Brandeis distorted and misrepresented

The editor of The CJN was correct when he wrote that there was a protest at Brandeis University against the selection of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to deliver the commencement address on May 23 (“‘A devastatingly sad day,’” Editor’s desk, May 13). But he was wrong in his assessment of its significance, and mistaken in his generalizations about the academic culture and attitude toward Israel at Brandeis. He wrote:  “A great many students and faculty were upset” and implied that the campus was in an uproar. That was not the case.
Here are the facts: as reported by the Jerusalem Post and JTA, about 150 students, faculty and others signed a petition protesting the invitation to Oren. More than 5,000 signed a petition supporting his appearance. Some members of the faculty objected to Oren, but a suggestion floated in the university senate to register public displeasure at the invitation got nowhere.  
You said students who defended the invitation to Oren were “cravenly cautious,” in their defence and that the author of the pro-Oren petition could not bring himself to utter the name “Israel.” Here is that student’s explanation of why he started the petition, as published in the Jerusalem Post: “I wanted [Brandeis] President [Jehuda] Reinharz to know that there are students who are happy to have Oren come. Brandeis is a very friendly campus to Zionism and Israel.”
Brandeis is not exceptional in the diversity of opinion among its faculty and students. One can imagine a similar level of content and discontent about representatives of the Israeli government at Israeli universities, including my former institution, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Brandeis’ Schusterman Center for Israel Studies has created a successful paradigm for how an academic institution can combat ignorance and malice by exposing complexity of information and diversity of views. The Brandeis Summer Institute for Israel Studies has attracted senior and junior faculty – Christians, Muslims and Jews – from more than 140 universities. These rigorously scholarly efforts have spawned hundreds of courses on Israel, literally around the world.
There are conflicts over Israel and its policies on and off campus, in Israel and across the world. But you have done readers a disservice by distorting and misrepresenting the situation at Brandeis. Our campus can in no sense be characterized as hostile, or even cool, toward Israel.
Ilan Troen
Stoll Family Professor of Israel Studies
Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
Brandeis University

Federation CJA and Quebec Jewish Congress spokespeople do a disservice to the community with their suggestion that B’nai Brith – which has had a formidable presence in Quebec for the past 130 years – has no profile or credibility (“Anti-Semitic crime stats refuted by Jewish leaders,” May 13). We work daily with law enforcement and grassroots Quebecers on issues concerning the safety and welfare of the community. Our services to the elderly and disadvantaged – affordable housing, holiday food baskets and other supports – have made a difference in the lives of many vulnerable individuals, while our League for Human Rights builds bridges with other communities in the fight against all hatred and bigotry.
Regardless of what The CJN’s anonymous “highly placed source” claims, the recent crime wave in Montreal was no trivial matter. B’nai Brith was approached by numerous members of the community concerned for their safety. They reached out to us for assistance and we responded.  And this is where our strategy differs. We feel it is necessary to address issues head on, rather than prevaricating. We were the first Jewish organization to point to the growing problem of antiSemitism in the guise of anti-Israel agitation on campus. We are still the only mainstream Jewish organization in this country to sound the alarm on radical Islam, and the threats to freedom and democracy it poses.
We feel it is counterproductive for one community organization to denigrate another, and wonder why a newspaper like The CJN would encourage such divisiveness. We should all be focusing on the same objectives – working co-operatively to promote the best interests of the community. We regret that some seem to have lost sight of such goals. For our part, we stand ready to meet with Federation CJA in Montreal to discuss how to repair the serious breach in community unity that this unwarranted attack on B’nai Brith represents.
Allan Adel, B.C.L., LLB, MBA, National Chair, B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights
Nicole Allio, B.Sc., Quebec Chair, B’nai Brith’s Institute for International Affairs
Eric Bissell, Vice-President, B’nai Brith – Quebec Region
Ted Greenfield, CA, Senior Vice President, B’nai Brith International
Moïse Moghrabi, LLB, Quebec Chair, League for Human Rights
Heidi Oppen, B.C.L., LLB, Quebec Regional Director
Steve Slimovitch, LLB, Member, Legal Committee, B’nai Brith – Quebec Region
Gerry Weinstein, Chair, B’nai Brith House, Montreal