A consortium of American Jewish and civil rights groups including the Amcha Initiative have expressed concern that federal funds are underwriting “one-sided, antisemitic programming that masquerades as scholarship,” at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), according to statements released Wednesday.

According to AMCHA:

•CNES Israel-related events had an overwhelmingly anti-Israel bias: Of the 28 Israel-related events, 93% were anti-Israel;
•Most CNES Israel-related events contained antisemitic content: Of the 28 events, 75% contained antisemitic content;
•CNES had disproportionate focus on Israel: Of all the public events pertaining to significant Middle East political conflicts, 61% focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict, significantly more than any other conflict. In addition, events were held about 14 Middle East countries. Of those countries, 27% of the events were about Israel, four times more than any other country except Iran;
•CNES favors speakers who engaged in antisemitic activity prior to speaking at CNES: Of the 31 speakers at the CNES Israel-related events, 84% have engaged in antisemitic activity, including the demonization and deligitimization of Israel, denying Jews the right to self-determination, comparing Israelis to Nazis and condoning terrorism;
•Each CNES director had engaged in anti-Israel and antisemitic activity: All three CNES directors from 2010-2013 publicly opposed the UC Israel Abroad Program, despite touting the public abroad program as part of the center’s fulfillment of the Title VI funding requirement. In addition, each of the directors endorsed boycotts of Israel, and one is the founder of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel.
•CNES supported by Saudi government: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests revealed CNES received a donation of $10,000 – $20,000 from the Saudi government-owned Arabian American Oil Company. The Saudi website also includes openly anti-Israel and antisemitic discourse.

From an article by David Bender in Algemeiner.

CNES, according to AMCHA, is a major federally-designated National Resource Center, and as such, gets most of its funding funding from the Department of Education under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The group said the school received $1,383,680 during the period being investigated.



The groups issued a joint statement calling on the U.S. Congress to deny funds to Middle East Studies programs accused of having anti-American and anti-Israel bias, as well as to enact reforms on the funding process.


Congress is currently reconsidering the reauthorization of the HEA, which provides federal funds to 129 international studies and foreign language programs.




According to the 10 organizations that signed the statement- Accuracy in Academia, AMCHA Initiative, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Endowment for Middle East Truth, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Middle East Forum, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Zionist Organization of America – the programs “have devolved into hotbeds of anti-American and anti-Israel activity, disseminating falsehoods both in universities and to K-12 teachers and to the general public.”

A high-profile academic center used federal funds to promote anti-Semitism on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles, a watchdog says.

The university’s Gustav E. von Grunebaum Center for Near East Studies “is promoting a one-sided, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias to impressionable students,” Leila Beckwith said Wednesday during a Board of Regents meeting.

Beckwith is a UCLA professor emeritus and co-founder of AMCHA Initiative, the watchdog group that audited CNES events from 2010 to 2013. The CNES program, she said, “completely distorts UCLA’s scholarly and educational mission and is a violation of the Higher Education Act.”

During the period AMCHA reviewed, CNES received approximately $1.5 million from the Department of Education under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965. In 2008, fearing that recipients would engage in biased programming, lawmakers amended the act to require recipients “reflect diverse perspectives and a wide range of views and generate debate on world regions and international affairs.”

As Congress considers reauthorizing the law, AMCHA and numerous others say the amended act is “not working.”

Nine other organizations joined AMCHA to condemn the alleged anti-Semitic programming. These groups, including Accuracy in Academia, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, sent their report to U.S. House and Senate leaders to alert them that “Middle East centers funded under Title VI have failed to comply with federal law, by using taxpayer dollars to present biased, anti-American, anti-Israel views in their outreach programs.”

The AMCHA study reviewed all public events concerning Israel, utilizing the U.S. State Department’s own definition of anti-Semitism. Anti-Israel bias also was examined, as well as the total number of events sponsored by CNES that pertained to all Middle East countries. Biographical information was also prepared about every speaker and the three CNES directors.


The AMCHA report revealed that 93 percent of CNES Israel-related events had an overwhelmingly anti-Israel bias. Seventy-five percent contained anti-Semitic content and 84 percent of featured speakers have engaged in anti-Semitic activity, including the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, denying Jews the right to self-determination, comparing Israelis to Nazis and condoning terrorism.

“It’s the leadership of all three CNES directors that has fueled this clearly anti-Israel behavior,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA co-founder and a University of California faculty member. “Each of them opposed the UC Israel Abroad program, despite touting the Public Abroad program as part of the center’s fulfillment of the Title VI funding requirement. In addition, each of the directors endorsed boycotts of Israel, and one is the founder of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel.”

Faculty directors of CNES were Susan Slyomoviks (2010-2012) and Sondra Hale and Gabriel Piterberg (co-interim directors, 2012 – 2013). They did not respond to request for comment.

Civil rights expert and president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Kenneth L. Marcus, told Watchdog.org, “Universities that receive Title VI funding often have the most hostile environments for Jewish students.”


“After this morning’s revelations, we expect UCLA to do what they pledged and offer a diversity of perspective. We also expect Congress to hold recipients of Title VI grants accountable to the high standards they created or to not renew the program,” said Marcus, a former staff director at the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

A university spokesman, in a statement to Watchdog.org that did not address the AMCHA study directly, said “Israeli academics, students, speakers and artists are regularly part of programming at UCLA,” and that the university “remains dedicated to complying with all federal laws and respecting the free and open exchange of ideas representing diverse viewpoints

do you realize just how much shit you have to go through with, in order to glue the criminal Israeli state to Jews?
In this instance, quite a bit.
What a truck load of offended outrage...

Are you nessie? Nessie hated the Jews, and it was rumored that she tried to get Soros to fund her failing indy site.

what some people call "Israel" is Zionist occupied Palestine. Zionists are murderous thieves who have no business being in Palestine at all.

Paul Miller posted a few interesting perspectives of something called AMCHA.

that it is anti-semitic to present demonization (not an actual word) and delegitimization of "Israel" (aka, Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands). That is a very prejudiced supposition to make. "Deligitamize" pre supposes that Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands is legitimate. It is not legitimate, has never been legitimate, and will never be anything more than a blood soaked offense of the Zionists that they forced onto their chosen Palestinian victims.

Duh.

then it is denying Jews the right to self determination that is anti-Semitic.
Wow, do I love flushing that turd down the pipes.

Cambodians have a right to self determination. But the Cambodian's right to self determination does NOT include any such right to steal Palestinian lands and murder the Palestinians who dare to fight back or are just in the "wrong" place.

Ugandans, Scots, Catalonians, etc etc, every nation on the planet has a right to self determination. BUT it is ONLY Zionists who are claiming that THEIR right to self determination includes a right to be murderous thieves of Palestinian lands. Ask some of the Zionist enablers how the Zionists right to self determination includes a right to be murderous thieves of any body else's homeland.

Oh, it is anti-Semitic to compare Zionists to Nazis? Well, if the Zionists had not chosen to make themselves comparable to Nazis, then it would be impossible for anyone to compare Zionists to Nazis.

Oh, the Zionists don't mind making themselves comparable to Nazis. But they get quite irate it anyone dares to point out that the Zionists have chosen to make themselves comparable to Nazis. Boo hoo.

Oh, and condoning terrorism. Well, under the laws that we have made for our own protection in all 50 states, Palestinian freedom fighters could kill every Zionist in Zionist occupied Palestine without murdering a one. That is just a fact. Don't call it terrorism when people fight back against murderous thieves who have chosen to invade your homes or homelands. It just makes you look vapid.

Groups to Congress: No Taxpayer Funds for Biased, Politicized Middle East Studies

Higher Education Act Reform Title VI Must Include Accountability to Stop Misuse of Funds, Strengthen National Security
September 17, 2014

WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. – Sept. 17, 2014 – With Congress considering the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in several individual bills, leading organizations focused on education policy, the Jewish community, and civil rights announced today a coordinated effort to provide lawmakers with solutions to prevent misuse of federal funds under HEA Title VI.

Enacted by Congress as part of the 1965 HEA, Title VI provides federal funds to 129 international studies and foreign language centers at universities nationwide. Title VI has the mandate to strengthen U.S. security by training security specialists and educating the public. In the absence of congressional oversight, however, these programs have devolved into hotbeds of anti-American and anti-Israel activity, disseminating falsehoods both in universities and (through the congressionally mandated “public outreach” programs) to K-12 teachers and to the general public.

The undersigned organizations propose implementing two accountability measures: requiring (1) Title VI recipients to establish grievance procedures, and (2) the Department of Education to launch a complaint-resolution process.

Please see below for quotes from signatories.

This effort is anchored in research. We attach two reports that detail problems in existing Middle East Studies programs, with specific examples of anti-American and anti-Israel bias in Title VI-funded institution: (1) The AMCHA Initiative’s research into three years of public outreach activities of UCLA’s Center for Near East Studies and (2) the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law’s white paper explaining the need for Title VI to be reformed or eliminated. The full joint statement from all the involved organizations is also attached.

The following organizations are part of this coordinated effort:

Accuracy in Academia
AMCHA Initiative
American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
Endowment for Middle East Truth
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Middle East Forum
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
Zionist Organization of America

Quotes from signatories:

“Congress needs to finish the job that it began six years ago, during the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. “At that time, Congress tried to reform Title VI by requiring recipients to demonstrate that they will provide “diverse perspectives' in their federally funded public outreach programs. Unfortunately, this hasn’t worked out as planned, because Congress never created an accountability system to ensure that universities would comply properly with the new requirements. It is time now for Congress to finish the reform process if it is going to continue funding the program at all."

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center will be calling upon leading Members of Congress to press the Department of Education to do its job, which means to demand those who receive Title VI funds guarantee that the funds will not be used to stifle the free speech of Israel advocates or to foment anti-Semitism on campus,” said Rabbi Meyer H. May, the Center's executive director.

“Federal funds are being used by top-tier public universities to promote one-sided programming that masquerades as scholarship. That is absolutely appalling and completely goes against the purpose of Title VI funds — keeping the U.S. safer,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA Initiative co-founder and a University of California faculty member.

“For far too long, far too many of our Title VI taxpayer funded Middle Eastern Centers in universities across the country have offered one-sided political propaganda as a paltry substitute for a good, solid education. In 2008, many of us had worked to help pass amendments to the Higher Education Opportunities Act which have called for many reforms, including some accountability of what each university, who is the recipient of these federal grants, is doing to create a healthy learning environment which encourages a diversity of perspectives, and a healthy give and take in the classroom. The law has been changed to correct these problems, The amendments have been passed but there has been no virtually no accountability, no transparency, and very little, if any oversight. What is occurring inside the classroom often gives intellectual validation to the expression of anti-Semitism which is rearing its monstrous head onto college campuses across our nation,” said Sarah Stern, founder and president of Endowment for Middle East Truth.

“Title VI of the Higher Education Act directs federal dollars to support the intellectually corrupt field of Middle East studies, among the most politicized academic disciplines, filled with professors hostile to America, Israel, and the West. American taxpayers should not fund programs that aim to weaken resolve and thwart policy,” said Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum.

“Accuracy in Academia is not even asking universities to take a side in the war on terror but is neutrality too much to ask? Particularly given the amount of federal funding Middle East Studies department get—easily in the millions—a bit of balance on issues related to Israel seems more than called for. Balance is not achieved by attacking Israel from 20 different directions,” said Mal Kline, executive director of Accuracy in Academia.

“In its current state, federal education programs such as Title VI work to subsidize the assault on Israel and America, consequently making it difficult to support as it only benefits programs and professors who aim not to educate, but instead make ideological lamentations against the West with the support of federal dollars,” said Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.

Read Online

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AMCHA Report

LDB White Paper

About SPME

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is not-for-profit , grass-roots community of scholars who have united to promote honest, fact-based, and civil discourse, especially in regard to Middle East issues. We believe that ethnic, national, and religious hatreds, including anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, have no place in our institutions, disciplines, and communities. We employ academic means to address these issues.

BY: Adam Kredo
September 17, 2014 11:42 am

Federal taxpayer funds continue to flow to a slew of U.S. universities that are spending the cash on programs that promote anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and anti-American viewpoints, according to a large group of Jewish and civil rights organizations that are now pushing Congress to rectify what they call a systemic problem.

Taxpayer funds have been allocated to universities under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA) since 1965. However, Congress and the Education Department have exerted little oversight, leading these funds to be spent on biased educational programs that promote radical views about Israel and even America, according to the groups.

Funding for anti-Israel programs at U.S. universities has fostered a culture of fear among the Jewish state’s supporters on campus and fueled a growing number of anti-Semitic incidents at many schools, the groups warned.

As Congress moves to reauthorize the HEA in the coming weeks, these ten Jewish and civil rights organizations will launch a full court press to ensure that safeguards are placed on the federal funds to prevent them from being spent on extremist programs.

“These programs have devolved into hotbeds of anti-American and anti-Israel activity, disseminating falsehoods both in universities and—through the congressionally mandated ‘public outreach’ programs—to K-12 teachers and to the general public,” the groups warned in a joint statement on Wednesday that accompanied the release of two new reports documenting the ways in which major American universities spend taxpayer funds to promote an anti-Israel ideology.

Congress must either provide rigorous oversight of the funds or completely cut them off, say the groups, which include the AMCHA Initiative, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the Zionist Organization of America, among others.

“Title VI of the Higher Education Act directs federal dollars to support the intellectually corrupt field of Middle East studies, among the most politicized academic disciplines, filled with professors hostile to America, Israel, and the West,” Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, said in a statement. “American taxpayers should not fund programs that aim to weaken resolve and thwart policy.”

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has been among the top abusers of federal funds, according to AMCHA, which published an in-depth study on the university’s federally funded anti-Israel programs.

AMCHA found that between 2010 and 2013, 93 percent of the events sponsored by UCLA’s Center for Near East Studies (CNES) were anti-Israel in nature, with 75 percent “displaying anti-Semitic discourse,” according to the study.

AMCHA noted several instances of CNES speakers delegitimizing Israel and endorsing terrorism at various events.“I think the unpleasant and unavoidable comparison is with South Africa during the apartheid period, and I must say that, having visited South Africa, that they were much better off than the Palestinians living in refugee camps,” said a speaker at one event, according to the report.

Other speakers were found to have met with the terror group Hezbollah and openly endorsed the group, to have promoted boycotts against the Jewish state, and raised questions about the number of those killed in the Holocaust, according to the report.

Over the course of that time, CNES was awarded $1.5 million from the Education Department under Title VI.

“What our report found was that federal funds are being used by a top-tier public university to promote one-sided, anti-Semitic programming that masquerades as scholarship. That is absolutely appalling,” Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA cofounder, said in a statement.

“CNES is promoting a one-sided, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias to impressionable students,” added Leila Beckwith, an AMCHA cofounder and UCLA professor emeritus. “This completely distorts UCLA’s scholarly and educational mission and is a violation of the Higher Education Act.”

In a separate report, the Louis D. Brandeis Center determined that the Education Department is unable to provide proper oversight over the federal funds, which has contributed to them being spent on anti-Israel programs.

“These Title VI programs have become a national embarrassment,” the report concluded. “Critics had long warned that they suffered uneven quality, misplaced priorities, weak oversight, and low transparency. Many Title VI recipients were ideologically politicized institutions notorious for one-sided approaches hostile to the United States, the West, and Israel.”

“Some programs were reportedly so hostile towards Israel that they would not even remotely entertain views that contradicted their unrelentingly anti-Israel perspective,” the report states.

As far back as 2006, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined there is proof that anti-Semitic confrontations “are fueled by ideologically biased campus programs that receive operating funds from the federal government under Title VI of the Higher Education Act,” according to the report.

Kenneth Marcus, the Brandeis Center’s president, said it is time for Congress to put in place the proper oversight mechanisms.

“Congress needs to finish the job that it began six years ago, during the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act,” Marcus said in a statement. “It is time now for Congress to finish the reform process if it is going to continue funding the program at all.

Groups to Congress: No Taxpayer Funds for Biased, Politicized Middle East Studies

Higher Education Act Reform Title VI Must Include Accountability to Stop Misuse of Funds, Strengthen National Security

WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. – Sept. 17, 2014 – With Congress considering the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in several individual bills, leading organizations focused on education policy, the Jewish community, and civil rights announced today a coordinated effort to provide lawmakers with solutions to prevent misuse of federal funds under HEA Title VI.

Enacted by Congress as part of the 1965 HEA, Title VI provides federal funds to 129 international studies and foreign language centers at universities nationwide. Title VI has the mandate to strengthen U.S. security by training security specialists and educating the public. In the absence of congressional oversight, however, these programs have devolved into hotbeds of anti-American and anti-Israel activity, disseminating falsehoods both in universities and (through the congressionally mandated "public outreach" programs) to K-12 teachers and to the general public.

The undersigned organizations propose implementing two accountability measures: requiring (1) Title VI recipients to establish grievance procedures, and (2) the Department of Education to launch a complaint-resolution process.

Please see below for quotes from signatories.

This effort is anchored in research. We attach two reports (see links below) that detail problems in existing Middle East Studies programs, with specific examples of anti-American and anti-Israel bias in Title VI-funded institution: (1) The AMCHA Initiative's research into three years of public outreach activities of UCLA's Center for Near East Studies and (2) the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law's white paper explaining the need for Title VI to be reformed or eliminated. The full joint statement from all the involved organizations is also attached.

The following organizations are part of this coordinated effort:

 Accuracy in Academia

 AMCHA Initiative

 American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

 Endowment for Middle East Truth

 The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law

 Middle East Forum

 Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

 Simon Wiesenthal Center

 Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations

 Zionist Organization of America

Quotes from signatories:

"Congress needs to finish the job that it began six years ago, during the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act," said Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. "At that time, Congress tried to reform Title VI by requiring recipients to demonstrate that they will provide "diverse perspectives' in their federally funded public outreach programs. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked out as planned, because Congress never created an accountability system to ensure that universities would comply properly with the new requirements. It is time now for Congress to finish the reform process if it is going to continue funding the program at all."

"The Simon Wiesenthal Center will be calling upon leading Members of Congress to press the Department of Education to do its job, which means to demand those who receive Title VI funds guarantee that the funds will not be used to stifle the free speech of Israel advocates or to foment anti-Semitism on campus," said Rabbi Meyer H. May, the Center's executive director.

"Federal funds are being used by top-tier public universities to promote one-sided programming that masquerades as scholarship. That is absolutely appalling and completely goes against the purpose of Title VI funds — keeping the U.S. safer," said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA Initiative co-founder and a University of California faculty member.

"For far too long, far too many of our Title VI taxpayer funded Middle Eastern Centers in universities across the country have offered one-sided political propaganda as a paltry substitute for a good, solid education. In 2008, many of us had worked to help pass amendments to the Higher Education Opportunities Act which have called for many reforms, including some accountability of what each university, who is the recipient of these federal grants, is doing to create a healthy learning environment which encourages a diversity of perspectives, and a healthy give and take in the classroom. The law has been changed to correct these problems, The amendments have been passed but there has been no virtually no accountability, no transparency, and very little, if any oversight. What is occurring inside the classroom often gives intellectual validation to the expression of anti-Semitism which is rearing its monstrous head onto college campuses across our nation," said Sarah Stern, founder and president of Endowment for Middle East Truth.

"Title VI of the Higher Education Act directs federal dollars to support the intellectually corrupt field of Middle East studies, among the most politicized academic disciplines, filled with professors hostile to America, Israel, and the West. American taxpayers should not fund programs that aim to weaken resolve and thwart policy," said Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum.

"Accuracy in Academia is not even asking universities to take a side in the war on terror but is neutrality too much to ask? Particularly given the amount of federal funding Middle East Studies department get—easily in the millions—a bit of balance on issues related to Israel seems more than called for. Balance is not achieved by attacking Israel from 20 different directions," said Mal Kline, executive director of Accuracy in Academia.

"In its current state, federal education programs such as Title VI work to subsidize the assault on Israel and America, consequently making it difficult to support as it only benefits programs and professors who aim not to educate, but instead make ideological lamentations against the West with the support of federal dollars," said Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.

AMCHA Report: http://www.amchainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CNES-Report.pdf

LDB White Paper: http://www.brandeiscenter.com/images/uploads/practices/antisemitism_whitepaper.pdf

Nessie, the scourge of Indymedia is as dead as , well, Indymedia