Israel Palestine War

Professor says comments cost her a job at NC State

RALEIGH (AP) — A former visiting professor at N.C. State University claims in a lawsuit that she was abruptly dropped from consideration for a permanent post after comments she made about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Terri Ginsberg said she had been a top-tier candidate for a position in the university's film studies department until Oct. 24, 2007, when she gave an introduction to a movie called "Ticket to Jerusalem" at a film screening series on Middle Eastern topics.

Ginsberg said she gave the audience background on the Palestinian filmmaker and thanked them for attending. "By doing so, I stated, the audience was showing its support for the airing of Palestinian cultural perspectives, especially those which promote Palestinian liberation," she wrote in a sworn statement.

Superior Court Judge Shannon Joseph's dismissed the lawsuit, but Ginsberg's lawyers filed an appeal late last month. No hearing date before the state Court of Appeals has been scheduled yet. If the appeal succeeds, the case would go back to Superior Court, potentially for a jury trial.

University spokesman Keith Nichols said the school doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.

The university gave a variety of reasons for not considering Ginsberg for the post, according to court documents, including a contention that she was overqualified and that her developing interest in Middle Eastern film was a bad fit for the position, which called for a European film specialist. Ginsberg's appeal contended those reasons were flimsy excuses.

Her lawsuit said N.C. State faculty members had encouraged her to apply for the permanent post before she showed the movie.

"Suddenly, Ginsberg fell out of favor of the committee and was not listed in either the first or the second tier, but moved to the bottom of the 'reject' tier, and was not even granted an interview for the position," her appeal said.

Candidates who were ranked above her included some scholars who aren't even in the field of film studies, the appeal said.

"It is clear that several faculty members involved in the hiring process felt Dr. Ginsberg was too controversial for NCSU," said Rima Kapitan, a Chicago-based lawyer for Ginsberg.

Kapitan said Ginsberg's situation illustrates the risks academics without the protections afforded by tenure face when they speak out even in mild terms on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Zionism, Christian Zionism and anti-Semitism « Israel-Palestine

Would the real anti-Semites please stand up?

I define anti-Semitism as the  belief that Jewish people are innately evil, inferior, corrupt or immoral in comparison to other people groups . Anti-Semitism is therefore  one type of racist belief amongst many racist beliefs. This definition may not satisfy everyone, but is a good enough place to start.

Anti-Semitism is no lesser and no greater an evil than any other type of racism. To believe anything else would be racist in itself. To repudiate racism requires one to first accept that all forms of racism are equally abhorrent. Religious anti-Semitism is virtually always based in racial anti-Semitism. The whole question of whether or not being Jewish is a racial or religious identity has been dealt with elsewhere in this blog.There is absolutely no doubt that anti-Semitism has had a long history in the world and the fight against it must be continued and  ever vigilant just as the fight against all forms of racism must be continued and  ever vigilant.

Given this definition, I think the following questions are worth asking:

 1) Can a Jewish person be anti-Semitic?

I guess it is possible for a Jewish person to be an anti-Semite, but such a person would be a very emotionally sick individual indeed! I would expect such a person to be generally quite disturbed and dysfunctional. Quite like the victims of childhood sexual abuse who are tormented by feelings of inadequacy and self loathing. Some gay friends of mine have been accused of being self hating homosexuals because of their strident criticism of the gay community. This is a very hurtful allegation and should not be thrown around arbitrarily.

The term, self hating Jew, is used very often by Zionists when describing Jewish people who advocate for the Palestinian people or who are overly critical of the Zionist state of Israel. Interestingly, I have never personally heard the term used by the Jewish opponents of Zionism when describing their critics. Zionists are described as oppressors, colonialists or racists, but seldom if ever referred to as self hating Jews or anti-Semites. While I think it quite possible that a Jewish person could be an anti-Semite, I feel that this tag has often been used as a convenient way to vilify Jewish people who do not accept the Zionist narrative of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It helps to perpetuates the myth of the virtual identical nature of Zionism and being Jewish.

The Israel-Palestine conflict, one hundred years of war

The Israel/Palestine question

Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict

The Israel-Palestine conflict, contested histories

Israel/Palestine