Comments on: Scandals at Shalem Center; Pro-Israel Academic Partisanship at George Washington University

By: Amir

Amir — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:36:24 +0000

I went to the GWU website and did a course search on courses taught by Diskin and recieved only two returns. A course called International Organizations and a course called Issues In Israeli Politics, so I question the accuracy of these reports. Perhaps she was not giving a course on the Israeli Arab conflict but on Israeli politics, which may explain why it had an Israeli bias.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:30:53 +0000

Ah Naftali. Thanks for reminding us of why it’s important for Tikun Olam to exist to represent a progressive Zionist alternative to the hate you spew. Another thing, Naftali seems to think he has a monpoly on Jewish suffering. We’ve all lost family ni Auschwitz my friend including me. You don’t have a monopoly on truth or suffering. So go take a hike back to the Kahanist/settler miasma you lurk in. It’ll be much more comfortable for you there.

By: David

David — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:20:41 +0000

On the Shalem Center: fascinating Haaretz article (although it leaves out the fact that William Kristol in on the board of directors). That closing sentence sends chills down your spine.

BTW, the article mentions Shalem’s role in a recent conference in Prague attended by Bush. Here is more on that, from long-time neocon tracker Jim Lobe–
http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=27

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:13:34 +0000

I just wrote a more detailed post about further research on AICE which you should read.

I have no problem with people scrutinizing the funding of all manner of academic programs looking for bias. If the Saudis interfered with academic programs with an ideological axe to grind then by all means bring it into the open. But to criticize UC Berkeley for appointing an Israeli academic to a position merely because he writes critically of Israeli policy (see that post I mentioned) or to appoint a clearly unqualified person like Diskin to an academic post at a major university makes a laughingstock of legitimate Israel studies programs and faculty.

By: Naftali

Naftali — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:50:39 +0000

So, I just discovered this Richard Silverstein, another so-called Jew who hates Israel. In Germany there were many like who thought that they were more German than the Germans, and hated being Jewish, till Hitler gave them a rude awakening.

To me, a proud Israeli, the son of an Auschwitz survivor, you are worse than Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Long Live Israel

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:48:51 +0000

While I don’t disagree with you about Diskin (what a foolish lady), I think you may be a naive about the Saudis and the way influence works in Academia. My point is that AICE may be acting badly, but their behavior may be in response to other forces that you leave out of the story.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:41:42 +0000

There is a big difference between AICE positions & those funded by Saudi Arabia. I challenge you to find among all the positions funded by the Saudis such patently unqualified, purely partisan teachers appointed to fill them. Hannah Diskin was clearly unqualified to teach the course she was teaching. Her flight fr. the first hint of criticism instead of standing up & defending herself is but one sign that this is the case.

There is nothing wrong with philanthropy used to increase understanding of religions in academia. There IS something wrong with funding positions not properly vetted either by the funder or by the school which hosts the positions. There is something wrong with teaching with a partisan agenda.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:35:16 +0000

This sort of thing isn’t happening in a vacuum. Saudi gifts to American institutions are quite large. King ’sugar daddy’ Fahd donated US $20 million to establish the Middle East Studies Center at the University of Arkansas. Two Saudi financiers of Al Qaeda gave US $5 million to UC Berkeley’s Center For Middle East Studies. Then, Harvard got US $2.5 million; Georgetown US $8.1 million, including a $500,000 scholarship in the name of President Bush; Cornell US $11 million; MIT US $5 million; Texas A&M US $1.5 million and Princeton US $1 million. Rutgers received US $5 million to endow a chair, as did Columbia. Several other universities also received Saudi largesse.