On October 5, Concerned Women for America (CWA) and Governor Mike Huckabee hosted a rally on the Capitol lawn in which both likeminded Christians and Jews voiced their unequivocal support for the nation of Israel and exposed the alarming rise in anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, rallies like this — paid for by the sponsor organizations themselves — are being undermined by the shocking leftist ideologies of mostly campus groups who are being surreptitiously funded by you, the taxpayer, whether you like or not.
It doesn’t come as a surprise, but multiple “unbiased” academic centers in the United States have been accused of violating the federal funding requirements set forth by Title VI. It is Congress’s job to hold institutions accountable to the educational standards of transmitting diverse subject matters to their students, and in cases such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, Congress has dropped the ball.
A detailed report done by the AMCHA Initiative confirms that multiple Israel-related events held by UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) were in violation of Title VI of government funding, which states that educational events must “reflect diverse perspectives and … generate debate on international affairs.” A recent article showed that, specifically in the events focused around the Arab-Israeli conflict, the CNES promulgated information that was highly anti-Semitic without properly representing both sides of the struggle. One event promoted the false ideology that Arabs are warranted for rejecting the Holocaust because Israel oppresses Palestinians. You can’t make this stuff up!
Stop for a second and consider the facts that this so-called academic institution failed to provide in this specific case. To claim that Israel oppresses Palestinians is false and fails to recognize the truth about the violence in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it well when he told Fox News Sunday that Israel is “using missile defense to protect our civilians, and [Hamas is] using their civilians to protect their missiles.” In an attempt to minimize the number of civilian casualties, non-selective killings, and occurrences of war misconduct, Israel will often warn civilians in Gaza before launching a missile attack. Warnings have been in the form of leaflets, a “knock on the roof” (releasing empty shells that do not penetrate the roof), text messages, and phone calls in Arabic. On the other side of the spectrum, Hamas aims to use highly populated civilian areas as arsenal locations. They’ve run television programs advising civilians to act as “human shields” — telling them to stand on rooftops of houses where the terrorist group has placed missiles in between.
Unfortunately, many students will never hear these facts. According to the AMCHA Initiative report, the government is funding a biased center that fails to include this information. In a free society, schools have the duty to present both sides of an argument and allow the student to decide based on all the facts. Students learn when academic freedom flourishes, but that can’t happen when our government throws tax dollars at liberals. Failure to hold academia accountable for liberal brainwashing is not only problem regarding the Israeli issue; the danger applies to the fact that young people are taught to accept only what they are told without exhaustive research of all sides of an issue.
As taxpayers, American citizens have the right to hold our government accountable for the use of our tax dollars. Congress must give more oversight to academic institutions. Leftist groups like Planned Parenthood received in 2011-2012 a record breaking $542.4 million in federal funding from taxpayers, while pro-life groups receive nothing. How is this in any way a fair fight? Not to mention the push from the IRS to give tax-exempt status to leftist groups while punishing Tea Party groups. This, by the way, will not change based on the occupant of the White House.
The “Stand with Israel” rally funded by small donors to Gov. Huckabee and Concerned Women for America (CWA) was both well received and well attended. Highly acclaimed scholars and legislators spoke on the facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict, the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the problem of anti-Semitism. It is extremely dangerous to neglect one side of the dialogue on any issue, but it is especially hazardous to purposefully neglect information when it pertains to any issue that involves acts of terrorism.
As Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” The fight for freedom includes academic freedom. We had better wake up!
Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published on CNS News. Click here to read it.