- In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful -

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Date & Time: Friday, January 22, 2010, 6:30-9 pm

Location: Chinese Cultural Center

New University – ‎Nov 2, 2009‎

*The New University is the official campus newspaper of the University of California, Irvine since 1969.

The ZOA, an external organization with no official affiliation to UCI, has a long history of attacking organizations that it deems a threat because they do not fall in line with its extreme right-wing stances on the issue of Palestine. Not only has it gone after pro-Palestinian organizations, but it has also attacked pro-Israeli groups that it deems too soft. Recently, ZOA, in a letter to the chief campus counsel at UCI, attacked and defamed the MSU by claiming that it broke university policy as well as fundraised for Hamas. The truth of the matter is that ZOA has been attempting to defame, censor and essentially eradicate the MSU for years now. This is only the most recent attempt to silence the MSU and restrict its constitutional right to freedom of speech, religion and association.

Although this is not the first time the organization has made such claims against the MSU, the complaints continue to receive attention. This is surprising, considering all previous claims the organization made against MSU have been proven to be groundless. In 2004, ZOA claimed that the green stoles MSU members wear during graduation were a symbol of support for Hamas. After a national uproar, independent experts were brought in to mediate the issue and quickly discovered that this was blatantly false. In fact, the stoles had the Shahada – the central creed of Islam, which states that we believe in one God, and that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the final messenger of God – written on them.

Again, about three years ago, the ZOA convinced the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to carry out an investigation of claims on anti-Semitism at UCI. This was yet another tactic to try and smear the name of MSU and label its political stances against the injustices perpetuated by the government of Israel as hate speech. In its report, the investigation by the Office of Civil Rights cleared all counts of anti-Semitism.

Now, it seems the ZOA has gotten even more desperate. In its most recent string of absurd allegations, ZOA refers to an MSU-sponsored event last May featuring British member of Parliament George Galloway. This was part of the MSU’s two-week long series of events aimed at raising awareness about the Palestinian-Israeli issue and empowering students on campus with knowledge about the conflict. ZOA claims that donations made to Viva Palestina, collected through impromptu donation boxes that were passed around at the end of the speech to support Galloway’s humanitarian convoy to legally provide medical aid to Gazans, “may have” monetarily supported Hamas.

This is a clear falsehood and yet another attempt to censor and defame the MSU while stifling any discussion or critique of the nation-state of Israel. Viva Palestina made it explicit, in both speeches given by its representatives and on its Web site, that all donations would be given to humanitarian non-governmental organizations in accordance with US law. The Viva Palestina Web site reads: “Viva Palestina USA intends to remain in full compliance with applicable domestic laws and particularly with the statutes prohibiting the provision of material support and resources to designated terrorist organizations, 18 U.S.C. 2339A-B.”

Viva Palestina also recently issued a statement, which can be viewed on the Web site, confirming that the promises made to donors “were upheld to the highest degree. Every transfer of funds for medical supplies and the purchase of vehicles to be used for humanitarian purposes was well-documented … and the donations were given to a non-governmental consortium in Gaza” (http://www.vivapalestina-us.org/media/article/4).

Despite the MSU’s lawful intent and Viva Palestina’s assurances that it complied with the law, ZOA is directly attacking the MSU, a student group, with yet more false and malicious accusations. It is ironic that of the thousands of individuals and groups who donated money to Viva Palestina, ZOA remains obsessively set on singling out the MSU and smearing its name. As the saying goes, history repeats itself and ZOA is repeating its historical attacks and false allegations in its effort to mute and censor us. If anyone is acting illegally, it is the ZOA, by seeking to discard the very principles of the First Amendment in trying to shut us up and shut us down.

October 13, 2009

Diane Fields Geocaris, Esq.
Chief Campus Counsel
University of California, Irvine
The Chancellor’s Office
Irvine, CA 92697-1900

Dear Ms. Geocaris,

We have been recently informed that the Zionist Organization of America (“ZOA”), an external organization with no registered connections to UCI or its student population, has filed yet another defamatory complaint against the Muslim Student Union (“MSU”) at UCI.  Not only was this complaint sent to yourself and a number of other religious leaders and policy-makers, but it was also widely publicized on ZOA’s website and has been subsequently published on a number of affiliated organizational websites and blogs.

In the past, the MSU at UCI has practiced moral restraint, seeking to take the high ground by ignoring ZOA and its allied affiliates’ hateful and malicious attacks.  Yet, we at the MSU, are becoming increasingly concerned and alarmed at the never-ending intolerable and potentially illegal tactics used by ZOA and its affiliates, including among others, the OC Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism, Stand with Us, and the Anti Defamation League amongst others. These continual attacks have exacerbated the hostile environment against Muslim students and put to question the real intent behind ZOA and affiliates’ perpetual requests for investigations and calls for sanctions.  ZOA and affiliates’ targeted attacks against the MSU indicate nothing more than a bad faith intent at denying MSU their constitutional First Amendment rights of speech, religion, and association.

ZOA and affiliates’ attacks of MSU are nothing new.  Over the years, ZOA and affiliated organizations have continually lodged complaints against the MSU for our events, including most prominently, our Palestine Awareness Week. ZOA and affiliates have often chastised UCI for allowing us to bring speakers who allegedly espouse anti-Semitic rhetoric.  Yet such assertions were found false after a year-long investigation by the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which stated in its letter to the Chancellor Michael Drake, “the speeches, articles, marches, symbols and other events at issue were not based on the national origin of the Jewish students, but rather based on opposition to the policies of Israel.”  By recklessly conflating political critique of a nation-state (Israel) – which possesses the fourth largest military and nuclear armament and has engaged in a widely-documented history of persecution against a minority Palestinian indigenous population – with hostility against those of the Jewish faith, ZOA and its affiliates seek to deprive MSU of our constitutional rights; nothing less than our freedom of speech.  At best, ZOA and affiliates’ accusations and demands for investigation would constitute grounds for malicious prosecution in a court of law.  At worst, ZOA’s continual attempts to forcibly silence MSU by falsely categorizing political critique as hate speech against Jews smacks of fascism.

Yet ZOA and affiliated organizations have also sought to deprive members of the MSU from their religious freedom, by similarly and even comically lodging anti-Semitic complaints against Muslims who wore graduation stoles containing nothing more than Islamic script written in Arabic.  Rather than verify that the stoles simply stated the shahada (the Islamic creed) and a prayer asking God for increased knowledge, anti-Semitic complaints were immediately lodged, detailing that the stoles incited terrorism against Jews and Israel.  While seemingly laughable, such actions make clear that the ZOA and affiliated organizations seek to deny the MSU of its freedom of religion and of association, in addition to its freedom of speech.  You yourself, Ms. Geocaris, have come to similar conclusions when you stated in a letter dated February 3, 2006, that some outside organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America have demanded upon UCI that it “silence just one side of the dialogue:  the Muslim side.”

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- In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful -

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