Home Media Mentions Jewish Policy Center Discussion Highlights Radical Islam On Campus

Jewish Policy Center Discussion Highlights Radical Islam On Campus

Beila Rabinowitz •
SOURCEPipelineNews.org

September 20, 2007 – San Francisco, CA – PipeLineNews.org – About 500 people turned up to hear Dr. Daniel Pipes, David Horowitz, Cliff May and Michael Medved discuss “The Fight Against Radical Islam and Anti-Semitism on Campus,” last evening. The event was organized by the Jewish Policy Center and took place at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El near Philadelphia.

The forum was moderated by Michael Medved and consisted of six scripted questions put to the panelists and a lengthy question and answer session with the audience.

In response to the question ‘How can you worry about Muslim organizations on campus promoting anti Semitism and radical Islam when the number of Muslim students is much smaller than the amount of Jewish ones and the number of radical students is even less-Isn’t this just a question of stifling dissent?” Dr. Pipes replied:

“First, The religion of an individual is less important than politics…Judaism…is not a political ideology…It doesn’t matter what your religion is…There are plenty of Jews who are anti-Israel…There are plenty of evangelicals who are pro-Israel…Some of the most notorious anti Zionists on campus are Jews…Let’s separate religion from politics…Many…in the social sciences are on the left…Their religion doesn’t really matter…Radical Islam …is an ideological cult…As we have seen with prior totalitarian movements, it doesn’t take a lot of people.”

Pipes’ response to the question, does the United States have a responsibility to reach out and implement a “final negotiated solution” to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the American vs Islamist struggles, was greated with applause:

“You don’t make peace with your enemies, you make peace with your former enemies…you first have to defeat your enemies…There is no compromise in war…Wars are not ended by clever schemes thought up by clever people…They are won on the battlefield [or in our time] on the political battlefield…Those who seek resolution are those who seek victory…It is interesting to note that the word victory has virtually disappeared from our dictionary [and] from our existence…There is not a single actual leading politician in Israel who speaks about victory…If you seek some kind of resolution you simply postpone the inevitable war…The notion that you reach out and make friends with your enemy and appease them and they will go away is unfortunately [doomed to failure]…We must not appease, we must win.”

When asked what could be done to combat anti-Semitism on campus David Horowitz answered that Jewish students are being harassed on campus and need others to come out in support and that activism was key. Cliff May reminded the audience that most victims of radical Islamism were Muslims.

District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. who is running for Montgomery County City Commissioner was in the audience and spent time after the event talking to the speakers.

The Jewish Policy Center is based in Washington and describes its mission as providing, “scholarly perspectives on foreign and domestic policies that impact the Jewish community in the United States, and the broader American public. The JPC asserts that Americans can no longer afford to stubbornly hold on to outdated ideas of the past. This includes optimism over misguided Middle East peace deals, appeasement of dictators, and unrealistic hopes that dangerous realities in the Middle East might simply change without tougher U.S. policies… The JPC has a strong interest in ensuring that colleges and universities across the United States provide an environment of intellectual diversity, and promote free and open dialogue on America’s most critical foreign policy issues.”

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