Ambassador Michael Oren to Speak at the 2010 AIPAC Policy Conference, March 21-23
Amb. Oren will address more than 6,000 conference delegates.
The Honorable Michael Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, has confirmed that he will address a plenary session at AIPAC Policy Conference 2010, which will be held March 21-23 in Washington, D.C. Oren joins a list of others who have confirmed their attendance, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Quartet Representatitve Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Col. Richard Kemp and Prof. Alan Dershowitz. View a full Policy Conference program and register for the pro-Israel community's pre-eminent annual event. Below, view DemoCast's original video of Amb. Oren withstanding antagonists from Univ of Calif Irvine's Muslim Students Union who marched out in the midst of his address.
No charges were filed against the students.
In an open letter published in the UCI student newspaper New University Mon 8 March, Amb. Oren has offered to fly to meet the students who interrupted him as long as the tone stayed civil. Here is an excerpt:
I was saddened by the loss of this opportunity to exchange ideas with those who disagreed with me and, at the very least, to introduce them to different perspectives.
Since then, videos of the incident at Irvine have proliferated on the Internet and attracted significant media attention. I have received heartfelt apologies from UC President Mark Yudof and Chancellor Drake. The response has been overwhelmingly favorable in defense of my right to free expression on campus and the students’ right to hear those remarks.
Still, I am not satisfied. I came to UCI for the opportunity to exchange ideas — a reasonable intention that was hijacked by a minority of students. The disruptive measures exhibited by these students only underscore the importance for dialogue, especially on the frontline of higher learning. I would willingly return to your campus and meet with those individuals whose views may not agree with mine as long as we respect the decorum of dialogue and free speech.
(KPCC Wire Services) IRVINE — Assemblyman Chuck DeVore sent a letter to UC Irvine's chancellor asking him to ban the Muslim Student Union from campus following several of the group members' arrests while disrupting a speech by Israel's ambassador to the United States.
DeVore, (R-Irvine), who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also accused the Muslim Student Union of "passing the hat'' for Hamas at a fundraiser for the "terrorist organization'' last year.
"It's time to ban this organization from campus,'' DeVore said. "It's not contributing anything of value to the campus.''
DeVore's letter to UCI Chancellor Michael Drake requesting the ban of the Muslim Student Union follows the arrest of 11 students after allegedly disrupting a Feb. 8 speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the campus.
UCI Media Relations Director Cathy Lawhon said the university's response to DeVore's letter is that UCI officials are considering the allegations against the 11 students and the Muslim Student Union. The students and organization face a range of discipline from a warning to expulsion, but it is not known when officials will decide on punishment, Lawhon said. None of the 11 students who were arrested have been charged, according to court records.
The university is also still investigating the Muslim Student Union's fundraiser last year that critics say benefited Hamas.
The university has been roiled over permitting an anti-Semitic climate to fester on campus over the past several years.
Ambassador Michael Oren addressed an overflow audience on US-Israel relationship and global affairs at the Univ of Calif Irvine. He discussed the Zionistic element (support for the return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland) within America's founding and maturing, from John Adams, through Abraham Lincoln, to Harry Truman. He discussed Americans' widespread spiritual and social support for democratic Israel, the only land where rule of law guarantees free-speech in the Middle East. He discussed the evolution of the multi-faceted ties between the US and Israel- which strategic relationship began towards the end of the 1967 Six-Day War.
Amb. Oren noted the U.S. and Israel's shared values - spiritual and democratic, and their shared interests- economic and political - from allying to resisting Communism, to resisting Islamic-extremism, today.
He discussed the state of the current relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, vis a vis the Obama's administration's pressure to force the creation of a state of Palestine. He discussed Israel's considerations regarding the conditions of Palestinian sovereignty and prioritizing it over stopping nuclear proliferation within the Islamic world - which would extort the West with threats to leak nuclear-weapons into Islamic-extremists' hands.
U.C. Irvine, with a large Muslim enrollment, has been criticized for fomenting a climate of aggressive anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism through its Muslim Students Union. The M.S.U. organized a stream of students disrupting through the speech, ignoring appeals from Chancellor Paul Drake and Political Science Dept Director Mark Petraca. Police Chief Paul Hensley did not elect to position a uniformed police deterrence between the disrupting Muslims' seating sections and the Ambassador at the podium following repeated outbursts- and Muslim students continued to disregard faculty appeals- creating 10 disruptions. Amb. Oren walked out briefly, but Rabbi David Eliezrie relates that he elected to return on his dedication to the attendees, his Jewish perseverance, and the promise of his hosts to suspend or expel further disruptors.
Eleven students in total were arrested and charged with a misdemeanor- eight from U.C. Irvine and
three from U.C. Riverside. Irvine disruptors arrested: Joseph Tamim Haider, Osama Ahmed Sabry Shabaik, Mohamed Mohy Eldeen Abdelgany, Ali Mohammed Sayeed, Asaad Traina, Mohammad Qureashi, Aslam Akhtar, and Hakim Nasreddine Kebir.
Shalom Elcott, President and CEO of Jewish Federation Orange County, said the highly-orchestrated disruptions by the President of the Muslim Student Union (MSU) - who was arrested, along with one MSU board member and 10 other student protesters - constituted an embarrassment to the University and an insult to the broader community. “While we had hoped the administration would have been better prepared to thwart groups or individuals trying to harass Ambassador Oren, we do commend the University police for making arrests and taking action to escort the perpetrators out of the room,” says Elcott. “And, we are proud of the Ambassador not letting the disruptions stop him from completing his address. We will intensely monitor what actions the University administration will take in response to this evening’s event and will report our findings to the community,” says Elcott.
Palestinian political refugee, Ghazi Brighith, denounced the Muslim agitators' behavior as deplorable and un-Islamic.
Israeli-American activist, Nurit Greenger, called upon Chancellor Michael Drake in a written appeal to seek full prosecution for those arrested students, including expulsion from UCI, and deportation of those who are here student visas. "They are not welcome here to try distorting our culture and way of life. We want civility restored at UCI and nothing less will suffice," Ms. Greenger wrote.
Update 26 Feb: Though Police Chief Hensley told DemoCast that the arrested would be referred to the District Attorney for prosecution, none of the 11 students who were arrested have been charged, according to court records as of 23 Feb.
A DemoCast exclusive production. Demagogic hate-monger inculcates Muslims with bigotry (calling Jews 'Satanic'); then slams Jews for requiring Israel sanctuary from hateful Muslim world. Imam Abdul Malik Ali of Oakland's anti-Semitic, Black Muslim "Vanguard of Islam" mosque takes a page from Hitler's Jerusalem Mufti's Muslim anti-Semitism toward attaining power. Mission of replacing democracies with caliphate resonates with (alleged) Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Muslim Students Union at University of California in Irvine.
Israel Independence Week marred by racist Jew-hate fest on University of California Los Angeles-area campus.
The Muslim Students Union again co-opts the University of California-Irvine campus to mimic the Nazi-Party by advancing political Islamism through the guise of publicly debasing Zionism.
The public is encouraged to oppose "The Palestinian Holocaust" public event series being staged there though Thursday evening, 15th May. Israeli history revisionist, UK Exeter Prof. Ilan Pappe, will produce "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" Wednesday at 7:30pm.
Reut R. Cohen documents some of the trouble (including video of the Islamist 'Passion-Play,' entitled "Checkpoint" courtesy of the intrepid O.C. Rabbi Yonah Bookstein) at this Islamist beach-head on the idyllic Southern California campus.
The Freedom Center's FrontPageMagazine denounces this week-long Nakba event. David Horowitz will present, "On-campus support for a new Holocaust," Tuesday evening 7:30pm in Room 101 Rowland Hall.
FBI: agent was investigating vehicle when confronted by Muslim student" story from Bakersfield Californian, courtesy JihadWatch
"The agent blew his siren and used the cars PA system to warn" the group, the (FBI) bureau said in a statement. "
At that point, it was clear that this was a law enforcement vehicle. At least one person threw or placed a cinder block under the law enforcement vehicle," Eimiller said.
Hugh Fitzgerald of JihadWatch comments: "The story is telling. Muslims in Europe long ago showed they are willing to confront the forces of order, to disobey them, to vandalize, to threaten, to beat to death Infidels who happen to be around (two Frenchmen were so murdered), to kidnap and torture an Infidel (Mr. Halimi), to do whatever it is they wish to do. They are not intimidated. The people in the story above were clearly not intimidated. They were perfectly willing to attempt to harm this FBI agent, who had identified himself, and who, furthermore, had done nothing at all except conduct some surveillance.
This is a test case. The test is of the FBI, and of Congress, and of the federal government. We are waiting.
Exploiting American speech-freedoms while stifling it in others, Muslim students at posh U Cal Irvine spew vitriol in disrupting of Dr. Daniel Pipes lecture to Hillel students on Islamist war to conquer Israel.
The Muslim disrupters reflect a demogogic inculcation of victimhood and persecution- ironic since that has been the history of Muslim culture against ethnic minorities (such as Jews) and inconsistent with the fact that Arabs in Israel receive the highest standard of living in the entire Middle East.
Dr. Pipes's supporters applaud the departure of the pre-planned protestors (thoughe the protestors were videotaped outside pronouncing their role in Global Jihad / Holy War to establish Islamic rule over Israel and everywhere Muslims live).
What organization radicalizes these students to blind rage against the esteemed Professor Pipes? What is their goal? How are they monitored? How are faculties complicit? How is the west safeguarding itself against Muslim cultural supremacists, cloaked in racist-guilt mongering ?
