Jonathan Adelman comes to UC Irvine

A new pro-Israel student group, SPME (Students for Peace in the Middle East), is having their second event of the quarter at the UCI. They will be hosting Professor Jonathan Adelman, a renowned scholar in the Middle East, Israel, and Global Economics. The Rose Project of the Jewish Federation & Family Services, Orange County is happy to have provided funding for this new student-led and driven organization and program.

UCI Student Group Unveils “Obstacles For Peace” Display

I was sent this press release today from a UC Irvine student group called The Movement for Peace in the Middle East.  It is a new student group and they did not waste any time making their voices heard.  In this blog post, you will find six photos.  The photos are copies of the 8′ x 10′ banners that were made by the students and showcased on ring road of the UCI campus today.

This effort comes on the heels of Hate Week by the Muslim Student Union last week.  You can see the text more clearly by clicking on one,some or all of the photos on this page.  Here are the headlines of each of the six banners:

** Anti-Zionism:  In  Their Own Words

** Nazism in the Arab World

** Network of Anti-Israel Organizations

**  Terror Attacks Against Israelis

** Ethnic Cleansing of Jews from the Arab World

** Israel-Palestine:  A Solution

Here is the group’s press release.

The Movement for Peace in the Middle East (MPME), a new student-run organization, today launched a week-long information campaign on the UC Irvine campus to counter continued anti-Israel and anti-semitic remarks made by student groups.

The week-long event, coined the “Obstacles for Peace- What They Won’t Tell You ”  features an on campus exhibit displaying some of the challenges and dilemmas Israel faces. In doing so, the exhibit provides evidence of anti-Semitism, terrorism, and similarities between terrorist organizations (Hamas and Hezbollah) and the MSU at UCI.

“We aim to spread the message of peace.,” said Isaac Yerushalmi, the co-founder of MPME.  “The fringe anti-Israel groups on our campus focus all their energy on the delegitimization and destruction of Israel.  We however, are calling for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a safe, secure, democratic, and Jewish state of Israel.

The MPME organization felt the need to take a strong stand against the ill and un-educated rhetoric the Muslim Student Union (MSU) uses on the UCI campus. Over the past several years, including this one, the MSU has been fabricating sentiments aimed at depicting Zionism as a universal threat, igniting hate and incitement, and inviting controversial speakers jeopardizing Israel’s legitimacy. The campaign is a response to the continued on campus slanderous campaigns against the state of Israel as well as last week’s events in which a MSU sponsored speaker referred to Jews on campus as Nazis and blatantly supported Hamas, Hezbollah, and Jihad on campus. The visual aides provided by the MPME throughout this week on UCI’s campus illustrates the “obstacles for peace-what they wont tell you”, and will fall nothing short of producing images and information that portray factual evidence.

The MPME has taken upon itself to educate and raise awareness on the Orange County campus about anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, and the persecution of Jews in the Arab world as well as the repercussions that these sentiments have had on the modern state of Israel.