Protest in New York over Palestinian-American graduation speaker

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Thu May 25, 2017 | 5:53pm EDT

Protest in New York over Palestinian-American graduation speaker

Dozens of right-wing demonstrators, including far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, gathered in New York on Thursday to protest a university's decision to invite a Palestinian-American activist to deliver its graduation speech next week.

The City University of New York's (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, which will have its commencement on Tuesday, described liberal, Muslim speaker Linda Sarsour on its website as a "powerful public health and social justice" leader.

Protesters in midtown Manhattan chanted and marched under rainfall to criticize the school's choice of Sarsour, 37, an organizer of this year's Women's March on Washington who has drawn fire from conservatives for her opposition to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, among other issues.

Yiannopoulos, 32,said she should be allowed to speak but should be held accountable for actions he considered anti-American.

"Working underneath all of that sweaty polyester is a mind that hates America," Yiannopoulos said of Sarsour, who wears a hijab head covering.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-terror-protests-idUSKBN18L2UQ

[pangaia]

1. Fuck him and those fake protestors.

They have nothing to protest, it just "feels good." Like fake news..it's fake protest.

[Mosby]

2. ADL Rejects Anti-Israel Activist Linda Sarsour Over BDS, Upholds Her First Amendment Right...

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a sharp rejection on Thursday of the pro-BDS positions advocated by Linda Sarsour – the controversial Palestinian-American activist who is scheduled to deliver the commencement speech at the graduating ceremony of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health on Thursday, June 1.

Sarsour, a co-organizer of the Women’s March held in Washington, DC in January, has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence among progressives over the last year, despite an established record of violent outbursts against her political opponents on social media, as well as her ideological baiting of the Jewish community. Her statements have included the contention that “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” as well as her forthright insistence that pro-Israel women should be excluded from the feminist movement on the grounds that “it just doesn’t make any sense for someone to say, ‘Is there room for people who support the state of Israel and do not criticize it in the movement?’ There can’t be in feminism.”

“We profoundly reject Linda Sarsour’s positions that delegitimize Israel,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in a statement. “We have vigorously opposed efforts like the Boycott Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, which she supports and we oppose her stance that one cannot be simultaneously a feminist and pro-Israel.”

https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/05/25/adl-rejects-anti-israel-activist-linda-sarsour-over-bds-upholds-her-first-amendment-right-to-address-cuny-graduation-ceremony/

[Mosby]

3. Linda Sarsour Is An Arsonist In Our Midst

-snip-

But Linda Sarsour, the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York who CUNY invited to speak at its June 1 graduation ceremony, is anything but stupid. She is a brilliant tactician who manipulates the media to gain attention and sympathy for her cause. She labels herself a progressive, perpetuating the disturbing idea that being a progressive and supporting Israel are somehow mutually exclusive, a notion which only muddles the label for those who truly seek to constructively advocate on behalf of legitimate and necessary issues. She is presiding over an ever-expanding effort to project an anti-Israel message within the context of human and civil rights causes. She has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Jews and the world at large to choose between either a “criminal and illegitimate” Israel or the “righteous and wholly innocent” Palestinian underdog.

Last September, I stood along with many of my colleagues at a New York City Council Public Hearing on that body’s resolution to officially condemn the BDS movement — a hearing at which all those in favor, including myself, were shouted down as “Jewish pigs” and “Zionist filth” from provocateurs strategically placed in the audience. It was Linda Sarsour who was at the forefront — manipulating the camera shots and sound bites. It was Linda Sarsour who sat for hours listening with great satisfaction to the libelous rants and screamed obscenities alleging that Israelis murder Palestinian babies. It was Sarsour who nodded approvingly and congratulated individuals who were kicked out of the hearing room for being out of order, for walking in front of individuals providing testimony in support of the resolution, and for shouting down our supporters with anti-Semitic slurs — all in the name of protecting free speech.

I know what CUNY has stood for in the New York Jewish world as I, myself, am a graduate of its undergraduate and graduate schools. My father, my sister and my wife as well are CUNY graduates. CUNY has long been a bastion for the world’s largest Jewish community in the diaspora to feel safe in their pursuit of a higher education.

However, we look to the many anti-Semitic and anti-Israel acts in a number of its treasured schools over the past year, including Medgar Evers College and Brooklyn College and wonder how much longer proud Jews and supporters of Israel will feel safe on campus. To its credit, CUNY has taken some steps to combat these incidents and at schools specifically, such as Brooklyn College, we have seen progress.

However, inviting an obvious antagonist of the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel, an individual who doesn’t shirk from using controversial tactics against Israel’s supporters, to speak at CUNY is a bewildering act by its leadership sure to inspire only more hate, harassment and confrontations perpetrated against the Jewish student body. CUNY’s invitation to such an individual, an invitation I remind you not requested by students but rather by the administration itself, will provide cover to those seeking to legitimize her message. Her commencement speech belies CUNY’s stated commitment to fighting anti-Semitism.

Read more: http://forward.com/opinion/372714/linda-sarsour-is-an-arsonist-in-our-midst/

[leftynyc]

4. I would boycott if I were a graduate

She's an anti-semitic twit and the university has made a terrible mistake including her. Fuck her and anyone else who says nothing is creepier than Zionism - when there are people starving, people being beheaded and blown up, children forced to become terrorists and there's nothing creepier than Zionism? Fuck her.

http://www.snopes.com/2017/01/25/womens-march-organizer-linda-sarsour/

An outspoken critic of Israel, Sarsour [avidly] supports the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Hamas-inspired initiative that uses various forms of public protest, economic pressure, and lawsuits to advance the Hamas agenda of permanently destroying Israel as a Jewish nation-state.

Vis-a-vis the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, Sarsour favors a one-state solution where an Arab majority and a Jewish minority would live together within the borders of a single country. She made clear her opposition to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state when she tweeted in October 2012 that “nothing is creepier than Zionism.”

In 2004, Sarsour acknowledged that a friend of hers as well as a cousin were both serving long sentences in Israeli jails because of their efforts to recruit jihadists to murder Jews. Moreover, she revealed that her brother-in-law was serving a 12-year prison term because of his affiliation with Hamas.

[DanTex]

6. Not sure if you're aware, but that excerpt you quoted is from FrontPageMag, a far-right outlet.

It is quoted in the snopes article as an example of rumors circulated about her by the right after she participated in the Women's march on DC.

I was curious who would describe BDS as "Hamas-inspired".

[leftynyc]

8. Wasn't aware

but don't really care. There is evidence all over the place that twit doesn't think Zionists can be feminists and thinks Zionism is creepy. I couldn't even be in the same room as her.

[grossproffit]

7. Me too.

[leftynyc]

5. Oh - and I can't be

a feminist and a Zionist? Fuck that stupid assed twit.

[geek tragedy]

9. Not a Sarsour fan, but she's inspired a veritable Axis of Evil to protest her.

Milo (alt-right racist), Dov Hikind (an unrepentant terrorist), Geller (Kahanist nutter)

She's bad, but the leading protestors there are weapons-grade awful

[Mosby]

10. Rocker Courtney Love calls Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour an anti-Semitic terrorist

Courtney Love called Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour an “anti-Semitic terrorist” in a series of tweets.

“I won’t follow anything thats being led by an anti-Semetic[sic] terrorist that’s using feminism as a tool to promote her radicalism,” the controversial musician, who is known for fronting the 90s band Hole and being married to late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, said Wednesday during a Twitter exchange with Sarsour.

http://www.jta.org/2017/06/09/news-opinion/united-states/rocker-courtney-love-calls-palestinian-activist-linda-sarsour-anti-semitic-terrorist

[geek tragedy]

11. Iconic public intellectual Courtney Love. nt