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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/palestinian-professor-attacks/">https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/palestinian-professor-attacks/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Palestinian professor hits back at
Israel lobby attacks</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">David Spero - July 31, 2019<br>
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<p>Aiming to expose and loosen the influence of the Israel
lobby on U.S. campuses, Palestinian-born professor Dr.
Rabab Abdulhadi has sued San Francisco State University
(SFSU) in federal court for illegal retaliation for her
political speech, and in state court for breach of
contract and employment discrimination. Her supporters
have issued a call for donations to a fund to cover
necessary expenses of the litigation.</p>
<p>Speaking to supporters on a conference call, Behnam
(Ben) Gharagozli, one of Abdulhadi’s lawyers, said the
case “will send a positive message to everyone engaged
in campus activism and in researching, teaching and
speaking up for justice in/for Palestine. It will change
the dynamics at universities across America where people
will no longer have to be afraid of criticizing Israel.”</p>
<p>Gharagozli’s co-counsel Mark Kleiman explained, “We
will unveil how the Israel lobby operates. Controlling
campus debate is important to them. That is why the
lobby pays for university presidents to take trips to
Israel. This case will reveal their excess influence,
which is part of the general trend of powerful interests
taking over U.S. academia.”</p>
<p>SFSU hired Abdulhadi, an outspoken advocate for
Palestine and a distinguished professor at University of
Michigan-Dearborn, in 2007 to establish a program called
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED)
studies. According to Gharagozli, her hiring memorandum
of understanding (MOU) specified that AMED would be
given two additional full professorships and adequate
support staff. These people were never hired, and the
funding lines have disappeared from SFSU budgets, though
a recent <a
href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/CSU-stashed-away-1-5B-surplus-without-telling-14025568.php">audit
revealed</a> that the Cal State system has hidden $1.5
billion in surplus funds.</p>
<p>The program rapidly became popular among students and
with the Arab community but came under intense fire from
pro-Israel groups on and off campus. Attacks have ranged
from <a
href="http://goldengatexpress.org/2017/09/28/hate-speech-posters-cover-sf-state-again/">hate
posters</a> pasted on campus by the David Horowitz
Freedom Center, online vilification of Abdulhadi and
AMED students by Canary Mission and Campus Watch, and
charges <a
href="https://amchainitiative.org/amcha-write-sfsu-president-leslie-wong-regarding-sfsu-professor-of-ethnic-studies-rabab-abdulhadi-egregious-misuse-of-university-and-taxpayer-funds/">of
antisemitism</a> from Hillel, the AMCHA Initiative,
and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), among others. In
2017 three individual students, encouraged and
represented by the Lawfare Project, the self-described
“legal arm of the pro-Israel community,” sued SFSU and
Abdulhadi for allegedly “maintaining a threatening
environment for Jewish students.”</p>
<p>Lawfare brought the case three times, but Kleiman and
Gharagozli argued that the claims were baseless, and in
October 2018, Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District
Court agreed, dismissing Lawfare’s case. Lawfare also
filed a similar case against SFSU in state court without
naming Abdulhadi as a defendant. Without her team on the
case, the University rapidly reached a settlement,
trumpeted by Israel supporters as admitting to an <a
href="https://www.jweekly.com/2019/03/20/jewish-students-settle-lawsuit-against-s-f-state-university/">antisemitic
environment</a>.</p>
<p>Since the settlement, Administration has made life
progressively more difficult for Abdulhadi, challenging
routine expenses, refusing to build the AMED program as
contractually agreed, canceling a summer program in
Palestine that was already fully subscribed, and denying
her needed disability accommodations and preferred class
schedules.</p>
<p>At every step, AMED and SFSU’s administration have been
under pressure from Israel-aligned organizations. The
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) took then
newly installed President Leslie Wong on a tour of
Israel in 2013. J Weekly, Northern California’s largest
Jewish newspaper ran <a
href="https://www.jweekly.com/2017/05/04/jcrc-to-sfsu-set-and-enforce-rules-for-civility/">a
long series</a> of articles alleging that antisemitism
was rampant on campus. JCRC, ADL and others are often
invited to meet with SFSU administration, while Arab and
Muslim groups and Palestinian rights supporters such as
Jewish Voice for Peace say they have been unable to get
meetings.</p>
<h3>Israel’s Academic Army</h3>
<p>Suppression of Palestinian voices is the norm on
American campuses; the SFSU case stands out only because
of Abdulhadi’s effectiveness in holding on to her job
and expanding the AMED program. A dozen Israel-aligned
groups monitor pro-Palestinian academics and have gotten
many fired, including Normal Finkelstein at De Paul
University, Steven Salaita at the University of Illinois
and many less well-known cases. According to Palestine
Legal attorney Liz Jackson, her agency responded to <a
href="https://palestinelegal.org/2018-report">289
incidents of suppression</a> of U.S.-based Palestine
advocacy in 2018, on top of 308 incidents in 2017.</p>
<p>Most of these pro-Israel groups are small but
well-connected and well-funded. In 2016, Israel’s
then-Education Minister Naftali Bennet launched a $66
million campaign called Mosaic United to “combat
critical discourse around Israel on American campuses.”
Hillel International has <a
href="https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/hillel-international-end-your-partnership-with-mosaic-united-and-affirm-your-commitment-to-pluralism?">collaborated</a>
closely with and taken millions of dollars from Mosaic.</p>
<p>The Lobby groups’ tactics include media smears on
Israel’s critics, labeling them as antisemites, efforts
to rewrite university policies or <a
href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-anti-semitism-fight-against-discrimination-20190507-yxkti5ws3zetvmlu6mpgytlv4i-story.html">state
laws</a> to penalize criticism of Israel, and pressure
on donors and administrators. If Abdulhadi’s team can
bring this information to light, it will strengthen
Palestinian academics against the Israel lobby and
empower all academics against bullying by corporate
power and special interest groups. “This case is ideal,”
says Kleiman, “because it deals with what’s happening in
the U.S.: discrimination against minorities, women and
immigrants. We will use this case to demonstrate how
white nationalism, not just the Israel Lobby is moving
things to the right. This is a rare opportunity to bring
these issues out.”</p>
<h3>Pursuing justice is expensive</h3>
<p>“We are confident in the strength of the two lawsuits,”
Gharagozli says, “but we cannot win them without
presenting the necessary evidence. We must demand that
SFSU produce documents and answer written questions. We
will subpoena administrators and their outside allies
such as JCRC and Hillel and compel them to testify under
oath on video in front of a court reporter. Without
this discovery, we stand little chance of actually
winning the lawsuit.”</p>
<p>The discovery process is expensive — depositions alone
cost $1,500 to $2,500 a day without attorney fees – and
Abdulhadi’s team is seeking help to fund them.</p>
<p>“I did not intend to take on the whole Israel Lobby,”
said Abdulhadi. “I wanted to get back to my scholarship
and teaching. But even though we keep winning, they
never stop attacking, tying up our time, energy and
resources. So now we have gone on the offensive.”</p>
<p>To find out more or support Dr. Abdulhadi, visit <a
href="https://supportprofabdulhadi.org/">https://supportprofabdulhadi.org/</a></p>
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