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-Great Cultural Revolution
September 11 event to feature speakers affiliated with terrorists
2021-09-11
[Jpost] A 9/11 event sponsored by Rutgers University and San Francisco State University academic departments will feature speakers affiliated with terrorists or who have otherwise supported terrorism.

Speakers with terrorist affiliations or those who have expressed support for terrorism will be featured at a 9/11 event sponsored by Rutgers University and San Francisco State University on Saturday.

The panel, "Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001," will serve as a launching point for a semsester-long event that will explore, among other topics, challenging the "exceptionalization of 9/11/2001" and "legitimization of 'war on terror.'"

Speakers on Saturday will include Dr. Sami Al-Arian and Dr. Rabab Abulhadi, academics who have in the past courted controversy in their engagement with terrorists and terrorist organizations.

According to the event landing page, sponsors include SFSU’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicity and Diaspora Studies (AMED Studies) program, Rutgers' Center for Security, Race and Rights, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, two Jewish Voice for Peace Chapters, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and America Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

The International Legal Forum, an Israel-based NGO with a global network of over 3,500 lawyers and civil society activists in over 40 countries, uncovered the panel and has sent letters to the administrations of Rutgers and SFSU demanding the event be canceled.

"Robust free speech and academic freedom might be sacrosanct, but it is a red line and simply inexcusable for public institutions, such as SFSU and Rutgers, to sponsor and endorse this event, which effectively glorifies terror and the use of violence, by providing a platform to convicted terrorists, conspiracy theorists and purveyors of hate," Arsen Ostrovsky, Chair and CEO of The International Forum, told The Jerusalem Post. "The International Legal Forum calls upon SFSU and Rutgers to immediately and unequivocally withdraw their association with this event, which furthermore, may be in breach of US anti-terror legislation.”

Al-Arian, the director of CIGA at the Istanbul Zaim University, was indicted and struck a plea deal in 2003 over his alleged affiliation with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

PIJ is designated by the US State Department as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization."

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Al-Arian admitted to conspiracy to aid a relative with PIJ links to obtain immigration benefits.

In 2006, Al-Arian refused to testify on his ties to a charity suspected of terrorism financing, the Washington Post reported at the time. Due to his civil contempt and the terms of his plea deal he was deported to Turkey in 2015.

CAIR has defended Al-Arian and characterized legal proceedings against him as "politically" motivated.

"Al-Arian has been targeted by the government for his political activity for more than a decade," CAIR said in a 2014 political statement.

Abulhadi, the senior scholar of SFSU’s AMED Studies, previously organized two panels featuring Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist Leila Khaled. Leila Khaled's infamy comes from her hijacking of airplanes and holding passengers hostage.

The September 11 terrorist attacks were conducted using hijacked airplanes to ram the World Trade Center.

Like PIJ, PFLP is a US State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

In April, the SFSU panel "Whose Narratives? What Free Speech for Palestine?" was removed from Zoom and Youtube due to their policies on support for and promotion of terrorism.

"San Francisco State University seems to be a repeat offender when it comes to giving platforms to terrorists, a year ago having sponsored an event with notorious Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled and now outrageously sponsoring an event marking the 20th anniversary of September 11, with speakers who have inextricable ties to terrorist organizations that have carried out attacks against American citizens and civilians around the world, including Israel," Ostrovsky told the Post.

Another speaker, Hatem Bazian of the University of California, Berkeley, and according to ILF the co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and AMP, has previously publicly called for an Intifada in the United States.

The leadership of PYM, a self-described "transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians" and one of the event sponsors, has also called for Intifadas at a NSJP conference. PYM leaders have also called slain Hamas and PFLP fighters "martyrs" and have otherwise called for political violence.


CIGA previously held a conference with Hamas-affiliated organizations and individuals in attendance in June.

In a letter to Rutgers and SFSU, ILF refers to has argued that the event "may be in breach of United States anti-terror laws."

ILF notes that 18 U.S.C.§2339B states that it is criminal for one to "knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so," and that according to 18 U.S.C. §2339A “material support or resources” is defined as “[A]ny property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel.]”
Related:
Rutgers University: 2021-09-07 New Details Emerge About Coronavirus Research At Chinese Lab
Rutgers University: 2021-03-14 Bloomberg: White-Collar Visa Workers Take 2/3 of New Tech Jobs Each Year
Rutgers University: 2020-05-15 Gen. Frederick Kroesen, 97, Dies; Survived a Terrorist Attack – The New York Times
Related:
San Francisco State University: 2021-02-04 Campus Anti-Semitism Skyrockets Even as Coronavirus Forces Remote Learning
San Francisco State University: 2020-10-24 Israel Brands as 'Terrorist' Palestinian Student Group
San Francisco State University: 2020-09-23 Zoom cancels Leila Khaled webinar at San Francisco State University
Related:
Sami Al-Arian: 2018-11-12 Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes may not be Florida's only problem
Sami Al-Arian: 2015-02-08 Palestinian activist/ prof. deported to Turkey years after terror trial plea
Sami Al-Arian: 2012-09-28 Who Is White House Visitor Hisham Altalib?
Posted by:Skidmark

#4  The Snake showing its head again ...
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843   2021-09-11 14:03  

#3  Yeah... I heard Biden was going to speak at some event...
Posted by: CrazyFool   2021-09-11 12:21  

#2  When you have people like Krugman, Choamsky, or Friedman teaching...
Posted by: magpie   2021-09-11 12:17  

#1  Backing the strong horse...
Posted by: Glenmore   2021-09-11 10:51  

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