An article from SocialistWorker.org reports on the case of William Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB). This controversy centers around Robinson’s condemnation of the Israeli invasion of Gaza that began in 2008 December.
As stated in the second paragraph of the article:
This campaign against academic freedom is not just an attempt to punish me. Much more importantly, it aims to create an environment of fear and intimidation in which any criticism on Israeli policy is subject to sanctions and censorship.
Robinson’s article goes on to detail the course material he chose for his class on 2009-01-19, the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Suffice it to say, he does not mince words in his condemnation of the atrocities.
Two students out of a class of 80, who Robinson does not know personally, were offended by the images that they withdrew from the class. If only that were the end of it. Fast forward to 2009-02-09, when Robinson receives a letter from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), courtesy copied to the president of the University of California, the chancellor of the Santa Barbara Campus, and other universiy staff not specifically named in the article.
Then, a month later on 2009-03-09, Abraham Foxman, the director of the ADL, flew all the way from Washington to Santa Barbara to meet with about a dozen university officials, including two deans. Most thought the meeting was about a Jewish studies program; it instead was a thorough indictment of Robinson, discussed for an hour.
A short while later on 2009-03-25, UCSB begins investigating Robinson for violations of the faculty code of conduct.
Robinson reports that he is accused of two things: anti-Semitism, and introduction of course material “substantially unrelated” to the course. From what is mentioned in the article, I believe neither hold water.
First, anti-Semitism. I fail to see how condemnation of Israeli state conduct, particularly the scoffing of international law, can be anti-Semitic. Israel is subject to the same international law as any other country, and when that law is violated, they are subject to the same sanctions and criticism.
Second, this is a global affairs course that Robinson is teaching. The assertion that the conduct of Israel, especially within the context of complaince with international law, is irrelevant to a global affairs course is absolutely, positively, galactically stupid and absurd.
I believe the Holocaust was a tragedy and condemn true anti-Semitism, just as I condemn hate based on criteria such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. But at the same time I’m not going to give the modern-day Israeli government a free pass when they thumb their collective nose at international law.
Robinson concludes the article with a stirring condemnation of those responsible, implying the Israel lobby are “anti-democratic, authoritarian, or totalitarian” and also highlighting the suppression of academic freedom in apartheid South Africa, dictatorships in Latin America, the now-collapsed USSR, in the US under McCarthyism, and, oh yeah, Nazi Germany.
I believe my thoughts on the matter are summed up quite nicely by this quote from a reader of the Los Angeles Times, whom I wholeheartedly agree with:
[I]f you do not like Nazi comparisons then urge Israel not to commit Nazi-like atrocities rather than condemn and ostracize those who make the comparison.