Official Anti-Israel Events at Columbia University Law School Official upcoming anti-Israel events at Columbia University Law School: is bias a 'liberal' value?

There are a number of e-mail notifications being circulated at Columbia University Law School, as well as various departments and clinics within the school, announcing official upcoming anti-Israel events, according to IsraelMatzav. 

American-Israeli “human rights”lawyer Emily Schaeffer and member of the Yesh Din NGO spoke at the prestigious law school on March 27, claiming that Israeli “human rights violations” include cases of “torture, targeted killings, [and] the use of white phosphorus.” Yesh Din is funded almost entirely by foreign donations, and provided testimony against the Israel Defense Forces in the Goldstone Report. The organization says its mission is “to oppose the continuing violation of Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory… documenting and disseminating accurate and up-to-date information about the systematic violation of human rights in the OPT, by raising public awareness of such violations, and by applying public and legal pressures on government agencies to end them.”

In addition, an event titled, “Disruption of Normal Life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which is expected to accuse Israel of “home demolitions” and “illegal construction” is scheduled to take place March 29. The event’s flyer proclaims, “Palestinians maintain that the demolitions stem from a discriminatory planning and zoning regime that favors Israeli settlers.” 

Furthermore, university students who submitted reports to the United Nations Special Procedures Committee regarding the “human rights situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” are to engage in a “lunchtime discussion in which they will share some of their research and experiences… They will discuss issues affecting everyday life for Palestinians including: housing and zoning schemes, forced evictions and displacement, and discriminatory land policy.”

Similarly, Professor Katherine Franke, who recently returned from a trip to the region, where she was helping ‘Palestinian’ women establish a Women's Committee within the Palestinian Bar Association, is scheduled to speak about the “pressing Gender Justice issues,” in the “West Bank” and what it means to be a feminist in the West Bank.”

“The Ethics of Pinkwashing: LGBT Rights in Israel/Palestine,” scheduled to take place on April 4^th, is meanwhile expected to accuse Israel of “pinkwashing” and committing crimes of discrimination against the homosexual population in Israel.

Columbia University is widely known to be a hotspot for anti-Israel programming and activities, and has sponsored numerous events aimed at de-legitimizing the Jewish State. It facilitates academic, economic and cultural boycotts against the State of Israel. The university’s Edward Said was photographed throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers guarding the border with Lebanon.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak at the university in 2007. 

Canceling Columbia's Haman Banquet

President Lee C. Bollinger 
Columbia University 
202 Low Library 
535 West 116th Street, Mail Code 4309 
New York, N.Y. 10027 
Re: Criminal and Civil Liability of Columbia University
Relating to Hosting of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Dear President Bollinger, 
  SHURAT HADIN—ISRAEL  LAW  CENTER, an Israeli organization dedicated to 
enforcing basic human rights through the legal system, represents victims of terrorism in 
courtrooms around the world.  
It has come to our attention that Columbia University has arranged to host a 
banquet for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   
Hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is not merely morally repulsive: it is illegal
and will expose Columbia University and its officers to both criminal prosecution and civil 
liability to American citizens and others victimized by Iranian-sponsored terrorism. 
 Iran is officially designated under U.S. law as a state-sponsor of terrorism, as a 
proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and as  a perpetrator of human rights abuses. 
Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear 
proliferation activities and human rights abuse.  
Accordingly, any provision of material support or resources to Ahmadinejad by 
Columbia University and/or its officers constitutes a violation of the criminal and civil 
provisions of Chapter 113B, Title 18 United States Code, and of the criminal provisions of the 
International Emergency Economic Powers Act, of numerous Executive Orders and of the 
implementing regulations (31 CFR Part 535; 31 CFR Part 560-562). 

I attach for your convenience a copy of the United States Supreme Court’s recent 
ruling in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. ____ (2010), which found 
that providing any assistance or support to terrorists is unlawful. The planned Columbia 
University event for Ahmadinejad would constitute the type of seemingly innocuous material 
support that would render both Columbia University and you personally criminally and civilly 
liable notwithstanding any putative First Amendment claims.   
Many U.S. entities and individuals who have provided material support to 
terrorists have been sued by the terror victims and their families for aiding and abetting 
international terrorism. Many of these defendants now find themselves defending against multibillion dollar civil actions in federal courts around the United States. In addition, American 
corporations that provided material support to militant organizations in the Middle East are 
currently defendants in multi-billion dollar civil  actions in U.S. federal courts brought by the 
victims of these groups, and officers and principals of such corporations have also become 
defendants.   See e.g. Abecassis v. Wyatt, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2011 WL 1227780 (S.D.Tex. 2011). 
It should be noted that this is not the first time that you and Columbia University 
have provided Ahmadinejad with a forum for media coverage and an air of legitimacy. In 2007, 
Columbia University invited Ahmadinejad – who calls for genocide against the Jewish people 
and denies that the Holocaust took place. Among the many terrorist groups that Ahmadinejad’s 
regime prides itself on supporting are al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as 
groups in Iraq that have killed and maimed a great many United States soldiers. Additionally, 
Iran is a ruthless violator of the human rights of its own people and continues to illegally pursue 
nuclear weapons in violation of international law and U.N. resolutions. 
While Columbia University and certain of its officers appear to believe that 
hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is nothing more than a harmless Radical Chic parlor game, 
such conduct is in fact very serious business that can and will have severe, real-world criminal 
and civil consequences for Columbia and its officers. 
And quite deservedly so: to host Ahmadinejad is to host an aspiring Hitler.  
In light of the above, we request that you immediately provide us confirmation 
that Columbia University has undertaken to cancel the planned banquet for Ahmadinejad.  
Our organization will feel a moral obligation to take all measures permitted to 
ensure that the laws are enforced and that anyone affiliated with Columbia University who has 
violated them is brought to justice.  

Very truly yours,  
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Esq. 
Director Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center 

Canceling Columbia's Haman Banquet

When we recently learned that the Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was attending the UN's opening activities in New York, had been invited to dinner by a group of Columbia University students we knew we had to act.  The Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA), which had planned the Haman banquet,  bills itself as one of Columbia's largest undergraduate organizations, is funded by the University and has its offices right on the campus.  We recalled that in 2007, Columbia had also shamefully invited the Iranian leader to speak, providing him with a platform to present his perverted ideas to an international audience while clothed in the vestments of  the University's legitimacy. We were determined not to allow it to happen again.

Along with our newly launched American office in New York, we quickly dispatched a warning letter to Columbia University's President Lee Bollinger advising him that Columbia’s plan to host a banquet for Ahmadinejad runs afoul of U.S. anti-terror laws and will subject the university and its officials to both criminal prosecution and civil liability to victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in Israel or elsewhere. The letter explains that Iran has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States (22 U.S.C 2656f) and that the provision of any support by U.S. persons, including the planned banquet for Ahmadinejad, is considered unlawful provision of aid to the outlawed regime. We also wrote that victims of Iranian terrorism will file civil actions and hold Columbia liable for their injuries.

The warning letter, signed by New York attorney Robert Tolchin and myself, noted that we represent individuals and families who have been victims of Iranian-sponsored terror groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas in legal actions around the world.  We accused Ahmadinejad of personally directing Iran’s terrorist and nuclear proliferation activities and human rights abuse as well as calling for genocide against the Jewish people. We also reminded the Columbia officials of Iran’s massive support for Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and Hamas, which have killed thousands of American citizens.

The letter to President Bollinger stated:

“Hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is not merely morally repulsive: it is illegal and likely to render Columbia University and its officers both criminally and civilly liable. Iran is official designated under U.S. law as a state sponsor of terrorism, as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and as a perpetrator of human rights abuses. Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear proliferation activities and human rights abuse . . .

While for Columbia University and certain of its officers hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet might appear to be nothing more than a harmlessRadical Chic parlor game such conduct is in fact very serious business that can and will have severe, real-world criminal and civil consequences for Columbia and its officers.”

Columbia University quickly backed away from the planned event and claimed that the University was not involved and it had been organized by a "private" Columbia student group. Whatever that is. In the wake of the public furor it was finally reported that the banquet had been canceled and that the Columbia students did not participate in meeting with the Iranian terrorist leader. Strike up another legal victory for the good guys.

May all such Hamans have their plans nullified in the coming year!

Columbia U. students could dine with Ahmadinejad as part of event

Pass the bread, Mahmoud.
Columbia University students may get the unique chance this month to dine with madman Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad when he visits New York, according to the school's student newspaper.
In an email sent to members of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association, students are invited to a private dinner Sept. 21 in Midtown with the man whom University President Lee Bollinger introduced as “a petty and cruel dictator” when he spoke on campus in 2007.
Members of the group were notified earlier this summer that they would have a chance to bring 15 students to the dinner, The Columbia Spectator reported Saturday.
The location of the dinner has not been determined.
The Iranian president will be in New York for the United Nations' 66th annual General Assembly, which runs from tomorrow through Sept. 27.
The Columbia International Relations Council and Association is one of Columbia's largest undergraduate organizations and claims on its website to be "the largest devoted to international relations."
Four years ago, the Iranian leader caused a firestorm of controversy when he gave a speech at Columbia.
At the forum, Bollinger blasted Ahmadinejad as "a petty and cruel dictator" -- before the demented despot railed about 9/11 conspiracies, openly challenged the Holocaust, and bizarrely stated, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals."
A grim-faced Ahmadinejad sweated out intense grilling from Bollinger and hordes of others in the audience who demanded answers from him on his dangerous rants.
"You exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said to cheers from the 800-plus people packed into the auditorium. "I feel all the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for."
The pint-sized Persian president responded by whining that he was "insulted" during his hourlong appearance at the Ivy League institution, which has weathered a firestorm of protest over giving the Axis of Evil leader a platform to propagandize.
After Bollinger's fusillade, all Ahmadinejad could do was invoke a passage from the Koran and steal a line from Rodney Dangerfield.
In an answer that many in the auditorium cheered, Ahmadinejad claimed Bollinger showed no "respect" and called his remarks an "insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."
He kicked off his speech with rambling and confusing remarks that attempted to weave together biblical Adam's conversation with an angel, modern man's pursuit of science, the development of nuclear weapons, the Holocaust and the Palestinian refugee problem.
The Iranian leader also denied that he wants nuclear weapons.
"Let me tell a joke here," he said. "The politicians who are after atomic bombs - politically, they are retarded."