This week, in honor of the international Day of Jerusalem, a guest speaker came to campus, sponsored by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Coalition of Arabs and Muslims, and the Al-Mahdi Benevolent Foundation of Arizona.
Rabbi Dovid Weiss of New York spoke Wednesday morning from the MU stage and delivered a formal lecture Thursday afternoon.
You may be wondering why SJP, the ASU chapter of a national student organization, hosted a Jewish lecturer to support its cause. He was brought to campus to break stereotypes, says Oday Shahin, a leader of SJP, and to show that not all Jews are Zionists and that there is a large percentage of the Jewish community opposes Israel.
Weiss does, in fact, oppose the State of Israel. He is an ardent anti-Zionist who believes that the State of Israel is a sin forbidden by Jewish tradition, is the root of all violence in the region and should be dismantled.
This extremist group has just a few thousand followers, amounting to roughly one hundredth of one percent of the world’s Jewish population. It does not represent Judaism by any means, and its behavior has led it to be officially excommunicated from the Orthodox Jewish community.
Neturei Karta, Weiss’s fringe faction of Orthodox Judaism, opposes the State of Israel and works with the Palestine Liberation Organization and the terrorist organization Hamas. In addition, the group openly supports Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in spite of the Iranian nuclear threat to international security.
In December 2006, Weiss and other members of Neturei Karta attended a conference in Tehran dedicated to the claim that the Holocaust never occurred. Weiss chose to associate himself with this cause, even though his own father survived the Holocaust. If people want to work toward peace, it is hard when they deny the Holocaust, said Rabbi Barton Lee of Hillel Jewish Student Center.
The group SJP stands for the “liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people” based on democracy, justice and human rights. As a member of Sun Devils for Israel, a pro-Israel group on campus, I believe in this goal as well. I hope that as this school year progresses, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on campus will be able to engage in meaningful dialogue about peace in our common land.
But a guest speaker who calls the mainstream Jewish and pro-Israel community arrogant, heretical sinners does not promote dialogue. A guest speaker who delegitimizes the State of Israel and supports terrorist organizations does not represent the peace effort. He represents intolerance and hatred.
Weiss does an injustice to the importance of the pro-Palestinian cause by associating advocacy for Palestinian statehood, rights, and well-being with terrorism, corruption and Holocaust denial. His views hinder efforts for peace.
Weiss was not an appropriate speaker to further SJP’s goals because he stands for destruction instead of peaceful co-existence.
Reach Hannah at hannah.wasserman@asu.edu.
