Sacramento Bee: Uproar over UCD speech

An excerpt from a Sacramento Bee article:

The intellectual wrestling match over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rages on at UC Davis as the Muslim Student Association brings to campus Wednesday a son of Nazi concentration camp survivors who accuses Israel of exploiting the Holocaust.

Norman Finkelstein, a DePaul University professor who got his doctorate from Princeton, will speak at 8 p.m. on "Israel and Palestine -- Roots of Conflict, Prospects for Peace."

Finkelstein, author of "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections On The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering," has been called a self-hating Jew and a Holocaust denier by his critics.

Read more:

• The Sacramento Bee: Uproar over UCD speech

Thoughts on the FBI Assault Incident at UC Irvine

In today’s climate, it’s usually the FBI who is running after Muslims, whether to instill fear, step on basic civil liberties, follow a weak or fabricated lead, or – on a very rare occasion – investigate an actual crime.

But think about the irony of what took place at UC Irvine last week (for reference, read the previous blog post on this issue). Muslims were running after the FBI. And they weren’t doing it to instill fear, step on civil liberties, or follow a weak or fabricated lead. They witnessed an FBI agent commit a crime, and chased him down, while he fled.

And what were the Muslim students at UC Irvine doing in the first place to warrant being under the watchful eye of the FBI? They were merely holding an anti-Zionism week to showcase the racism, apartheid and crimes that are inherent with Zionism. No crimes were committed.

And this was after they held a Holocaust Memorial Week, when they held programs highlighting the genocides committed in Nazi Germany, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the slaughter of Native American during Manifest Destiny.

The Muslim students at UC Irvine should be applauded for their ability to hold programs covering pertinent and controversial issues, as well as their ability to turn the tables on an ever-abusive FBI.

Los Angeles Times: Tensions rise again at UC Irvine

Here is an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article about the incident at UC Irvine last week where an unidentified FBI agent assaulted a Muslim student by pushing him with his car.

Senior Yasser Ahmed said a silver Ford Taurus followed him as he drove a 24-foot moving van from a nearby parking lot to UC Irvine’s Free Speech Zone to pick up an exhibit sponsored by the Muslim Student Union. The group had sponsored a weeklong presentation, “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected,” to protest that country’s policies against the Palestinians.

Ahmed, 21, said he got out of the truck, walked to the car and asked the driver why he was following him. The driver did not respond, Ahmed said, and he tried to snap a photo of the license plate with his cellphone camera. At that point, Ahmed said, the car nudged him with its front bumper and he got out of the way. He was not injured.

The man behind the wheel drove off but was stopped almost immediately by a campus police officer, who had responded to cries for help from Ahmed and other students. The driver identified himself as an FBI agent “who was doing surveillance,” Henisey said.

On Friday, Ahmed, an economics major and lifelong Orange County resident, said he was still reeling.

“He didn’t open his window and didn’t let me know who he was. He never said anything,” Ahmed said. “All he had to say was that he was FBI or law enforcement and this wouldn’t have happened. I was frightened. He pushed me with the car, which had tinted windows and then tried to drive away. What’s one supposed to think?”

Henisey said campus officers were interviewing witnesses.

“There are potential criminal allegations, and we’re still not certain what happened,” he said. “We’re trying to determine if there was an assault and if the vehicle was used.”

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• Los Angeles Times: Tensions rise again at UC Irvine

FBI Agent Assaults UCI Student by Pushing Him with His Car

The FBI is using unnecessarily hostile tactics to thwart freedom of speech at UC Irvine. An excerpt from an Orange County Register article:

UCI economics student Yasser Ahmed said he was driving a borrowed truck up onto the Ring Road near the library loading dock Monday night, on intending to haul away the wall, when he noticed a silver Ford Taurus with blackened windows following him.

Ahmed said he stopped the truck in view of other campus observers and stood in front of the Taurus, trying to look through the blackened windshield and asking the driver to identify himself. When he would not speak, Ahmed said he tried to take a photo of the car’s license plate with his camera phone.

“He could have just rolled down his window and said, ‘I’m an FBI agent,’ and that would have been the end of it,” Ahmed said. “There was nothing improper going on.”

Instead, according to Ahmed, the driver revved his engine threateningly and began pushing him backward with the car’s front bumper. Ahmed said he then began calling for help, and dozens of other students ran over to assist.

“I was frightened,” Ahmed said. “I felt I could have been killed or seriously injured if I hadn’t jumped out of the way.”

Sociology student Marya Bangee, a member of the Muslim Student Union, said the incident was frightening.

“The car was revving its engine to look as intimidating as possible,” Bangee said. “I thought it was going to come and hit the (mock Palestine) wall.”

Eventually, the car roared off, according to witnesses, chased by students on bicycles and a campus police car. Later, Ahmed said a police officer told him that the car had “cold” license plates, meaning they could not be checked through normal computers.

The next morning, Ahmed said, he went to the campus police station and was told by the police chief that the man in the car was an FBI agent.

Read more:

• The Orange County Register: FBI actions at UCI questioned