I think this is highly germane to the question of whether the "organized American Jewish community" has a problem with free speech:
[...] This past spring, the Boston University chapter of J Street U applied to be under the Hillel umbrella. The Hillel student board voted to reject<http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/hillel-student-board-votes-to-reject-j-street-u-at-boston-university/#ixzz30QRyJaWK> their proposal and threatened to limit J Street U's events on campus if they were to become a Hillel group. Prior to the vote, BU Hillel prevented J Street U from hosting an event in the Hillel building featuring *Lara Friedman from Americans for Peace Now* (the American branch of an Israeli pro-peace organization), stating, "*The staff at Hillel aren't comfortable with having Lara speak because of some of the views she has.*" These decisions hinder open dialogue and keep progressive voices out of the conversation in Hillel. By excluding J Street U and Americans for Peace Now, BU Hillel is demonstrating that it is not a space for the diverse opinions on Israel-Palestine present within the American Jewish community. [...] You see what we're dealing with here. It reminds me of Jay Leno's joke about Khatami's campaign slogan: "Building a bridge to the 14th century." ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rachel Sandalow-Ash Date: Tue, May 6, 2014 at 2:00 PM Subject: [Openhillel-announce] Action Alert: Sign the Petition to "Open" BU Hillel! To: [email protected], open-hillel-organize < [email protected]> Dear Open Hillel supporters, Last week, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations voted to exclude J Street from membership - and unfortunately, they were not the only Jewish organization to do so. Boston University Hillel rejected BU J Street U's proposal to become a Hillel-affiliated group. Even before this decision, BU Hillel had excluded J Street U from hosting an event in Hillel featuring a speaker from Americans for Peace Now because the staff expressed "discomfort" with the speaker's views. These decisions have served to alienate Jewish students at BU and sharply limit discussion around Israel-Palestine within the Jewish community on campus; now is the time to fight back. BU students have launched a petition to BU Hillel<http://www.openhillel.org/bu.php>asking that it rescind its decisions and allow all Jewish student groups to affiliate with Hillel and host speakers and events within the Hillel space, regardless of politics. So, please sign the petition <http://www.openhillel.org/bu.php>, email it to your friends and networks, and share it on twitter and facebook! Thanks for all you do, Rachel _______________________________________________ Openhillel-announce mailing list [email protected] https://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/openhillel-announce -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] (202) 448-2898, extension 1
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