Controversy and Scandal Marks MSU Anti-Israel Week ’09

By   |  May 18, 2009
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It takes the same mentality.

“Controversy is good…Controversy is exactly what we want.” This statement made by Anna Baltzer last Tuesday sums up the growing trend of the Muslim Student Union’s annual anti-Israel week. Baltzer apparently fails to realize that some people prefer factual education rather than questionable presentations. Incredibly, Baltzer not only damned the Israeli security barrier for “preventing daily life” but took a crucial step past the line of reason by saying it “doesn’t prevent attacks”, despite that terrorist attacks have declined by 92% since the barrier’s construction in 2002.

Cynthia McKinney, a former Congresswoman who was nearly arrested in 2006 for punching a Capitol Hill officer who denied her entry when he could not recognize her, was a new addition to the MSU’s lineup of scandal-mired speakers. McKinney spoke about and decried US foreign aid to Israel and briefly recounted her experience in attempting to sail through the Israeli naval barrier implemented around Gaza to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.

The show was stolen, however, by the MSU’s beloved Malik Ali, an Oakland imam who has repeatedly accused the “Zionist Jews” of corrupting and controlling the U.S. government, the economy, and the media and used them against Muslims. Ali has also repeated the conspiracy theory that the “Zionist Jews” were responsible for 9/11, as well as called for the fall of the “American empire”. His constant vilification of the “Zionist Jew” is a weak excuse to dodge charges of anti-Semitism, as most Jews are Zionists by religious affiliation. He has also praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, longtime anti-Semite, US vilifier, and Holocaust denier, as a “pretty good guy”.

Last Thursday night, Ali delivered a speech in the Student Center titled “Silence is Consent”. Unfortunately- and unsurprisingly- Ali’s speech was not at all concerned with factual representation but more with religious extolment and anti-America and anti-Israel rhetoric. What was surprising was the much-higher level of vitriol and naked hate in Ali’s rhetoric at the nighttime event as compared to his public daytime event at the flagpoles.

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It takes the same mentality.

“Allah is a terrorist,” Ali said at the speech’s inception. “When we fight against the enemy, Allah will strike fear in the heart of the oppressor. He terrorizes them.”

Ali then noted the Muslim community’s presence in an “imperialistic country, the falling empire of America”. Ali also reminded the audience that the “Zionist Jew is in the party of Shaytan [Islamic term for “Satan”]… they follow the Shaytan’s power… they like to operate behind closed doors, they are the Whisperers… when you get tempted by Satan.”

Ali warned the audience not to “develop relationships with them [Zionist Jews]” and to “not fault Hamas… don’t blame the victim”, insinuating that Hama’s use of the Palestinian people as human shields and suicide bombs- as well as their habit of throwing Palestinian political and religious dissidents and uppity Islamic females off of Gaza’s rooftops- are to be excused.

In an effort to separate Zionism from Judaism, Ali continued to allege, “How they [Zionist Jews] see themselves is a lie – and will twist it that Zionism has everything to do with Judaism. It has nothing to do with Judaism.” Ali seems to be unaware that the land of Israel is mentioned by name over eight hundred times in Jewish prayer and texts.

“The only time Allah will destroy a country is when that country starts dogging other people,” Ali went on, alluding to his idea of America as an oppressive imperialistic country, “and America has not been able to change.” While Ali did not say so that night, he has in the past damned America for fighting his “Muslim brothers and sisters” in the Taliban and unaffiliated militant Islamic groups in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“The [UCI] administration can’t stand the Zionists, but they won’t say anything,” Ali began to shout. “It’s unjust. We’re not going to obey the administration. The administration looks stupid because it follows the Zionists. They [Zionists] are Satan.” The last remark was met with laughter from the audience. The allegation is meant to imply that Zionist students on UCI’s campus somehow control the UCI administration, a microcosm of Ali’s belief that Jews control the US media, wealth, and government. It also alluded to the recent controversy involving the MSU’s displaying Anne Frank, an icon of the Holocaust, wearing a kafiyeh- a popular article of clothing similar to a scarf worn by numerous Islamic militants such as Hamas and the Taliban. UCI administration forced the MSU to cover up the image- which baselessly suggested that Anne Frank would oppose the idea of a Jewish state- last Wednesday and remove it on Thursday.
Ali followed this charge with a call to the audience to “stand up to the dean…and those policies and unjust rules you [the dean and Zionist students] just made up”.

In a weakly-veiled call for violence, Ali cried, “We are moving into a phase of civil disobedience– there’s no other choice except to disobey.”

In answer to an audience member’s question of the MSU’s support for Hamas, Ali responded, “You’re IDF. I’m Hamas. We can’t be friends.” When the audience member told him that yes, they could, Ali replied, “No we ain’t, brother. You’re a Zionist and I’m a Muslim, so yes we can discuss but we can’t be friends.” The statement is reflective of Ali’s constant attempts to create division between students on college campuses.
In addition to stating that “our ultimate goal is the complete destruction of Israel”, Ali also alleged that there was “Zionist involvement in 9/11”, “al-Queada is not real… it doesn’t exist”, and that “al-Queada and 9/11 became an excuse for this government to destroy the Real Islamic resistance”. The claims are meant to foist the responsibility of 9/11 off of al-Queada, another Islamic militant group, and onto the “Zionists”, or Jews.

Afterwards, Ali astounded members of the audience foreign to his rhetoric by insisting that the Bush administration and the Western world are responsible for the current genocide in Sudan because Bush did not want to see the spread of Islam in Africa.

“Sudan is not a genocide,” Ali reiterated. “The US needs an excuse to go into Sudan because the US wants it.”

The night’s events reinforced more than ever the analysis that Malik Ali has fallen victim to the ideology popular in Muslim fundamentalist circles that the Jews, and in some cases America, are solely responsible for Muslim suffering in the world. The night also marked the end to a week of controversy- more than usual- for the MSU, who, in addition to being told to remove their offensive display of Anne Frank, flaunted a torn-up, paint-spattered, burned Israeli flag on campus and confronted protestors at the flagpoles with shouted insults of “sick in the head”, “terrorist”, “crazy”, and “ignorant” and throwing paper airplanes at them. The controversial Gaza poster the MSU used to advertise their event- a cartoon of an Israeli helicopter firing a missile at a Palestinian boy holding a teddy bear- has also been banned from two Canadian college campuses on the grounds that it was “capable of inciting confrontation” after Jewish students at York University were forced to take refuge in the campus Hillel office in February as anti-Israel protesters banged on the glass doors, chanting, “Die, b***h, go back to Israel,” and “Die, Jew, get the hell off campus.”

An anonymous third-year international studies major said, “I went to my class in SST and SSLH on Thursday. Both rooms were totally blanketed in the Gaza flyers. I stayed behind to help clean them up, and when I had, we had picked up a two-and-a-half inch thick stack of flyers.” Not only was this a nuisance for students and professors alike, but it demonstrates a stupendous waste of paper as well.
In addition to all of that, 5 of the MSU’s co-sponsors (The Agora, Hip Hop Congress, Alpha Epsilon Omega, Armenian Student Association, Sikh Student Association)  decided to withdraw their co-sponsorship once informed of the week’s political, controversial, and offensive content.

As a group that was started by the same organization- the Muslim Brotherhood- responsible for creating Hamas, the objectivity of the Muslim Student Union must be questioned in the name of fair factual representation. What’s more, a religious fundamentalist group hosting a political event suggests certain ulterior motives. Trusting the MSU on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is like trusting the Mormon Church on the matter of gay marriage.

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3 Comments on “Controversy and Scandal Marks MSU Anti-Israel Week ’09”  (RSS)

  1. Well I know of Jews and Muslims that do get along on campus. I am a part of the Olive Tree Initiative at UCI, traveling to Israel-Palestine to speak with scholars, politicians, and locals about the conflict in order to gain a firsthand experience. With this gained insight, I will personally understand more about the situation as it truly is on the ground, and bring that knowledge back to inform the campus and work on restoring relations between sides. There are Muslims and Jews in the group from MSU and AFI/Hillel, however, that get along just fine or even have meaningful friendships. The events put on by the MSU do not represent the entire school or all the Muslims… and while some speakers, such as Ali Malik, are definitely controversial and questionable, the majority of others are not. A lot of the situation is hyped up and is an inaccurate depiction of the situation at UCI.

    I can also understand MSU’s interest in the topic, because although the conflict is not religious, it does have religious undertones. There is also a sense of identity with that group, being Arab or being Muslim, and wanting to reach out for “brothers” struggling.

  2. Precisely. A religious organization has no business hosting a political event.

    Unfortunately, the Muslim Student Union/Association was started by the Muslim Brotherhood, the same radical organization that started Hamas. So it’s no surprise that the MSU is full of radicals and religious fundamentalists who give the religion as a whole a bad name.

  3. If there are events such as this it should not be held from the MSU. It is not a religious issue at all and only shows how religion changes through politics. I know many Jewish and Muslims that have incredible friendships, but at UCI this one week seem to make it rather difficult to foster relationships of any kind. Palestinian does not apply a religious context, for there are Jewish, Muslim and Christian Palestinians. It is an issue of nation state development not religion! Thus, it should not be represented as a religious argument. As a Muslim, the MSU in their political attitudes has made me not want to openly share my religious affiliation and choose my associate at UCI carefully. I feel that it is not a healthy way to represent the religion of Islam. Islam already has a large misunderstanding within the West, and I would prefer for MSU to spread knowledge about the religion in a peaceful non political way. Showing wonderful aspects of Islam, rather than having all Muslims associated with these thoughts, attitudes and aggressive behavior.

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