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bigotry
Bernie Sanders Condemns Israel's Destruction of Gaza Universities
"There are no protests on the college campuses in Gaza," said the Vermont senator. "You know why? Because every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed and destroyed."
May 08, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday denounced the Israeli military's total decimation of Gaza's universities during floor remarks on protests that have broken out on American college campuses over the past several weeks.
"There are no protests on the college campuses in Gaza," said Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "You know why? Because every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed and destroyed."
Sanders' remarks came during a floor debate over a Republican resolution ostensibly aimed at condemning antisemitism on college campuses. GOP lawmakers and President Joe Biden have repeatedly smeared campus protests against Israel's assault on Gaza as antisemitic and ignored the prominent role Jewish students have played in the nationwide demonstrations.
After Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) attempted to pass the GOP antisemitism resolution via unanimous consent, Sanders—who is Jewish—rose to block the measure, criticizing it as insufficient and proposing an alternative that condemns antisemitism as well as all other "forms of bigotry in this country, whether on college campuses or elsewhere, including Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, and the growing attacks against the Asian American community."
Sanders' proposed resolution also expresses support for "the right of students and all Americans to peacefully protest," whereas Scott's measure attacks recent campus protests as "hotbed[s] of blatantly antisemitic rhetoric and action."
"The fact of the matter is that 67% of Americans, according to recent polls, support the United States calling for a cease-fire, and 60% oppose sending more weapons to Israel," Sanders said. "And that's what the protesters are talking about: They are asking why it is we are complicit in the humanitarian disaster taking place in Gaza."
Watch Sanders' remarks:
LIVE: Today I offer a simple resolution:
NO to antisemitism.
NO to Islamophobia.
NO to racism and bigotry in all its forms.
YES to free speech and protest under the 1st Amendment, whether on a college campus or across our nation. https://t.co/czTwnQnz6b
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 7, 2024
According to the United Nations, more than 80% of the Gaza Strip's schools have been damaged or reduced to ruins by Israeli forces since October, including all of the enclave's universities.
Last month, a group of U.N. experts said that "it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide.'"
"The persistent, callous attacks on educational infrastructure in Gaza have a devastating long-term impact on the fundamental rights of people to learn and freely express themselves, depriving yet another generation of Palestinians of their future," the experts added. "Students with international scholarships are being prevented from attending university abroad."
American campus protests against Israel's assault on Gaza have offered some measure of hope to Palestinian students whose lives have been thrown into chaos by the U.S.-backed war.
Hala Sharaf, a second-year medical student who moved to Cairo to resume her studies amid Israel's assault, toldAl Jazeera that the U.S. student campus demonstrations "have made us feel so hopeful for rejecting what America and Israel are doing to us."
"The student protests in America make me feel like I'm not alone," said Sharaf. "My message to them is to keep the focus on Gaza. Don't forget about Gaza."
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Progressives Condemn On-Air CNN Pundit's 'Disgusting Racism' Against Ilhan Omar
One progressive lawmaker described CNN contributor Scott Jennings' comments as "reminiscent of the anti-Muslim bigotry we saw in the George Bush post-9/11 era."
Mar 14, 2024
Progressive lawmakers, advocacy groups, and commentators rushed to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar on Wednesday after a CNN pundit called her a "public relations agent for Hamas" during a primetime segment earlier this week.
Scott Jennings, a conservative who has contributed to CNN since 2017 and also writes for the Los Angeles Times, made the remark in response to an interview in which Omar (D-Minn.) questioned whether Israel and the Biden administration are doing everything in their power to achieve a negotiated end to the war on Gaza, which is now in its sixth month.
Omar pointed to reports that Israel declined to send negotiators to Egypt after receiving a proposal from Hamas that it deemed unacceptable. The Minnesota Democrat also accused Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, of "not sharing the full picture" when he provided an update on the status of cease-fire talks earlier this week.
"You can certainly have certain demands that you want, and we obviously want the hostages released to return to their families or American hostages that are included. There is an infant that is included in those hostages," said Omar. "And so it is important that we do everything that we can, but we can't be dishonest to the point where we are saying that everybody is doing everything that they can to be at the table to negotiate a cease-fire that can lead to a permanent solution."
Jennings said during Tuesday's segment that he is "surprised that in a year of our Lord 2024, there is a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in United States Congress." Jennings added that he didn't "hear a word" of concern about the hostages still being held by militants in Gaza—even though Omar explicitly said she supports their release.
Omar, who has received death threats for criticizing Israel's war on Gaza, has said repeatedly that she wants the release of all hostages and condemned the October 7 Hamas-led attack as "horrific" and "senseless violence."
CNN pundit calls Democratic Rep. @IlhanMN a “public relations agent for Hamas” with no push back.
Islamophobia is not only normalized in American politics, it’s rewarded. pic.twitter.com/aoe8qIIhNf
— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) March 13, 2024
Jennings received no pushback from his fellow CNN panelists. Observers noted that CNNfired contributor Marc Lamont Hill over a speech in which he demanded an end to Israel's longstanding oppression of Palestinians.
"Scott Jennings is reverting to one of the oldest Islamophobic tropes in the book, which is to allege that Muslim Americans are secretly terrorist sympathizers. People have been fired from CNN for much less," said Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for Justice Democrats, an advocacy group that also spoke out against Jennings' comments.
"Disgusting Islamophobic and racist comments with no correction or condemnation from CNN," the group wrote on social media. "CNN should be issuing an apology to [Omar] and Scott Jennings shouldn't have a job. The normalization of Islamophobia like this on CNN is what leads to anti-Muslim hate crimes."
Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC host and editor-in-chief of the media company Zeteo, joined the chorus denouncing Jennings' remarks, which he described as "disgusting racism and Islamophobia."
Jennings is hardly a fringe character in conservative politics: He worked in George W. Bush's White House and on the 2002 reelection campaign of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a leading cease-fire supporter and Omar ally in Congress, described Jennings' comments as "reminiscent of the anti-Muslim bigotry we saw in the George Bush post-9/11 era."
"It is disgusting and must not be normalized," Bush wrote. " CNN should denounce this hateful, dangerous, and blatant Islamophobia immediately."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) asked, "How on earth is this kind of blatant Islamophobia so casually accepted without pushback?"
"This is shocking," she added.
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Outrage over Bigotry, Islamophobia in Wall Street Journal & New York Times
'These outlets should apologize publicly & diversify their staff & perspectives to meet their ethical and moral obligations as journalists.'
Feb 04, 2024
The nation's leading newspapers were under fire this weekend after publishing opinion pieces seen as "Bigoted," "Islamophobic," "Racist," and "Reckless."
A Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on Friday afternoon read 'Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital.'
And on Saturday, The New York Times published a piece by long-time columnist Thomas Friedman titled "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom."
Dearborn, Michigan, a city with the largest Muslim population in the US, has increased its police presence, fearing hate attacks after the Wall Street Journal branded it America's 'jihad capital.'
The Islamaphobic article was written by Steven Stalinsky, who is a commentator on' terrorism' and has served as executive director of the pro-Israel Middle East Media Research Institute based in Washington, DC.
The mayor of Dearborn, Abdullah H. Hammoud, said Saturday that the city's police officers were ramping up their presence across places of worship and major infrastructure points following the publication of Stalinsky's piece that he called "bigoted" and "Islamophobic." The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee condemned the piece as anti-Arab and racist for suggesting the city's residents, including religious leaders and politicians, supported Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and extremism.
In response to the Wall Street Journal piece, President Joe Biden tweeted Sunday afternoon:
"Americans know that blaming a group of people based on the words of a small few is wrong. That’s exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town. We must continue to condemn hate in all forms."
Shortly after Biden's tweet went out, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer tweeted:
"Dearborn is a vibrant community full of Michiganders who contribute day in and day out to our state. Islamophobia and all forms of hate have no place in Michigan, or anywhere. Period."
Friedman's piece in the New York Times entitled, "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom," posited Iran as a metaphorical "parasitoid wasp" with proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria as caterpillars. Friedman claimed, "We have no counterstrategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle," suggesting that the US militarily destroys the entire Middle East to annihilate Iran and its allies. He concluded that he could "contemplate" the Middle East by watching Animal Planet.
Abed A. Ayoub, Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, tweeted:
"Go ahead and say this about any other people and see the reaction - @tomfriedman would be fired before the ink dries. This election season kickoff is a reminder that anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia are mainstream. That’s why this trash is acceptable to so many, and there will be no accountability."
Erin Overby, former Archive Editor at The New Yorker, tweeted:
"This @nytimes column by Thomas Friedman comparing countries in the Middle East to animals, pests & insects is so virulently racist it could have run in Der Sturmer or on Radio Rwanda pre-‘94 genocide. It’s appallingly offensive & Friedman should be fired."
2 reasons why antisemitism is on the rise:\n\n1. Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.\n2. Zionists like Thomas Friedman & Steven Stalinsky who opine Jews as ethnically superior to Arabs.\n\nThis is why we say Not In Our Name. We must end the genocide now.— (@)
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