Haaretz brings the sad news of the death of long-time Israeli peace activist, Tanya Reinhart (note Haaretz misspells her last name below). She was a linguist and student of Noam Chomsky and shared his view of the Israeli-Arab conflict:
Reinhardt, one of the most outspoken representatives of the radical Israeli left…was a proponent of an academic boycott of Israeli universities to protest the occupation.
After receiving a master’s degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Reinhardt wrote her doctoral thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under renowned linguist Noam Chomsky.
Her contributions to linguistic theory dealt with the connection between meaning and context, and the interface between syntax and systems of sound.
From 1977, Reinhardt taught courses in linguistics and literature at Tel Aviv University, including classes in critical reading of media and the analysis of discourse based on Chomsky’s methods.
For the last 15 years she also taught at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
In December 2006, Reinhardt left Israel and settled in New York to teach at New York University.
Reinhardt and those close to her said the change in the university’s relationship to her was made in response to her statements calling for an academic boycott of Israel.
Reinhardt espoused the principle of non-violent resistance, and was among the leaders of the left-wing activists who called for boycotts of the 1996 and 2001 elections.
She was active in recent years in Israeli-Palestinian efforts against the West Bank separation fence and the seizure of land from Palestinians for its construction.
Reinhart was an anti-Zionist and I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t have seen eye to eye on the conflict. But I salute her for her brave devotion to peace and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Almost as much as her death itself. I am saddened that a group of despicable individuals who I’m sad to say share a religion with me wrote this about Reinhart’s death:
…We are certain you will all want to have just as much fun laughing about the wonderful demise of the Queen of Treason, Tanya Reinhardt. Could anything be funnier? Let’s all suggest ideas of what can now be done with her corpse and publish it as a knock off of those 101 things to do with a dead cat books. How about using her head to scare away crows?
We figure that hundreds of thousands of people will want to attend the first annual set of festivities celebrating the end of Reinhardt’s career of imbecility. We understand the scalpers are already charging 200 euro per ticket, even though people have to bring their own beer. So get with the spirit guys.
We plan to award the collected writings of David Irving…to whoever comes up with the best corpse disposal suggestion.
These moronic harassing e mails are periodically sent by either Rachel Neuwirth or those associated with her. This one was sent by someone calling themselves Treason Ferret at treason_ferret@hotmail.com (no doubt a fake address) from IP 128.241.46.59. How can someone call themselves Jewish and have such odious and hateful ideas about another Jew? If anyone has any technical expertise and thinks they might be able to help trace these messages to their origin I would appreciate contacting me. Sunlight is the best antidote to such ooze. I reserve the worst Jewish curse for whoever wrote this: may his or her memory be erased (y’mach shmo v’zichrono).
I am sad that a woman of 63 dies so young. HOwever, that being said, she cannot spread more hate and lies about Israel, and now we have one less Israeli “academic” to destroy the homeland of Jews. May she rest in Peace, and may we have peace back in academia.
Why am I not surprised at the heartlessness of Allyson Rowen Taylor. Allyson, I detest everything you stand for. But should you, God forbid, ever share Tanya’s fate, I would never say, think or write about you as you have about Tanya. May you live a long life–long enough to teach you what a callous person you were in your younger years; and that being a human being requires having a bit of empathy even for those you hate, because they are human too just like you. Someday, you may regret writing to Adam Horowitz, someone you didn’t even know, to ask why he supports murdering Jews. You may regret it not just because you were caught at it (which you were); but because it was a genuninely shameful thing to do. But it would require a conscience for you to feel such regret. That’s something neither you nor Rachel seem to have.
An informative quote from Tanya Reinhardt. Are you sure that you identify with her strongly?
Indymedia, Israel
October 25, 2001
STOP ISRAEL!
Tanya Reinhart
The most important is, of course, to form contacts and aid the Palestinian organizations. An exciting development in the last few months has been the international solidarity movement. Individuals from all over the world come to stay at the Palestinian areas, serve as human shields and join political struggle. It is still possible to do this, though it is getting more difficult and dangerous. (Contact: http://www.palsolidarity.org.il).
Finally, there is one simple thing that anybody can do: Boycott Israel – join, for starts, the consumers boycott which has been going on for a while in various places in Europe. It is easy to do – just don’t buy ‘made in Israel’ products. But it is also a useful means of political activity and education. In the days of the South-Africa boycott, people used to sneak in to supermarkets and paste ‘South Africa’ stickers on the relevant products. Leafletting outside supermarkets, explaining why we boycott Israel is a good way to get the information through.
Israel is not the US. It is a small country with hardly any economy, and with a self-image completely detached from reality. It can be stopped.
Where did I say that? Would you at least make an elementary effort to characaterize my views accurately, please. First, I identity with with any Israeli peace activist. And as a Jew, I have mercy on the souls of the dead especially those who die before their time.
I stated clearly that I did not see eye to eye with her on some issues. Did you not read that? I would certainly take issue with some of the views expressed in the passage you quote. But does she deserve to be memorialized? Did she give her all to resist the Occupation? Did she walk a hard, lonely road in doing so? Did she pay a price academically, professionally and personally? You bet.
In supporting the International Solidarity Movement, which she clearly does on the quote from her website, she discredits herself as a peace activist. The ISM has never condemned terror against Israeli civilians, and hosted the two British Muslims who perpetrated the Mikes Place bombing in occupied Tel Aviv. Thus, Tanya is not only an opponent of the occupation, but Israel itself. While I respect your views as being zionist although far to the left of mine, I hope you dont become an anti-zionist.
Now I think I understand what the likes of NK and Satmar mean when they say Zionism alienates Jews from Torah. Now I don’t mean it in the same way they do (what with their bashing of Israeli secularism, right left and center), but to speak ill of Jewish dead, let alone desecrate the body of one, is absolutely assur. Not even the most nationalistic knit-cap settler would think of this. As much as I condemn him for his crimes, I would never wish the same ill activities on Baruch Goldstein’s body as Allyson has with Dr. Reinhart’s.
“occupied Tel Aviv”
Whoa – Freudian slip?
B.BarNavi: I should make clear that Allyson was the commenter who left the very first comment in this thread & not necessarily the person who wrote the passage I quoted in this post about desecrating Tanya Reinhart’s body. I would like to know who wrote that passage but they’ve tried to cloak themselves in anonymity as all cowards do.
You make a good point about these alleged Jews desecrating even Judaism with their foul ideas. But I do beg to differ w. you regarding whether this sentiment would be at home in settler circles. Many of the people spouting this sort of rhetoric do find a home in the settler movement. Certainly not every settler would agree w. this sentiment. But the most extreme (followers of Baruch Goldstein for example) would agree with this nonsense.