Brandeis accused of double standard after pulling honor of Islam critic Hirsi Ali
(JNS.org) After facing growing pressure from faculty members and students, Brandeis University said Tuesday that it is rescinding its decision to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights activist and critic of Islam, over her “past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”
In light of the school’s past decisions to honor American playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who have both have been accused of making anti-Israel or anti-Semitic remarks, some are now accusing Brandeis of applying a double standard over the move to rescind Hirsi Ali’s honor for her remarks on Islam.
Kushner has called the creation of Israel a “mistake.” Yet in 2006, former Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz defended Kushner’s honorary degree, saying, “Just as Brandeis does not inquire into the political opinions and beliefs of faculty or staff before appointing them, or students before offering admission, so too the university does not select honorary degree recipients on the basis of their political beliefs or opinions.” At the time, Jewish groups called on Brandeis to pull Kushner’s honor, to no avail. This time around, more than 85 out of 350 professors at Brandeis wrote to university President Frederick Lawrence, and students launched a petition that garnered nearly 7,000 signatures, urging the university to rescind Hirsi Ali’s award.
“That Brandeis withstood Zionist unhappiness in 2006, and went ahead to award an honorary degree to Tony Kushner, points to who today really has power in the United States—and even in the Jewish community,” Middle East Forum President Dr. Daniel Pipes, whose daughter attended Brandeis, told JNS.org.
Born in Somalia to a strict Muslim family and raised in Kenya, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female genital mutilation, abuse, and an arranged marriage. She fled to the Netherlands in the early 1990s.
After renouncing her Muslim faith, Hirsi Ali became an outspoken proponent of women’s rights, especially in the Muslim world, and a staunch critic of Islam, which she views as being at war with the West. She also served as a member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006, founded the AHA Foundation to protect women’s rights, and is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Hirsi Ali said, “Neither Brandeis nor my critics knew or even inquired as to what I might say. They simply wanted me to be silenced.”
Daniel Mael, a junior at Brandeis, told JNS.org that he is “appalled by the hypocrisy of the university administration and their inability to distinguish between [Hirsi Ali’s] view on Islam and her efforts in this world.”
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Gaza mortar explodes in southern Israeli community
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A mortar fired from the Gaza Strip exploded and damaged infrastructure in a community in the Shaar Hanegev region of southern Israel on Wednesday, with residents saying warning sirens did not sound.
“It is terrifying hearing a mortar explode, [with] the warning system not working,” a local resident said. “The fact that no one was wounded was just a matter of luck. Us residents of the Gaza Strip border communities know how hard it is to spot a mortar, but still we cannot be left to depend on miracles.”
Security forces immediately notified residents in the area to stay in fortified safe zones out of concern of additional bombardment. After an hour, locals were allowed back to their daily routines.
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Nazareth Illit mayor asks local mosques to turn down the volume
(JNS.org) Nazareth Illit Mayor Alex Gedelkin (Yisrael Beiteinu) filed a request with the heads of surrounding Arab villages, asking them to lower the volume of the Muslim call to prayer from local mosques during the annual Israeli Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) commemorations in early May.
Gedelkin also wrote to Deputy Interior Minister MK Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beiteinu), asking her to assist his request with local Arab towns, including Kafr Kanna, Mashhad, Reineh, and Ein Mahil, Israel Hayom reported.
In the letter, Gedelkin explained how every year Memorial Day ceremonies are interrupted as muezzins from surrounding towns make the call to prayer. He said the call occurs precisely as Israel enters a state of mourning and locals take a moment from their daily routines to join in the memory of Israel’s fallen soldiers, including non-Jews who served in the defense establishment.
Gedelkin emphasized that he understood the call to prayer was not meant to interrupt the ceremony, and that the times year-round are predetermined.
“Still, in light of the day’s sanctity, I am asking for them to lower the volume of their loudspeakers during the muezzin call to prayer, so it will not reach those participating in memorial services for IDF soldiers,” he wrote.
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Hezbollah reportedly faces financial crisis over Iran cutbacks and Syrian civil war
(JNS.org) Hezbollah is facing a growing financial crisis, according to new reports.
A report in Asharq Al-Awsat, citing sources in Lebanon, said Hezbollah is facing increasing financial pressure over austerity measures by the Iranian government since President Hassan Rouhani took office last summer, as well as strain over the terror group’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.
Additionally, the report said Hezbollah is facing financial pressure from more aggressive prosecution by the United States and Europe over foreign sources of funding from Latin America and Africa.
Last week, several members of the U.S. Congress proposed a new bill to increase sanctions on Hezbollah by targeting its banks and other financial institutions that support the terror group.
Germany, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that it banned the German charity Orphan Children Project Lebanon for raising money for Hezbollah. German police staged raids across the country on homes and offices used by the charity.
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