Norman Finkelstein on BDS.  

 I mean we have to be honest, and I loathe the disingenuous. They don’t want Israel. They think they are being very clever; they call it their three tier. We want the end of the occupation, the right of return, and we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they are very clever because they know the result of implementing all three is what, what is the result? 

You know and I know what the result is. There’s no Israel! 

radical-islamist-globalwarmist:

While I condemn the use of physical force from people attending the talk - university security should have removed the disruptive students, the students were assholes for disrupting the talk.

I do not know what the speaker had to say or if I agree or disagree with her.   As an invited speaker, she should be able to present a talk on a university campus without students disrupting her reading from a written page.  

And now I don’t support the people who disrupted the healthcare talks.  They were assholes too.

thehabeshadiaspora:

I condemn the use of violence against the students.   University security should have ushered the disruptive students out of the building once they started their disruption.

With that said, I disagree with the tactics used by the students.  They should have protested outside the event.  They could have carried picket signs and handed out leaflets that shared their perspective.  The could have invited a speaker that shared their perspective to speak on the campus at a later date.    They could have asked challenging questions during the q & a segment of the presentation. 

I may disagree with this speaker. I don’t know her opinions.   It does not matter if I agree or disagree with her views.  A university should be a place where an invited speaker (even if she is controversial) can present a talk without interruptions by students.  

war-sucks:

Palestinians inside a damaged mosque in the West Bank village of Burka, which was burned on Thursday. Extremist Israeli settlers are thought to have committed the crime in retaliation for the Israeli army dismantling an unapproved settlement earlier this week. 

(Photo via Reuters)

Those fuckfaces are terrorists.   Burning buildings for no reason (or to retailate) is not acceptable behavior.  This was not an act of self-defense. 

sftotlv:

Arab and Israeli actors created a fake situation where the Israeli will not serve the Arab coffee. The point was to see how unknowing Israelis handle this situation unaware of the hidden television cameras.

I don’t know what you think you know about what’s going on in Israel but this may surprise you. 

There are English subtitles.

icanntspell:

A math professor at a public state college should not be using a tax funded university website to spout his radical personal political views.  

I defend his right to hold whatever opinions he wishes.  He can protest and march for whatever cause he wishes on his own time.  

 

He should create his own website to share his personal political views.

 

The fact that he is a kook is a secondary issue.

http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/

http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/boycott.html

ryanalyson:

For fuck’s sake. How dare you endanger my life because you’re an ignorant asshole and want to make some kind of fucking statement.

I’m all for free speech, don’t get me wrong, but when you’re a walking controversy you don’t bring violence or threat of violence to a place of education.

Go rally…

While I completely disagree with Terry Jones ideology and his tactics of threatening and then burning a Koran make him a super douche, I have no problem with him coming to speak in a free speech area of the campus.  

A University should not be a place where controversial ideas are banned.   If the reports were true that he was threatened to be arrested if he step foot on the campus for a week period, I would like the University police to explain why it takes so long to clear a potential security threat.  

And why aren’t you more angry at the people who threatened him?   He is clearly a loon but he isn’t threatening anyone that I have seen.   Your anger should be directed at the people who threatened him.

summerko:

The time has come in America for us to take a stand.  It is time for us to take back our country.  It is time to stand up for the things that we believe in, whether it is for the moral and economic condition of our country, or against certain elements in the country, such as radical Islam, which poses a threat to our national security through their rhetoric.  

While I completely disagree with Terry Jones tactics and ideology, I defend his right to speak in a free speech area of the campus.

If the reports are true,  I am upset at the Univeristy for threatening to arrest him if he stepped foot on the campus over the course of a week.   If there was a security problem, why does it take a week to clear it up?

proverbial-everything:

University of Michigan students walk out on Israeli diplomat, Ishmael Khaldi

Kind of in love with how BIG the walkout was and how civil disobedience is gaining momentum for this extremely ugly occupation. As for Mr. Ishmael Khaldi, all that comes to my head for you is Uncle Tom

This was much better course of action than what the MSU did at UC Irvine.  

 In this incident, they made their point and allowed others to hear the lecture.   But what the students said outside was pretty dumb.   You have to have dialogue if you want to get anywhere.  They came off as intolerant and not willing to hear a different perspective from their own.

I still prefer people protest outside of events or ask tough questions during the question and answer segement than do something like this.  But, again, this is much preferred over what the MSU at UC Irivne pulled.