A conference of falsehoods

I'm embarrassed to say I went to the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn is a great school, and I loved learning from excellent professors and classmates and growing through the many opportunities available there. But apparently, since my graduation, Penn has decided that intellectual honesty and academic integrity are no longer among its preeminent values.

Starting Friday, PennBDS, a university-recognized group, will sponsor the 2012 National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Conference on campus. The BDS movement attempts to delegitimize the state of Israel through false accusations and dishonest scholarship masquerading as human rights advocacy.

PennBDS and the BDS movement claim to be interested in promoting, "the growing global campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction (BDS) the State of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international and human rights law." That's what it says on the PennBDS website.

However, if PennBDS is truly concerned with such violations, it is notable that it does not focus on blatant human rights abusers and oppressors such as North Korea, China, Sudan, or Iran.

If PennBDS were concerned with oppression of Arabs, then it is curious that it is not decrying the governments of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, or Yemen.

And if PennBDS were particularly disturbed by oppression of Palestinian Arabs, then why does it not protest the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, or others in which the Palestinians have suffered extreme discrimination, violence, and forced expulsions?

In Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, political, religious, and associational freedom are severely curtailed, women's rights are limited, human rights activists are targeted, and homosexuality is a criminal offense.

BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression of Arabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actually has a problem only with the Jewish state, and, it can be deduced, with Jews.

Many of the speakers scheduled by PennBDS frequently disseminate falsehoods about Israel and Jews, as well as anti-Semitism:

Keynote speaker Ali Abunimah has intentionally understated Hamas's violence and disseminated false quotations in order to make Israeli leaders appear cruel;

Anna Baltzer has made numerous false claims about Israel, including publishing on her blog for months a fabricated story accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children in front of their mother;

Max Blumenthal falsely reported on his blog that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were "very good."

Hamid Dabashi, who was originally scheduled to speak but now may not, wrote of Israelis, "Half a century of systematic maiming and murdering of another people has left its deep marks on the faces of these people, the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they handle objects, the way they greet each other, the way they look at the world. There is an endemic prevarication to this machinery, a vulgarity of character that is bone-deep and structural to the skeletal vertebrae of its culture."

These are just a few examples of this conference's sham "scholarship."

PennBDS is a university recognized student group. Office of Student Affairs executive director Karu Kozuma stated, "As a student organization, Penn BDS receives a number of privileges to use at their discretion as resources are available. These include staff consultation and advising, administrative support, and free use of available common campus spaces." This means that the money I donate as an alumna goes to lighting, heating, security, and other amenities for this hate group.

Amy Gutmann, Penn's president, has issued a statement announcing the university is not sponsoring the conference and does not support sanctions or boycotts against Israel. This does not go far enough. Penn's administration should condemn the conference and the BDS movement.

This is an opportunity for the University of Pennsylvania to stand for academic integrity and intellectual honesty, to stand against hatred and bigotry. This is an opportunity for Penn to declare forcefully that the BDS movement is nothing but a racist effort to smear Israel and Jews; an opportunity to defy the tyranny of political correctness and state clearly that the emperor has no clothes. Imagine the power of that kind of honesty and the goodwill that would flow from it.

Then, once again, I would be proud to tell you I went to the University of Pennsylvania.