Is Columbia University suffering from a collective case of the Stockholm Syndrome?
It would seem so. After having once hosted Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they are doing so again — and this time they are giving the misogynistic, homophobic, Holocaust denying, religious fanatic a banquet! The progressive intellectuals of Morningside Heights evidently have a special place in their hearts for state sponsors of terrorism who murder and torture their own citizens with impunity.
The victims of that terror of course do not. Fortunately, Shurat HaDin — the Israel Law Center that has led several successful lawsuits by victims against perpetrators of terror and their enablers — has again risen to the victim’s defense by issuing a warning to Columbia’s president. From the Center’s press release:
Jewish civil rights group Shurat HaDin — Israel Law Center — has sent a warning letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger advising him that Columbia’s plan to host a banquet for visiting Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad runs afoul of U.S. anti-terror laws and will subject the university and its officials to both criminal prosecution and civil liability to victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in Israel or elsewhere. The letter explains that Iran has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States (22 U.S.C 2656f) and that the provision of any support by U.S. persons, including the planned banquet for Ahmadinejad, is considered unlawful provision of aid to the outlawed regime. The Law Center stated that victims of Iranian terrorism will file civil actions and hold Columbia liable for their injuries.
From the letter signed by New York attorney Robert Tolchin and Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner:
Hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is not merely morally repulsive: it is illegal and likely to render Columbia University and its officers both criminally and civilly liable. Iran is official designated under U.S. law as a state sponsor of terrorism, as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and as a perpetrator of human rights abuses. Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear proliferation activities and human rights abuse ….
While for Columbia University and certain of its officers hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet might appear to be nothing more than a harmless Radical Chic parlor game such conduct is in fact very serious business that can and will have severe, real-world criminal and civil consequences for Columbia and its officers.
Ahmadinejad will be in New York next week to address the UN General Assembly for Durban III — the so-called “World Conference Against Racism.” The parentheses are deliberate, since the international body’s Durban I and II conferences were actually fiestas of racism — featuring virtual non-stop anti-Semitism and demonization of Israel.
As some may recall, PJTV attended Durban II in Geneva when many European leaders walked out on Ahmadinejad’s speech. We made some videos of the dramatic events with Jon Voight, Alan Dershowitz, and others.
We will be there for Durban III as well. We will be streaming Anne Bayefsky’s counter-conference on Thursday, September 22, with such luminaries as Voight, Dershowitz, Eli Wiesel and former NY Mayor Ed Koch. The stream begins at 9AM Eastern. Please tune in at PJTV.com.
Regarding the Shurat HaDin letter to Columbia President Bollinger, it can be found here.
Also read: Khamenei Must Go (and Take Ahmadinejad too, Please)
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