Heard At The UCLA Divestment Debate

ucla debateI spent 5 hours last night attempting to watch the BDS debate at UCLA, an activity made more difficult because organizers had arranged that the camera be turned away from the presenters, as several pro-Palestinian speakers were “worried” about being on video. We then listened to them without seeing them. At some point, a pro-Palestinian asked someone who was filming to stop. I found that strange because it’s my personal belief that if you believe in something strongly enough to speak about it, then you should have the courage of your convictions and associate your face with your words.

The time was wasted, unfortunately, as the majority of the “arguments” on the pro-divestment side were histrionic, fallacious, and facetious. I listened in disbelief as one speaker brought up forced sterilization of black women, another spoke of genocide, and yet another said that Israel doesn’t allow Arabs to vote. Many of the pro-BDS speakers were swearing and screaming, and it was obvious that they were trying to make emotional appeals.

I listened as people spread ridiculous assertions, and flat out lies. Immediately following a letter that was read from Israeli Arab Mohammed Zoabi, someone said, “There are no Israeli Arabs, there are only Palestinians.” He then went on to talk about Israeli apartheid, a recurring theme. One even trotted out that old canard that “the Zionists came and stole the land.” My personal favorite, though, was the speaker who insisted that Israeli Arabs cannot attend university, ignoring that the founder of BDS went to university in Tel Aviv, and the fact that the University of Haifa has a huge Arab student population. The ignorance was truly appalling.

I listened in mounting frustration as several speakers granted the Palestinians indigenous status, while denying Jews theirs. Thankfully, other speakers, including an Iranian woman, spoke vociferously against the BDS movement.

There were more than a few who let their obvious anti-Semitism flag fly, almost proudly. The one speaker who said that IDF soldiers who were there to speak were “intimidating;” another who quite intentionally referred to the IDF as “IOF” (“Israel Occupation Force”), a typical insult to those who protect Israel. The self-described “queer” who accused Israel of pinkwashing was actually rather humorous, with his lecture about not using words like “gay” or “homosexual” to describe his people, followed by his assertion that gays are treated well in the Middle East (not Israel, where being gay is not illegal nor punishable by death, but in the rest of the Middle East). While listening to him and the Jewish youth who were speaking for JVP, I couldn’t help but wonder how their speeches would play in Gaza or Ramallah and would happily organise a mission for them to get there. (For those who may be unfamiliar with the group, Jewish Voice for Peace’s mission statement tells us that they “oppose anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression. JVP seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians; a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on principles established in international law; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East.”)

As is usual at such events, several pro-BDS speakers relied far more on bombast and histrionics, appealing to emotion rather than to anything resembling factual argument. One presenter attempted a spoken word performance, which left me feeling embarrassed for him; another sounded like a pep rally cheerleader, until she started screaming about the evils of the Jewish state. The irony of invoking human rights violations as justification for attacking the human rights of Jewish students on campus was lost on some of these people. Do students not have any right to study in an environment that is not deliberately hostile to them and that is conducive to their success?

Many of the anti-divestment speakers seemed ill-prepared, though equally passionate to their opponents. I was disappointed in them for not being as prepared as they should have been for such an important event, but glad they had the guts to stand up.

That said, there were some awesome pro-Israeli speakers. Key among them were Ben Shapiro, who gave a rousing speech, and Philippe Assouline, a friend, who not only brought up some very salient points, but also set the bar high by destroying some of the most used talking points.

http://youtu.be/cOIv6owDXYo

A group of students called Bruins against BDS were particularly effective: they sounded very prepared, and they did a great job reading letters, and making important points. Their leader, a student named Miriam Eshagian, should be proud of the work she has done, as it is clear that they made a real difference.

I thought about writing and debunking the talking points embraced by BDS supporters; then I thought I might write about why these arguments are damaging. Instead, I am just telling you what I saw, and what I saw was a large group of people making excuses for anti-Semitism. I saw people making “reasonable” arguments as to why Jewish people should be isolated and excoriated – apparently this is ok, because Jewish people do not have the same rights as everyone else, and so it is acceptable to segregate them. It is acceptable – if you support BDS – to demonise the only true democracy in the Middle East, and the only Jewish state.

One speaker said it best when she quoted the BDS founder Omar Barghouti (a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel who, in a somewhat ironic turn, was educated at Tel Aviv University):

BDS will not end with the end of the occupation. No rational Palestinian will ever accept the Zionist state.

In other words, this isn’t about oppression, this IS about destroying Israel. I am stunned that anybody could support the BDS movement after hearing such an assertion. Those who established this movement are not well-intentioned, nor are they truly “anti-oppression” (given the number of Israeli Arabs who tell us that they are not, in fact, oppressed, it would be difficult to support any “anti-oppression” movement). Anyone who supports the BDS movement after this is simply anti-Semitic. If we don’t believe that the Jews have the right to defend themselves, we are nothing more than anti-Semites ourselves.

Other highlights:

  • 0:40:10: Jewish kid lays the smackdown
  • 0:42:50: Complete idiot
  • 0:46:25: Worth listening to
  • 1:38:10: Crying whining ensues
  • 1:40:00: Jewish girl tears a new one
  • 2:05:40: Excellent speaker
  • 2:33:00: Worst speaker so far
  • 2:36:00: Gay black guy talking about open air prisons and Israel attacking black people
  • 3:15:18: Smart guy who gets it
  • 4:11:45: Another Jewish kid lays a smackdown
  • 4:43:00: Ridiculous wannabe Hitler kid
  • 5:07:30: One of those “intimidating” IDF soldiers..and awesome speaker
  • 5:49:07: Spoken word epic fail
  • 6:00:00: Guy who smokes too much weed

24 thoughts on “Heard At The UCLA Divestment Debate”

  1. LOL love it! 😀

    And omg I totally know what you mean about the Hitler wannabe kid. Israel exists for “monetary gain”, pfffft, never heard that stereotype before. And then he complains about hate speech against HIS people, what an irony

  2. Ryan, thank you so much for this, especially your “highlights” list. I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the video (certainly not 7 hours of it!) without that.

    I second what Brian said above about you deserving a medal.

  3. Ryan, thank you so much for this, especially your “highlights” list. I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the video (certainly not 7 hours of it!) without that.

    I second what Brian said above about you deserving a medal.

  4. i listened to much of the “debate” too

    and as much as i appreciated shapiro’s comments, especially since he pointed out the elephant in the room, he did what he always does….speak without listening

    i will excuse him, as he got out of bed to run over to the meeting, but noting other nations that ucla is not invested in because of their human rights abuses, was a moot point

    ucla is invested in biz that do biz with both russia and china, and he neglected to note that and neglected to note that there has never been a single divestment vote against those biz

    there were many absurd things said by the other side, but two that struck me, were the chinese national lecturing israel on human rights and the lebanese american claiming to be a jew. the latter was absurd because although i could not see the person, he sounded to be in his 20s (and claimed to be an undergrad), yet also claimed to have visited lebanon when israel still occupied parts, and visited his village

    this would put him in his 40s or 50s and as there were only 200 jews left in lebanon by 1980 and none in any village, who was he visiting

    cant win debates when the other side is allowed to openly lie

    not sure why the pro pali…errrr, jew hate side were afraid of showing their faces….but i have a feeling that it is due to orgs like amcha finally fighting back against campus jihadists and im glad they are afraid…let them all crawl back into their holes

    i noted a lot of projection emanating from the jew hate side, with numerous speakers talking about the conflicts in their own homelands, as if what they or their parents went through has anything to do with the arab/israeli conflict

    these kids dont need divestment, they need therapy

    btw, i am a proud reject of the uc system as i am happy that my alma mater, san jose state, has yet to be host to one of these farces

  5. i listened to much of the “debate” too

    and as much as i appreciated shapiro’s comments, especially since he pointed out the elephant in the room, he did what he always does….speak without listening

    i will excuse him, as he got out of bed to run over to the meeting, but noting other nations that ucla is not invested in because of their human rights abuses, was a moot point

    ucla is invested in biz that do biz with both russia and china, and he neglected to note that and neglected to note that there has never been a single divestment vote against those biz

    there were many absurd things said by the other side, but two that struck me, were the chinese national lecturing israel on human rights and the lebanese american claiming to be a jew. the latter was absurd because although i could not see the person, he sounded to be in his 20s (and claimed to be an undergrad), yet also claimed to have visited lebanon when israel still occupied parts, and visited his village

    this would put him in his 40s or 50s and as there were only 200 jews left in lebanon by 1980 and none in any village, who was he visiting

    cant win debates when the other side is allowed to openly lie

    not sure why the pro pali…errrr, jew hate side were afraid of showing their faces….but i have a feeling that it is due to orgs like amcha finally fighting back against campus jihadists and im glad they are afraid…let them all crawl back into their holes

    i noted a lot of projection emanating from the jew hate side, with numerous speakers talking about the conflicts in their own homelands, as if what they or their parents went through has anything to do with the arab/israeli conflict

    these kids dont need divestment, they need therapy

    btw, i am a proud reject of the uc system as i am happy that my alma mater, san jose state, has yet to be host to one of these farces

  6. One major point – the Daily Bruins report about the reason for secret ballot:

    USAC moved to make
    the ballot secret after council members raised concerns that their safety
    would be threatened by individuals who disagreed with their votes.

    This is UCLA in the heart of the USA!

    Assuming(:-) the threats came from the losing side, it will be far to say
    that the BDS movement and it bullies are a threat to free speech
    and anyone should object them just on this ground.

  7. One major point – the Daily Bruins report about the reason for secret ballot:

    USAC moved to make
    the ballot secret after council members raised concerns that their safety
    would be threatened by individuals who disagreed with their votes.

    This is UCLA in the heart of the USA!

    Assuming(:-) the threats came from the losing side, it will be far to say
    that the BDS movement and it bullies are a threat to free speech
    and anyone should object them just on this ground.

  8. Ryan: Thank you for posting this. As a product of the UC system and as a Jew, I feel proud of the Jewish communities at these schools for they are finally starting to stand up for themselves.

    Having witnessed several of these disgraceful marathon divestment debates during my time as a grad student on a UC campus, I think there are a couple of things that the pro-Israel side can do to help their cause more:

    1. Use humor! The positions of the Israel-haters deserve to be mocked. We need to re-frame these debates. Rather than simply defending Israel, we need to show the audience what a farce and disgrace each one of these divestment resolutions is.

    2. Personal, emotional stories. I know, it’s lame, and even pathetic, to hear so much pathos-based rhetoric, but the anti-Israel side uses it and uses it A LOT because it’s actually pretty effective.

    3. Do a better job anticipating the talking points of the Israel-haters. A few of the pro-Israel speakers did a decent job with this, such as responding to the guy talking about Israel “sterilizing” African women. But when the Israel-haters start telling these kinds of lies, we need to call them out on their blatant falsehoods and publicly eviscerate them for it.

  9. Ryan: Thank you for posting this. As a product of the UC system and as a Jew, I feel proud of the Jewish communities at these schools for they are finally starting to stand up for themselves.

    Having witnessed several of these disgraceful marathon divestment debates during my time as a grad student on a UC campus, I think there are a couple of things that the pro-Israel side can do to help their cause more:

    1. Use humor! The positions of the Israel-haters deserve to be mocked. We need to re-frame these debates. Rather than simply defending Israel, we need to show the audience what a farce and disgrace each one of these divestment resolutions is.

    2. Personal, emotional stories. I know, it’s lame, and even pathetic, to hear so much pathos-based rhetoric, but the anti-Israel side uses it and uses it A LOT because it’s actually pretty effective.

    3. Do a better job anticipating the talking points of the Israel-haters. A few of the pro-Israel speakers did a decent job with this, such as responding to the guy talking about Israel “sterilizing” African women. But when the Israel-haters start telling these kinds of lies, we need to call them out on their blatant falsehoods and publicly eviscerate them for it.

  10. Ryan, I just wanted to add my “Thank you” to the others that you so richly deserve. The Zionists and Israel are enormously lucky to have such an articulate writer as yourself as a friend. May God bless you and kol hakavod.

  11. Ryan, I just wanted to add my “Thank you” to the others that you so richly deserve. The Zionists and Israel are enormously lucky to have such an articulate writer as yourself as a friend. May God bless you and kol hakavod.

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