Academia, Free Speech, Politics, Society

Williams Student Body Refuses To Recognize Pro-Israeli Group

I recently was critical of students at Trinity College opposing the recognition of a club on Western Civilization named after Winston Churchill. Now, the same content-based bias is evident at Williams College where the student body has refused to recognize a pro-Israel group.

The Williams Initiative for Israel (WIFI) supports Israel. However, other groups have political elements to their subject matter. Yet, this was the first student group in more than a decade to be denied recognition despite stated conditions, according to The Williams Record.

The College Counsel voted against recognition by a 13-8 vote at its April 23 meeting.

In a public letter last week, Williams President Maud Mandel chastised the College Council for rejecting the club on “political grounds.”

Minutes from the meeting reportedly show that students objected to the views of the club. Later. Omar Kawam, the student contact for the Muslim Student Union, said the presence of a group “who says they support the [Israeli] government that is currently enforcing those oppressive policies [against Palestinians] seems to be watering down the experience of Palestinian students at Williams.”

The Muslim Student Union’s Kawam said that “having a pro-Israel group is supporting the right of Israel to continue enacting policies that have been drowning out Palestinian people.”

No, having clubs does not mean that the university is supporting their inherent views. Indeed, the opposition to the views of these clubs shows that there are a myriad of different views on the subject of Israel. Once again, the focus of some students and faculty today seems to be silencing opposing voices rather than advocating for their own viewpoints. It is antithetical to our academic mission and ultimately reflects not just an anti-free speech approach, but an anti-intellectual trend on our campuses.

21 thoughts on “Williams Student Body Refuses To Recognize Pro-Israeli Group”

  2. Where is Hamas getting all these Qassam rockets from?

    To date, Hamas has fired over 18,000 rockets from Gaza into Israeli civilian targets, none were military targets. Have a prayerful & peaceful Ramadan.

  3. Let me get this straight. A United States college prohibited a club that supported one of our closest allies?

    Islam is not for me, personally, but they have every right to form their own club on campus. So do Democrats, Socialists, and Democratic Socialists (a misnomer if ever there was one). I don’t agree with their politics, either.

    People get to form their own clubs and associate with whomever they want. It’s nobodies’ beeswax.

    Opposing the club is anti-semitic, and supporting a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and a genocide against the Jews is inexcusable. Rejecting the club is anti-semitic, and it also treats Jewish students differently than Muslim ones.

    Dennis Prager made several good points in his discussions about anti-Zionism. There is a difference between being critical of a country’s policies, and being against an entire country. One could not say that one hates Italy but has no problem with Italians. He also asked, if Palestinians laid down their weapons and said, “We will fight no more”, what would happen? If Israel laid down their weapons and said, “We will fight no more”, what would happen? Hint, both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood openly state their goal is the entire destruction of Israel and to kill Jews.

  4. The fastest growing religious persuasion in the US is none – atheism, a natural result of the effects of Zionist “Christianity” (the word “Christian” appears sum total twice in the Bible, both times as a term of derision).

    It’s interesting to see how opposed are the forces of Zionist Christianity. Of course, Zionist Christianity is the opposite of Christianity. ZC denies and replaced the New Testament’s “spiritual Jerusalem” with a fake physical “Jerusalem” in the pagan land of modern “Israel” in the Middle East.

    If you can listen for five minutes without upchucking, flick on your local “Christian Satellite Station” or any “evangelical” radio/TV, and write down you exact start time. Report to class how many seconds or minutes it takes to hear a paid Israeli Zionist shill masquerading as a “Christian” to talk about “God’s building the future final temple in Israel,” and/or a request to “send money to help relocate a Jew to the Promised Land” or other such political tripe masquerading as religion.

    The obvious and inevitable long term effect of Zionism on Christian faith is to turn it into just another pagan farce. The problem for Zionists is that this means that young people growing up now are more prone to see the effect of Zionism for what it is, detached from its fake “Christian” garb.

    Personally, I would like the US to obey G. Washington’s advice, that “all foreign entanglements are temporary” especially those with the likely most hated nation on earth. I just want Israel to sink or swim with its neighbors on its own. If Israel can’t figure out how to get along with their neighbors, that’s not the USA’s fault. It’s purely on them. I don’t favor Islam over Israel one bit. Don’t blame modern Americans for Truman and the League of Nations forcing modern Israel on the ME by threat of force.

    The Southern Baptist Conference prohibits non-Zionist members (they demand obeisance and subservience to their pagan god Israel). If the SBC loves Israel so much, maybe they should just relocate Israel to Texas.

    2. I would like the US to obey G. Washington’s advice

      Dude, what is with all of your hate?

      Personally Im reminded by work colleagues that I have to stop reminding people about the principle of Natural Selection and the efficiency of a meteor hitting Earth and destroying all of the mentally and physically unfit organisms therein. They are right. Ya know, you gotta get along with people

      Take it up a couple of notches, Mmmkay?

    3. I applaud Princess Trohar for the rare feat of getting almost every single thing she says completely wrong.

      “The word “Christian” appears sum total twice in the Bible, both times as a term of derision.” False. One reference is positive, and one neutral and descriptive.
      “The fastest growing religious persuasion in the US is none – atheism…” Wrong. “Nones” and atheists are distinct categories.
      “a natural result of Zionist ‘Christianity'” False. People are not rejecting Christianity for not hating Jews enough.
      “ZC denies and replaced the New Testament’s “spiritual Jerusalem” Wrong. They just believe that the historical, physical Jerusalem is also a real place. Which it is.
      “a fake physical “Jerusalem.” Wrong and stupid. Jerusalem is an actual city on Earth.
      “pagan land” Wrong. Jews are not pagan by any commonly used definition.
      “of modern “Israel” in the Middle East.” Dumb. Israel doesn’t belong in scare quotes. It’s the historical name of that land over 2000 years older than, say, America’s name.
      “paid Israeli Zionist shill.” Wrong, and self-evidently insane.
      “Zionist … masquerading as a “Christian.” False dichotomy.
      “send money to help relocate a Jew to the Promised Land” or other such political tripe masquerading as religion.” Wrong. Helping any persecuted people move to their ancestral homeland is a perfectly Christian thing to do.
      “long term effect of Zionism on Christian faith is to turn it into just another pagan farce.” Self-evidently wrong. Christians who support Israel, and those who don’t, practice their faith the same way.
      “young people growing up now are more prone to see the effect of Zionism for what it is” Wrong, and begging the question. By all objective measures, the current crop of young people is unprecedentedly stupid.
      “the likely most hated nation on earth.” Wrong, but also a horrible argument even if true. I don’t think many Christians are going to buy your ‘if everyone hates a guy, you should too’ logic.
      “Israel can’t figure out how to get along with their neighbors,” Wrong. There IS no way to get along with someone who hates you for existing. Only ways to defend yourself.
      “It’s purely on them.” Wrong. We are currently party to a treaty to oppose and prevent genocide when it’s attempted.
      “I don’t favor Islam over Israel one bit.” Wrong. You don’t question the right of Muslims to live in their ancestral homelands, only Jews.
      “The Southern Baptist Conference prohibits non-Zionist members” Wrong. There are many anti-Zionist and even BDS supporters among SBC members.
      “(they demand obeisance and subservience to their pagan god Israel)” Wrong. They drafted a perfectly reasonable statement of support for Israel’s right to exist, and resolved to pray for the Jews’ salvation. Grow up, dork.

  5. These universities are responding precisely to the desires of the paying customers. In a perfect world, the students would be ordered to shut the —- up and study; to not speak until after the age of 30. The anomaly is how the parents of these students obtained funds sufficient to cover absurd tuitions – “Redistribution of Wealth Ben Beddy Beddy Goood to Me!” They must be those “government workers” who were laid off during the government “shutdown.” People who actually “work hard” for their money wouldn’t let it go so easily and for such ridiculous purposes.

  7. And the university president did not overrule them because……………..?

  8. Where is Williams College? I never heard of it. It is now on the itShay list. The Palestinian terror organization there needs to be investigated.

  9. The group has every right to be there. What would be much more helpful is exposing how these organizations are in direct contact w/the Govt. of Israel, from whom they receive marching orders, talking points and of course, lots of money. The video below links to an undercover investigation of Israel’s connection to American universities, including student groups. It is informative and you will hear this in people’s own words. There is extreme manipulation and control happening in our universities. Nevertheless, exposure is what is needed, not silencing.

    https://youtu.be/3lSjXhMUVKE

    1. “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description…[antisemitism]…, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it…”
      –Justice Potter Stewart
      United States Supreme Court
      Jacobellis v. Ohio

      1. “Anti-semite” is not one who hates Jews, but rather one hated by certain Jews.

  10. Bring back the draft. To many Psych majors living in mom and dads basement. Maybe after two years of service learning appreciation of our nation, our constitution, it’s allies and grow up a bit they might be ready for college.

  11. Oh, and the youth who took minutes of the meeting admitted in an ex parte e-mail that he’d excised the anti-semitic comments made at the meeting. Isn’t that cute?

  12. Note also that the Muslim Student Union twit is also lying his tuchus off. The Arab population on the West Bank and Gaza and the political class ruling over them have over the last 50-odd years taken a pass on (actually, sabotaged) six clear opportunities to establish their own sovereign state or to exercise more autonomy under the supervision of another authority. They don’t want self-government. They want revenge. As ever, partisans of their cause behave as if the Jews are doing something nefarious by not allowing others to kill them and steal from them.

  13. Student council types in my era were seldom impressive people and the quality seems to be going downhill. The Muslim Student Union twit isn’t an advertisement for the contribution of immigrants to the quality of public life, but he’d be inconsequential if the council majority were unwilling to propitiate him. That Council has thirty members, of whom 3 would appear to be out of the Near East, North Africa, or Central Asia. If these three voted for the resolution, the other 27 members of the council provided 10 votes for the denial and 8 votes against, with 9 no shows.

    Keep in mind that an evangelical student club who asked that the gay student club be kicked off campus would be told to piss off. (In fact, evangelical student clubs are commonly told by apparatchiks that they’re debarred from limiting their membership and leadership positions to evangelicals). These youths would have no trouble ignoring the unfashionable. They indubitably combine the gross other-directedness common among the young with the shallow and thoughtless attitudes of the cosmopolitan Eurotrash wannabe element among our professional-managerial class. In essence, our fancy people are commonly jerks and their children display an asininity which embarrasses even the older generation in their social stratum.

    1. It is my assumption that in one way or another the MB was involved. Since the MSA is linked to the MB we know they are trying to influence young minds to become anti-Semitic. From an email fwarded to me from Floridafamily.org

      Numerous news organizations reported last week that President Trump is now pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization. Florida Family Association launched a campaign in March 2017 that has urged President Trump over the last two years to designate CAIR a terrorist organization just as the United Arab Emirates has done. CAIR is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Several other groups have also encouraged President Trump to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and/or CAIR as terrorist groups.

      President Trump’s April 9th meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi provided a strong catalyst for moving forward with designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The Islamist political movement called the Muslim Brotherhood seized temporary control over Egypt in 2012. The Muslim Brotherhood declared on June 18, 2012, that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won Egypt’s presidential election. However, the Egyptian military ousted Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood continues to be a source of political opposition to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and is linked to several Islamist organizations in the United States including CAIR, ISNA and ICNA.

      Clarion Project reports: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Plan For America – Court Document

      The following is the official document from a 1991 meeting which outlines the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategic goals for North America. The document was entered as evidence in the 2008 Holy Land Terror Funding Trial. Federal investigators found the document in the home of Ismael Elbarasse, a founder of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, during a 2004 search. Elbarasse was a member of the Palestine Committee, which the Muslim Brotherhood had created to support Hamas in the United States. The original document in Arabic follows the English translation. The page numbers noted below correspond to the page numbers in the center of the bottom of each page in the document.

      Page 4:

      “Enablement of Islam in North America, meaning: establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims’ efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is.”

      Page 5:

      “…the Movement must plan and struggle to obtain “the keys” and the tools of this process in carry out [sic] this grand mission as a ‘Civilization Jihadist’ responsibility.”

      Page 7:

      “The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers…”

      “[W]e must possess a mastery of the art of ‘coalitions’, the art of ‘absorption’ and the principles of ‘cooperation.’”

      Page 18:“A list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends” – This is where the Muslim Brotherhood listed its front groups in the U.S. Note that prominent organizations like CAIR, ISNA, ICNA and others are named here.

      Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is needed to protect Americans from terror linked organizations.

      America cannot rely on the Democrat controlled House of Representatives to make this very important designation.

      The Washington Post published a column on May 6th attacking President Trump’s plans in an article bogusly titled “Calling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group would make all Muslims scapegoats.”

      PLEASE TAKE ACTION USING AT LEAST TWO OF THE FOLLOWING FOUR FORMS OF COMMUNICATION to urge President Trump to move quickly to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

      • EMAIL:

      Click here to send your email to President Trump. See Note 1 below if this link does not open.

      • WHITE HOUSE CONTACT LINK:

      Click here https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/#page to send a message to President Trump.

      Suggested message to copy and paste: Thank you President Trump for pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. I was greatly encouraged to learn that you are pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Sanctions resulting from the terrorist designation will help to curb the terror linked activities of this powerful Islamist political movement. Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is needed to protect Americans from terror linked organizations. Please do not rely on the Democrat controlled House of Representatives to make this very important designation. I urge you to quickly push this through. Thank you.

      • TWITTER:

      Tweet your message to President Trump at https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

      Use the Tweet to Donald Trump button in the top left column.

      Suggested Tweet:

      Thank you President Trump for pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is needed to protect Americans from terror linked organizations.

      • FACEBOOK:

      Facebook your message to President Trump at https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump

      Suggested message:

      Thank you President Trump for pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is needed to protect Americans from terror linked organizations.

      NOTE 1: This email will open in your email client unlike regular email campaigns. This email is prepared this way because the White House is blocking the Florida Family Association email server. If the above link does not open in your email browser or if the email is returned to you please prepare an email using the suggested subject line, content and email addresses provided at the bottom of this article. Please feel free to change the wording.

      Subject Line:

      Thank you President Trump for pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

      Email Content:

      I was greatly encouraged to learn that you are pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Sanctions resulting from the terrorist designation will help to curb the terror linked activities of this powerful Islamist political movement. Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is needed to protect Americans from terror linked organizations. Please do not rely on the Democrat controlled House of Representatives to make this very important designation. I urge you to quickly push this through. Thank you.

      Email address: pressoffice@donaldtrump.com

      Floridafamily.org

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