classics, 
biology, psychology, and Greek and Latin are among those who have 
signed the petition.

As of yesterday, 40 faculty members at MIT and 39 at Harvard had 
added their names. Another 81 students, staff, and alumni of the 
schools have also signed.

Paul Nemirovsky, a doctoral student at MIT who grew up in Israel, 
said he thinks many of the professors who signed the petition don't 
understand both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. He wrote a 
response pointing out that other nations responsible for ''infinitely 
larger'' civilian casualties haven't been similarly condemned, and 
sent it out by e-mail, he said.

''I felt hurt for who I am, as an Israeli and a Jew,'' he said of 
reading the petition. ''It was the first time in my adult life that I 
ever felt these things mattered ... What I really hated about it was 
the fact that they're using the name of an institution that is by 
definition apolitical.''

At Harvard, a rally protesting the petition drive is scheduled for 
noon today in front of the Science Center. After hearing details 
about the movement in the last few days, some students have labeled 
it hypocritical.

''It's ridiculous,'' said Paul Gottesman, who recently stepped down 
as president of the zionist Jewish Law Student Association at 
Harvard. ''The people who are involved in this divestment campaign 
are basically trying to impose economic sanctions on Israel. These 
are the same people who continually oppose economic sanctions against 
countries like Cuba and Iraq. So I wonder what their motivations 
are.''

And Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz warns, ''Any effort 
to divest from Israel would fail because it would destroy any 
university that attempted it. Faculty would leave, students would 
refuse to attend, the contributors would refuse to contribute.

''I would not remain at any university that would divest from 
Israel,'' he declared.

Kanwisher acknowledges the controversy and said she's not looking for 
divestment anytime soon. She pointed to the long years campus 
activists spent protesting investment in pro- apartheid South Africa.

Harvard is widely remembered for what was seen as a slow and 
reluctant response to the campaign against South Africa.

''It would be a mistake to expect any immediate outcome,'' Kanwisher 
said. ''If people become more willing to question Israeli policy, 
that will be a step forward.''

She said she's been contacted by people at other universities, 
including Tufts, where there is interest in beginning similar efforts.

According to the Web site where the petition is posted, 
<http://www.harvardmitdivest.org>www.harvardmitdivest.org, Harvard 
has more than $600 million invested in US companies that do business 
in Israel, including McDonald's Corp., International Paper, General 
Electric, and IBM. Numbers posted for MIT are preliminary, but show a 
smaller level of investment.

(Source:  Today's Boston Globe, Page B3)

[END}

Thought for the Day:

"... in an Italian University at the political science faculty the 
students took a vote for the most influential American politician. 
68% voted Ariel Sharon."

(Letter to the Zundelsite)