ehud is actively engaging in organizing activities designed to destroy the state of israel. no one is allowed to look into his background and motives? he put himself in the public UCB eye, he is fair game for journalism.

unless you want to muzzle him.

and yes, hillel was around long before the latest wave of sjp/human rights activism hit, but its mission and role has been seriously reconfigured as a result of this activism and become much more focused on supporting israel.

Also, even if all of the students in SJP support gay rights (that’s debatable, but we’ll assume that they do), you know very well that the Palestinian Authority, and most other Arab governments, treat gays like total crap. If someone is advocating on behalf of Israel, it is perfectly reasonable to point out how Israel treats gays so much better than nearly every other country in the region.

if you want examples of how hillel steers, or rather, avoids real debate, theres a million examples. Heres one: IAC loves to tote around signs that say how Israel plants trees, or gives gays rights. SJP isnt running around saying that Israel oppresses gays, or trees.
Its non sequitur. SJP is saying that Israel oppresses Palestinians.

of course, there is very little to debate about the basic facts, as most historians, zionist and otherwise, acknowledge them. the debate is over what the solutions are to address those facts, and the problem for “pro-israel” campus wieners, is that those issues cannot be addressed in a way that is acceptable within the standard zionist paradigm. certainly not in a way that the powers that be in israel are willing to accept right now (israel will need to be forced).

anyway, so hillels job is to keep knowledge of the “facts” from turning into a discussion about how to fix the problem, which is a pretty tight rope to walk…

On what basis are you claiming that Hillel steered debate? There were many programs and events during my years that involved a great deal of debate (shouting matches) between the sides, so I am not sure what you’re talking about. These “debates”, by the way, tended to get nowhere, because the certain members on both sides did not have patience/manners to engage in civilized discourse about the conflict. IMHO, any debate with an organization that regularly chants on campus “Palestine will be free from the river to the see” is a waste of time, much like negotiations with HAMAS.

What surprises me the most is that Kaplan uses that kind of language and is not even embarrassed by it.

chet(CEO): I bet it sucks to have a soul and be in Gaza right now.

you didnt address my comments about where hillel steers the debate over israel and palestine. but then again, im not surprised. yes kaplan the person is mezz-dup. kaplans personality, while a big liability, and i like to think, related to his politics, doesnt change the fact that his politics were much scarier for hillel than his personality. you can compare other campuses across the US and their hillels’ responses to that similar dafka-esque approaches to pro-israel activism.