[R-G] Israeli proxy gets busy to silence Americans

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.presstv.ir/classic/detail.aspx?id=93102&sectionid=3510203

Israeli proxy gets busy to silence Americans
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:27:23 GMT

An American academic is to be prosecuted for drawing parallels between  
the plight of Gazans and that of the Jews who suffered under Nazi rule.

Jewish Sociology and Global Studies Professor William Robinson of the  
University of Santa Barbara in California sent the electronic post  
entitled 'Parallel photos of Nazis and Israelis' to 80 students in his  
class, Ynet reported on Thursday.

The message, mailed during Operation Cast Lead, enclosed 25 photos of  
Nazi victims and equated their predicament with that of the war- 
battered Palestinians.

The email also included an essay that stated, "Gaza in Israel's Warsaw  
- one big concentration camp for Palestinian… What we are witnessing  
is the slow process of genocide."

Two Jewish students immediately dropped the class and filed a formal  
complaint against Robinson with the Academic Senate Charges Committee.  
The 50-year-old professor has hired an attorney and his hearing has  
been slated for May 14.

Professor Robinson has explained in his own words that the issue at  
hand is that pro-Israel lobby groups have long been exploiting the  
term 'anti-Semitism' to push forward the goals of political Zionism.

"These students did not even accuse me of doing anything which we  
would consider anti-Semitism -- discrimination against Jews, against  
the Jewish religion and so forth," he told Counterpunch in an interview.

"They said openly and outright that the professor introduces material  
which criticized the state of Israel and that equals anti-Semitism,"  
he continued.

Various student and academic groups in the United States have come to  
Robinson's defense and have described the motion against the  
California academic as "a clear attempt to silence the criticism  
against Israel".

Three weeks of Israeli airstrikes and a ground incursion resulted in  
the death of over 1,350 Palestinians and the injury of nearly 5,450  
people -- most of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis also died in the  
operation.

The carnage also inflicted more than $1.6 billion in damages on the  
Gazan economy.

Israeli war crimes include, but are not limited to, the use of deadly  
white phosphorus shells in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza.  
Tel Aviv initially denied using the controversial weapon, but mounting  
evidence later forced Israeli officials to admit to having employed  
the shells.

Despite the international outcry caused by the military operation,  
Israel continues to enforce a 21-month blockade on the Palestinian  
territory with US support.

According to Professor Robinson, the Anti-Defamation League -- which  
has come under severe criticism for its unswerving support for Israeli  
interests in the United States -- is behind the move to prosecute him.

"We have just learned about this; we're going to go public with it,"  
he said.

Renowned American author and political analyst Noam Chomsky, who is  
himself Jewish, exposed much about the Anti-Defamation League in his  
1989 book titled Necessary Illusions.

"The ADL has virtually become 'one of the main pillars' of Israeli  
propaganda in the US, as the Israeli press casually describes it,  
engaged in surveillance, blacklisting, compilation of FBI-style files  
circulated to adherents for the purpose of defamation, angry public  
responses to criticism of Israeli actions, and so on," he wrote.

"These efforts, buttressed by insinuations of anti-Semitism or direct  
accusations, are intended to deflect or undermine opposition to  
Israeli policies, including Israel's refusal, with US support, to move  
towards a general political settlement," he adds.

MP/AA