Last month, the Palestinian right to Return Organization Al Awda held a Conference. Founded by three Arab doctors, Jess Ghannam of UC San Francisco Medical Center, who is a major organizer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Dr. Zahi Damuni, a microbiologist, and Mazen Qumsiyeh, a former PFLP member who was fired by Yale University, the Al Awda organization is a major force in the anti-Israel movement

Jess Ghannam spoke first. “I have never been more optimistic,” he said. “Because we’re beginning to see cracks now we haven’t seen in the last 62 years” (meaning since the founding of Israel.

He then explained with glee how the report detailed that small anti-Israel demonstrations across American campuses, attacks on Israeli athletes abroad and boycotts of Israeli products are now perceived as a long-term threat by the Israeli government. He next praised the “heroic efforts” of students from the Muslim Students Union at UC Irvine nearby who had disrupted a speech by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren by shouting and yelling when he came to speak. “It got on You Tube now,” he said, and then crowed, “Now, every single Israeli military official and politician will be afraid to speak publicly. Its huge!"