Strange bedfellows (Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban) are dancing together to combat the BDS movement on America's college campuses. Hallelujah! This movement is probably one of the most insidious and well-funded efforts to bring anti-Semitism to best and brightest of this generation in America. Students are being badgered across campuses -- particularly on the West Coast at the UC system, and the esteemed Stanford University. What should have been a simple and civil dialogue about sanctions has blossomed into full battle fueling the flames of anti-Semitism across the country. Yes, students are really being challenged, belittled and bullied for their beliefs. It is bad, very bad and dangerous given the machinations underway in Western Europe. In fact, this could incite bubbling prejudice to all diversity groups, not just Jewish students. College is a time of freedom to explore new ideas not fears, and when Swastikas start showing up painted on campus buildings like at Stanford after a vote by the student Senate concerning BDS -- something is deeply wrong and students may not be safe to express their ideas.
Top University of California officials, including President Janet Napolitano and several campus chancellors, publicly deplore the way activists pushing UC to boycott Israel seemed to spawn outright anti-Semitic actions and outcries over the last few months.
-- Tom Elias, Palo Alto Post, June 16, 2015
For those that need a primer, the BDS movement is well-funded by forces that cannot be identified. Yet, we all know which countries are probably funding this unrest. One needn't be a rocket scientist to start to trace the money -- remember, always follow the money to find the source of discontent. Complicating matters is the cozy relationship being played out with the underfunded Black Lives Matters movement. This is a dangerous dance that seems to be attempting to undermine the generations of support from the Jewish community to the Black community and urban renewal.
Given the severity of the situation, many of us believed that it was time for a call to action to Jewish philanthropists. No longer could this be ignored or carried by the beleaguered campus student organizations that had neither the funding, nor the charter to take on BDS. The national Jewish funders needed to come forward and coordinate the underwriting of a national long term strategy and program. Remarkably Sheldon and Haim called, and they came! Many put aside partisan politics, and all came to the table last week. Again, I say Hallelujah because there is truly hope when rabid Republican right winger Adelson and liberal Democrat Saban form an unholy alliance. Despite their differences, and they are gargantuan, these two political adversarial billionaire boys forged a partnership that dreams are made of. Partisan politics be damned when it concerns their children, anti-Semitism, and yes -- Israel. They, and those in their camps, have put away their knives and swords to fight the big bad wolves behind the BDS movement and to begin to construct a national program. Those behind BDS cannot be allowed to stir the pot of anti-Semitism on the college campuses period in America. We cannot lose our brightest to indoctrination. Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) is only one step away from provoking rampant anti-Semitism in this country and feeding the beast of discrimination against all groups of diversity around the world.