"Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offence and has turned a deaf ear to the victims."
–Prof. Arnold Toynbee, Foreword to the Transformation of Palestine, 1971
"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial."
–Ariel Sharon
"Well, it's a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticizing Israel then we bring up the holocaust. When in this country US) people are criticizing Israel then they are anti-Semitic. And the organization (Israel Lobby) is very strong and has lot of money. And the ties between Israel and American Jewish establishment are very strong – and they are strong in this country as you know. And they have power which is ok."
–Shulamit Aloni, Former Israeli Minister of Education, On Democracy Now, August 14, 2002
Honorable President of Harvard University Dr. Drew Faust
Honorable Members of the Board of Directors
Harvard Faculty Members
Harvard Student Organizations
Dear Madame President Faust;
I must strenuously and in the strongest terms possible protest the silence and inaction of Harvard University toward the outrageous, inhumane, offensive, even racist eugenic proposal that Dr. Martin Kramer, a Visiting Scholar at Harvard made during his speech at the Israeli Herzliya Conference on January 31, 2010.
In that speech Dr. Kramer implored the West to stop its Pro Natal services to the already besieged and starving Gaza Palestinian pregnant mothers and infants as a method of controlling the rapid birth rate in Gaza as a matter of political and social policy. To him such control will naturally lead to a decrease in the radicalization of Palestinian youth which he calls "superfluous men" as well as relieve the "demographic threat" to Israel's Jewish identity.
How racist is the term "superfluous men" to describe young Palestinian men who are constant fodder for Israeli soldier's bullets, missiles, and tank shells (as soldiers themselves have told "Break the Silence" group of former IDF Soldiers) as unnecessary and wasteful human beings.
Dr. Kramer's eugenic proposal not to provide Pro Natal care, which I take he means Pre and Post Natal care, is tantamount to genocide of fetuses and infants. Pregnant mothers would not receive the preventive care, regular OB exams, nutritional guidance (such as providing Folic Acid and Vitamins given their already malnourished state), appropriate vaccines or a healthy medically supervised delivery in hospitals, which all are damaged by Israel's assault on Gaza in 2008-2009. Infants would not receive the necessary medical care, or intensive care if necessary (difficult given the lack of electricity, oxygen, or antibiotics in Gaza), regular immunizations, nutritional guidance, or regular Pediatric checkups. Dr. Kramer shouldn't worry about a Palestinian population explosion; Israel's militarily with our tax dollars and weapons is determined not to leave any Palestinian child behind.
His proposal meets the accepted definition of eugenics, passive euthanasia, and genocide and no amount of spin cover up, rationalization, justification, taken out of context lies; nor the canard of Freedom of Speech that's available to Pro Israelite hate mongers to the exclusion of Pro Justice proponents for Palestinians and peace in the Holy Land.
In addition to Israel's three year physical devastating siege of Gaza, Dr. Kramer is proposing another physical and medical siege, this time of a Palestinian woman's womb that would ultimately result in a secondary ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that has continued unabated since 1947.
In Harvard as elsewhere, Academic Freedom and Free Speech means never having to say Israel is wrong, or that Israel defies all divine and human laws, or that Israel's occupation and theft of Palestinian land is illegal and immoral, and Israel's wars upon a captive population under its control is tantamount to "war crimes, nor that the Israel Lobby dominates the formulation of our foreign policy in the Middle East and the Islamic world. To them it's Baghdad, next stop is Iran.
No politician, academic institution, or American citizen dare have an honest public discourse on our self destructive relationship with Israel. Even the Pentagon's Defense Science Board confirmed that the Muslim world doesn't hate our freedoms but hates our blind policy of supporting Israel.
In describing freedom of speech the famous Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote:
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
Contrary to Dr. Kramer's assertion and his defense by WCFIA controlling or preventing a population's birth right and rate meets the definition of Genocide according to the First Geneva Convention Against Genocide which states:
"This convention bans acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religion group…imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group".
Dr. Kramer need not worry that Gaza's children are growing up healthy, safe, able to go to school, eat right, receive medical care, play, or even visit family, given Israel's persistent military attacks, invasions, and total blockade of Gaza. During the unprovoked onslaught on Gaza a year ago Israel killed hundreds of infants and children. That is why the Goldstone report accusing Israel of committing war crimes never appeared in TV news or most of our print media. Neither will the media report on Dr. Kramer's speech or the angst of many Americans who find it abhorrent and offensive.
While Israel destroys the lives of current Palestinian children, Dr. Kramer seeks to ensure the end of future Palestinian children.
In fact Palestinian children are living breathing beings who often serve as fodder and target practice for Israel's soldiers. (Guardian, Nov. 24, 2004: "Israeli Officer: I was right to shoot 13 year old child")
Chris Hedges, the famed journalist, author, and war correspondent who was also a Neimen Fellow at Harvard and served for years as MidEast Bureau Chief for the New York Times horrifically captured the plight of Palestinian children in Gaza in a Harper Magazine article titled, "A Gaza Diary", October 2001.
"It was in Gaza, where I lived for weeks at a time during the seven years I spent in the Middle East, that I came to know the dark side of the Israeli Defense Force….Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered-death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo-but I have never before watched soldiers (IDF) entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport."Madame President, imagine the outrage in Harvard and among worldwide Jewish groups if a Harvard Muslim Professor suggested that limiting Jewish births in the U.S. will lead to a dramatic decline in their political, financial, and media clout thereby ending their stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy and its blind support of the rogue state of Israel. How long before you, Madame President, the Board of Trustees, Deans, Faculty, the ADL, AIPAC, ZOA, JDL, JINSA, WINEP, and the mainstream media would be calling for his Anti-Semitic head not just to be fired, even with tenure.
Madame, you'd be the first to initiate the firing of such a person who'll be blacklisted never again to find academic employment in this country. Such is the power of Pro Israelite's wrath.
Again, I am under no illusion that you or Harvard's Board of Trustees would even consider the slightest reprimand against Dr. Kramer for his most offensive call to limit the freedom for Palestinians to procreate lest their population growth translates into future political violence, an argument used effectively for years by Apartheid South Africa.
Dr. Kramer enjoys the protection of rich philanthropic donors to Harvard, Jewish colleagues and superiors, Jewish organizations, and a supportive media.
But, in the larger scheme of education which is the foundation of any civilization is Harvard's mission and responsibility to its students, community, and the world; to teach the truth on any subject or at least present both sides of an argument, to stand up for the principles of freedom and equality for all, for justice, for world peace, constructive dialogue, respect for human life and human rights, respect for the law and due process; or is Harvard akin to all institutions in our capitalistic money corrupted society where special interest groups with money and power determine the content of our education and the extent of our freedoms.. If so, who will speak for and advocate for the voiceless, the invisible poor, the homeless and the oppressed?
This is the issue and challenge for our times. Will we lend an ear and voice for those who have no money to endow chairs, hold no high positions in the government, think tanks, banking and financial institutions, the media and the entertainment industry?
Have we all lost our souls for the expediency and reward of the moment at the expense of others and our future?
Given that our nation's future demographics will result in today's minorities becoming tomorrow's majorities, should we adopt Dr. Kramer's proposal and limit by any means necessary the procreation of our Hispanic, African American and Asian populations?
How will such a future majority impact our relationship with Israel and the power of the Israel Lobby upon our foreign policy?
If Harvard remains silent regarding Dr. Kramer's speech, as I expect it will, perhaps we should recall Elie Wiesel's hypocritical statement:
"Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
The famous Harvard graduate John Kennedy once said:
"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest; but the myth, persistent, persuasive and realistic"
How tragic that in Harvard there is no longer a commitment to Veritas or Justice. Fear and the maintenance of the status quo have become the corruptive regressive tools of an outstanding institution denying its bright young minds the dream of a brighter, safer, and peaceful future for this fragile planet.
With all due respect to you, the Board of Trustees, Faculty and students of our beloved Harvard, I remain.
Note: Martin Kramer is Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and President-Designate of Shalem College (in formation). He is also the Wexler-Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and National Security Security Studies Program Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
Dr. Kramer was also former editor of the Middle East Quarterly a publication of the Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes founder of campuswatch.org which "monitors" universities and scholars who teach Middle East Studies. lest they, God forbid, describe Israel in its true historical colors.
http://www.martinkramer.org/sandbox/2010/02/wcfia-at-harvard-accusations-are-baseless/
M. Kramer's blog which contains his speech and the defense of his speech by the Directors of WCFIA at Harvard where he is a Visiting Scholar.
http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) at Harvard where Dr. Kramer is described as Visiting Scholar, National Security Studies Program. Former Director, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.
From the Electronic Intafada website which brought the issue to the attention of WCFIA at Harvard:
"In her initial response to a query from the Electronic Intifada regarding Dr. Kramer's speech, Professor Beth Simmons, the director of WCFIA, wrote, "I agree with your assessment of the appalling nature of these [Kramer's] statements," but added, "the WCFIA does not have a policy of censoring or censuring our affiliates on the basis of their opinions." Simmons also stated, "I very much hope you bring these [Kramer's] words to the attention of others affiliated with the WCFIA, Harvard and the broader community, where I hope they will garner their just reaction." She encouraged individuals to make their concerns known to Professor Stephen Rosen, who is in charge of the National Security Studies Program of which Kramer is a fellow.
Naturally and as expected the Directors of WCFIA reversed their assessment from "appalling" to defending the "appalling" speech.
http://www.michaelheart.com/songforgaza.htm
PLEASE WATCH this Song by an American Humanitarian Songwriter on GAZA
http://vodpod.com/watch/122002-the-israel-lobby-the-influence-of-aipac-on-us-foreign-policy
Important Dutch Video on Influence of AIPAC on US Foreign Policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H88gVDrIlPs
UK Channel 4 Video: Inside Britain's Israel Lobby
http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=34545
BBC Panorama Video: THE WAR PARTY, the Neocons Behind Iraq War
http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/011001_hedges.html
Chris Hedges, "A Gaza Diary", Harper's Magazine, October 2001
* Mohamed Khodr M.D., M.P.H. is a political activist who frequently writes on the plight of Palestinians living under the brutal occupation of Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, Islam, and Arab politics.
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