A professor at that Boston College [1] is warning her students about the dangers of Israel’s presence in the West Bank. “Recently, Ph.D. student of the College of Arts and Sciences Rebecca Clark accused sociology professor Eve Spangler of perpetuating anti-Israel ideas and hosting anti-Israel events,” Morgan Chalfont [2] reported in The Observer at Boston College on November 16, 2010.
Specifically, “Clark explains that Spangler organizes her SC367 course and its supplementary ‘Birthright Unplugged’ trip to the West Bank so that it perpetuates her anti-Israel opinions,” Chalfont wrote. Clark claims that Spangler’s 2009 syllabus for the course offers a particularly stark example of this outlook.
One essay question she quoted does seem particularly loaded. “We have examined three images of the Israeli occupation of Palestine: genocide, apartheid, and sociocide,” the question reportedly states. “Which of these organizing concepts, if any do you find most persuasive and why?” Accuracy in Academia has sought comment from Spangler on this course but thus far none has been forthcoming.
The U. S. State Department regularly lets spokesmen go on the record in front page stories to discuss concessions that they are demanding of Israel in peace talks. Nevertheless, the latest [3]State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices treat Israel more charitably than Spangler does.
“The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, although there were problems in some areas,” the Country Reports note. “There were several high-profile cases involving corruption by political leaders.”
” Institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Arab citizens, Palestinian Arabs, non-Orthodox Jews, and other religious groups continued, as did societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. Women suffered societal discrimination and domestic violence. The government maintained unequal educational systems for Arab and Jewish students. While trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution greatly decreased in recent years, trafficking for the purpose of labor remained a problem, as did abuse of foreign workers.”
The State Department, which engineered the transfer of governance in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from the Israeli government to the Palestinian Authority (PA). State, nevertheless, goes on to score the PA for its conduct there.
“Armed militias and terrorist organizations were still active in some areas,” the Country Reports claim. “In Gaza, Hamas controlled security forces. Other armed factions and terrorist organizations were active in Gaza.”
” The Israeli government maintained effective control of its security forces.
International and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported PA torture, arbitrary and prolonged detention, poor prison conditions, impunity, corruption, and lack of transparency. Domestic abuse of women, societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities, and child labor remained serious problems.”
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia [4].
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org [5]