The university campus is becoming ever more increasingly hostile to both Jews and Israel. From what I have witnessed and experienced, I believe it is no side effect, but rather part of a deliberate and well planned strategy. We are witnessing an entryist operation.
In March, in the period around ‘Israeli Apartheid week’, I attended an impressive one-day conference at the London School of Economics. It was jointly organised by ‘Olive’, ‘FOSIS’, and ‘Friends of Al Aqsa’. The event, was titled ‘from Johannesburg to Jerusalem’. One of the speakers at the event was Max Blumenthal, who apparently got on stage to create conspiracy theories, compare Israel to ISIS and to praise Hamas.
The university pull factor
During the day, there were two workshops. One that was of particular interest to me, went about explaining how to create and promote BDS campaigns on campus. The strategy was broken down into 7 parts. The most important was persuading your university to create a scholarship for Palestinians. This is what was said:
“The Best people to lead a group or society on campus are Palestinians. There is no one that can articulate better to you the realities of occupation and who can make that argument better than Palestinians. To get Palestinians on campus, from the Gaza Strip, from the West Bank and from Israel what you need is to convince your university in setting up scholarships. Right, and that requires lobbying, and that requires organising and actually that can also come in the form of fundraising every year.
At Sheffield we get a fee waiver ever year on a Palestinian student. Right, and then we have to fundraise for accommodation and living. Although actually now the university pay for that as well, but originally we had to. But what that actually meant was you could build up long relationships with academics who pay standing orders and other things and you build up a network of individuals for contributing towards your scholarship”
So that is the ‘pull’ factor. I am sure that when they lobby the university for the scholarship, they plead humanitarian concern. They push the necessity of saving the student from the ‘oppressive and brutal occupation’. In reality they are lobbying to persuade the university to finance their political cause. Whichever way you consider this, people on this side are actively seeking new recruits from ‘Palestine’ to promote BDS. Then asking the university to pay for it.
The university push factor
But I wondered at the time about the ‘push’. Who are these students? A Palestinian student from Gaza who makes the application, is he merely a lucky applicant who is given a life changing opportunity? Or is there a ‘push’ factor, where Palestinian movements have created a network carefully selecting potential candidates, assisting them in their application and training them prior to their departure?
It would be an astonishing miss if this is not the reality. The Palestinian cause on this side is desperate to lobby for the scholarship. They have a specific goal in mind. Are they going to do all this work, go to all this trouble, only to find they end up with a Palestinian who isn’t capable of presenting their case? Consider Gaza, given Hamas has control over the propaganda there. Are Hamas selecting or filtering the applicants? Are our university funds being used to further the Hamas cause?
