Rep. Howard Berman, others win ZOA
praise for their stand on Saudi Arabia

NEW YORK (Publicity Release) —The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly supports and praises the efforts of three Congressmen, Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Mike Pence (R-IN) who have publicly criticized the Saudi regime for violating its pledge to the United States to drop the Arab League
boycott of Israel ( Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2007). In November 2005, Saudi leaders promised Washington that they would drop the Arab economic boycott of Israel after the Bush Administration conditioned
Saudi Arabia's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on
the move. A month later, Saudi Arabia was granted WTO membership.

However, in June 2006, the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki
al-Faisal, publicly acknowledged for the first time that his country was continuing to enforce the Arab boycott. The WTO, which aims to
promote free trade, prohibits members from engaging in discriminatory practices such as boycotts or embargoes. Al-Faisal claimed that Saudi Arabia had lifted the secondary and tertiary boycotts of Israel, which prohibit trade with companies that operate in Israel or have ties to such firms, while admitting that Saudi Arabia continues primary boycott,
the embargoing of good and services originating in Israel
(Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2006).

Saudi Arabia's maintenance of its boycott violates WTO rules and
Saudi commitments to the US. An official from the US Trade Representatives Office notes that "Saudi Arabia … has taken on all
WTO rights and obligations, including most-favored-nation treatment,
with respect to all members, including Israel. In our view, continuing
the primary boycott of Israel would not be consistent with these commitments" (Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2007).

Here are statements by the three Congressmen on the continuing
Saudi boycott:

Howard Berman: "I strongly support efforts to end the trade boycott,
which is clearly in violation of agreements the Saudis made during the
WTO accession process. The Saudis made a commitment to end the
boycott to then-United States trade representative Robert Portman, and
I expect Saudi Arabia to live up to that promise."

Joseph Crowley: The Saudis "must immediately end the boycott.
I continue to be disappointed in both the Saudi position and the Bush administration's reluctance to push a supposedly close ally of the United States on this. I will continue to talk with the US trade representative to make sure that our government is putting as much pressure on the
Saudis to move forward and end the boycott. The Bush administration
has done nowhere near enough in convincing the Saudi government
to end its participation in an illegal boycott aimed at hurting our No. 1
ally in the Middle East. I hope that Congress will act to ensure that the boycott on Israel is ended for once and all."

Mike Pence: "Saudi Arabia's boycott of Israel never should have
existed in the first place and they should end it immediately. It is a relic
of wars waged decades ago and there is simply no moral or strategic
reason there should be a boycott at all. The Saudis clearly need to do a better job of living up to their commitments if they expect to have warm relations with the United States."  
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Stand With Us Seeks Restoration of
Mideast Balance at UC Santa Cruz

LOS ANGELES—StandWithUs [SWU], a Los Angeles-based
international organization, today urged the University of California,
Santa Cruz [UCSC], to take steps to stem anti-Israel, anti-Jewish
messages on its campus, such as those that were promoted at a
UCSC March 15th conference on Zionism. StandWithUs asks that these steps be implemented by the beginning of the fall term in
September, 2007. SWU sent a letter expressing its concerns and recommendations to the UCSC Interim Chancellor Blumenthal
and to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs that monitors
matters of bias.

StandWithUs, whose mission is to ensure informed, balanced
discussion about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and who represents
concerned citizens and parents residing in the UCSC area, was deeply disturbed by the March conference entitled, "Alternative Histories Within and Beyond Zionism."

According to faculty and community members who attended, including UCSC alum Gil Stein, the conference speakers promoted anti-Israel,
anti-Jewish prejudice by distorting facts and history to delegitimize the Jewish state, equate Israeli and Nazi policies, minimize the Holocaust,
and urge divestment from Israel. The conference was organized by
Lisa Rofel, professor of Anthropology, and co-sponsored by the
Institute for Humanities Research, College 9/10, Feminist Studies, Anthropology, CGIRS, Community Studies, Sociology, Politics, and History.

"StandWithUs firmly supports academic freedom and a free market
place for all ideas," reports Roz Rothstein, SWU international director,
"but this one-sided, politicized conference violates elementary scholarly
and educational standards." The speakers cited research that has been discredited. The organizer rejected recommendations for other qualified speakers who could have presented different viewpoints and facts.
"Such one-sided events spread misinformation and prejudice."

None of the five invited speakers is a recognized scholar of the history
of Zionism or of Israel. They do, however, actively promote a political agenda. Self identified as anti-Zionists, they have regularly spoken out publicly against the Jewish state, signed anti-Israel divestment petitions or other public letters calling for America to an end its aid to Israel and for boycotts against Israeli academics, or have organized anti-Israel events
such as "Israel Apartheid Week"

The conference's political advocacy violated Article IX of the
California Constitution which does not allow public Universities
to promote partisan politics. Yet UCSC academic departments endorsed
and funded this highly political event while deceptively publicizing it as educational. This violates the spirit and letter of Article IX and is a misuse of taxpayer and student tuition money.

“The University of California has a responsibility not only to the
students and faculty, but to all Californians, to refrain from promoting
an ideology or personal agendas,” stated Santa Cruz attorney, UCSC
alum and StandWithUs member, Gil Stein.

The conference fostered prejudice and a hostile campus environment
for an American minority group: Jews. The US Civil Rights
Commission, dedicated to combating bigotry on campuses, recently concluded that, "Anti-Semitic bigotry is no less morally deplorable when camouflaged as anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism."

"This event is just the tip of an iceberg," continued Rothstein. "UCSC
has hosted several other similar events that go beyond simply criticizing Israel's policies. Programs like this create a hostile environment for
Jewish and pro-Israel students. In its recent report, the US Civil Rights Commission deplored these developments and encouraged University administrations to take a firm stand against the bigotry of what has been called the “new anti-Semitism.'"

StandWithUs urges UCSC to take a similarly firm stand. It asks the administration to:

1. Require the academic departments to refund the public monies they misused for this political event.
2. Sponsor conferences, lectures or debates that present alternative
views.
3. Re-examine and reinforce guidelines for academic and intellectual standards, for distinguishing facts from unsubstantiated allegation, and
for distinguishing political advocacy from legitimate educational
programs.
4. Develop mandatory sensitivity-training programs for faculty and
students about anti-Semitism and its recent variant, anti-Zionism.