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ZOA presses its case against UC Irvine's Muslim Student Union
NEW YORK (Press Release)--After raising concerns about radical British politician George Galloway’s speech at the University of California, Irvine last May regarding his Viva Palestina convoy to Gaza, and whether that campus may have been illegally used as a base for fundraising for the terrorist group Hamas, the Zionist Organization of American (ZOA) has provided more troubling information to the University and to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding Galloway and Viva Palestina.
In a letter sent last Friday to Eric H. Holder, Jr., the U.S. Attorney General, and George S. Cardona, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the ZOA furnished these law enforcement officials with a just-issued report about Viva Palestina, prepared by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT).
IPT’s Executive Director is Steven Emerson, one of the foremost experts on domestic terrorism in the United States. The 31-page report shows that Viva Palestina's goal is not charity, but to support the terrorist group Hamas. The ZOA also furnished law enforcement officials with information from a participant in the Viva Palestina convoy to Gaza in July 2009, who confirmed that the convoy provided support and resources to Hamas.
Last Friday, the ZOA provided the same information to UC Irvine, in a letter to Diane Geocaris, UC Irvine’s Chief Campus Counsel and Associate General Counsel. In light of this additional troubling information, the ZOA pressed the U.S. Department of Justice for an immediate investigation. In addition, the ZOA asked UC Irvine for additional details about the University’s own report to law enforcement and its own internal probe into the conduct of the Muslim Student Union and certain University officials, which the University had already committed to undertaking. The ZOA had alleged that the Muslim Student solicited funds for Viva Palestina on campus last May, after having specifically represented to the University that the event would not be a fundraiser. Moreover, several University officials were apparently present at the Galloway event, but did not intervene when the MSU and Galloway solicited funds from the audience, even though these officials knew or should have known that fundraising had not been authorized by the University.
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In last Friday’s letter to Justice Department officials, the ZOA detailed George Galloway’s history of demonizing Israel and supporting terrorist groups. At UC Irvine last May, he reportedly compared Israel’s defensive war against Hamas in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust, including describing Gaza as a “concentration camp.” He falsely described the founders of the State of Israel as European settlers” – in disregard of the historical truth that Jews have lived continuously in the Land of Israel for thousands of years. The ZOA also reported to the Justice Department findings by the Anti-Defamation League that in July 2006, during Israel’s war with Lebanon, Galloway wrote an op-ed in the Socialist Worker, praising Hezbollah, which has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.
The ZOA informed the Justice Department that in light of “Galloway’s horrific background,” the findings of the Investigative Project on Terrorism are no surprise: that “the Viva Palestina campaign is more about supporting and legitimizing Hamas than it is about providing aid to the needy. In their speeches and in the delivery of their supplies, Viva Palestina’s most visible leaders call for the elimination of the State of Israel to pave the way for a ‘one-state solution’ to the [Palestinian Arab-Israeli] conflict. They treat Hamas leaders as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people and provide both material and moral support to the terrorist organization.” ...
Judaism and physical education to be subject of Nov. 13 lecture
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--Dr. David Kahan, professor of physical education at San Diego State University, will present "Jewish Kids and Physical Education: The Whole in the Middle of the Bagel" at Congregation Dor Hadash on
November 13 at 7:30 pm.
Dr. Kahan was raised in Culver City, California where he attended Jewish day schools from Kindergarten through 9th grade. He later earned is Bachelor's and Master's degrees at UCLA as well as a teaching credential. Upon earning his Ph.D. in sport pedagogy at Ohio State University, he taught at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, University of New Mexico, and for the last 9 years at San Diego State where he is currently a professor and program coordinator of physical education in the School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences.
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