UCLA Today bestows legitimacy to anti-Israel propaganda
October 6 2011
In UCLA Today, an official newsletter to the university community, the UCLA administration recently published an article which bestows legitimacy on Arab propaganda, is filled with distortions and omissions of fact, and lacks moderation and scholarship. The article rejects Israeli sovereignty and dismisses Israel as a Jewish state, while presenting Palestinians as passive victims and Israel as the abuser of human rights.
Although President Yudof often cites the 1st amendment and academic freedom as his reasons for inaction about anti-Semitic manifestations on UC campuses, those excuses cannot be used for what is published in UCLA Today. UCLA Today exercises complete discretion over its choice of articles.
Read the letter below from UCLA Professor Emeritus and AMCHA Initiative Co-Founder Dr. Leila Beckwith to UCLA Vice Chancellor of Communications Carol Stogsdill, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and UC President Mark Yudof, protesting the platform supplied by taxpayer money to political propaganda that assaults Israel and violates standards of scholarship.
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From: Leila Beckwith [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 12:35 PM
To: ‘[email protected]‘
Cc: ‘[email protected]‘; ‘[email protected]‘
Subject: protest action by UCLA TODAY

October 6, 2011

Carol Stogsdill
Assistant Vice Chancellor
University Communications
University of California at Los Angeles

Dear Vice Chancellor Stogsdill:
I am Professor Emeritus at UCLA, and write to protest the publication by UCLA Today, on September 23, 2011, of an article entitled “Palestinians’ U.N. gamble could backfire.” The article, written by Professor Saree Makdisi, is unscholarly, politically motivated with deep animus against Israel, and anti-Semitic according to the Working Definition of Antisemitism used by the U.S. State Department. I believe it is wholly inappropriate for such an article to be published in an official University communication, over which the UCLA administration has complete discretion.
In his article, Makdisi argues that millions of Palestinians have a right to return to their “ancestral homes” in historic Palestine, including the present-day state of Israel. For Makdisi, “mere statehood” would be insufficient to meet the Palestinian cause because it might threaten the “right” of Palestinians to “return to homes and land in what is today Israel.” Thus, the Palestinian cause, according to Makdisi, requires turning the only Jewish state in the world into the 23rd Arab state. Makdisi’s agenda in the article, then, is the elimination of the Jewish State rather than the establishment of two states coexisting side by side.
Professor Makdisi’s piece contains numerous glaring distortions of fact and omissions, including the following:

Makdisi claims that Israeli Arabs are “second class citizens,” who must “fend for themselves against legalized discrimination.” The truth is that Israel Arabs have full rights of citizenship under Israeli law, including the freedom to vote, freedom of expression, and the freedom to freely practice their religion. Indeed, Israel Arabs have more civil rights as citizens of Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East. Israeli Arabs serve in the Knesset, on the Supreme Court, and in the diplomatic corps.
Makdisi presents Palestinians as passive victims, waiting for many decades for the right to” live normal, decent lives.” In portraying the Palestinians as passive victims, Makdisi does not mention that Arabs and Palestinians consistently rejected statehood for Palestinians—instead making war against the Jewish state in 1937, 1947, 1967, 2000, and 2005.

Professor Makdisi’s piece is politically motivated and hostile to Jews and Israel. For example:
Palestinians right to self-determination is unquestioned, whereas the Jewish struggle for self-determination is mocked.
Palestinians have a right to live normal lives in their ancestral homeland, but Jews do not.
Whereas 6 million Arab immigrants are claimed to have the right to be citizens of Israel, Makdisi is silent about the Palestinian Authority’s official position that no Jew will be allowed to live in Palestine.

Professor Makdisi’s piece borders on antisemitism according to the 2005 Working Definition of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC)– a definition used by the U.S. State Department. The definition states that ‘Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel taking into account the overall context could include: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.’

By giving a platform to the Makdisi article, UCLA tarnishes its own academic reputation by publishing an unscholarly piece. It violates university policy by providing university resources for a political purpose. It adds to a hostile environment for Jewish students, in violation of Title VI.

I, therefore, respectfully ask that:
UCLA Today distance itself from the Makdisi article.
UCLA Today establish a publication policy that sets standards of scholarship that do not allow for violations of the educational mission by political propaganda and indoctrination.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles

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