Summary: Boycott Watch sent a letter to the president of
Duke University warning that a Palestinian Conference scheduled for the Duke
Campus is not what it is promoted as.
In our ongoing effort challenging
the legality of the campus based divest-from-Israel campaigns, Boycott Watch
sent a letter to President Richard H. Brodhead of Duke University detailing
what he needs to know about a conference scheduled at Duke.
The Palestine Solidarity Movement claims to be
"organized to promote peace, justice, and human rights for the Palestinian
people," yet it promotes the exact opposite for others. The PSM is planning a
conference at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina October 15-17, 2004. A
Boycott Watch representative attended one such conference last year at the Ohio
State University, and discovered that conference promoted hate and violence
toward Jews and Israelis - the opposite of what the promoters claim for
themselves.
"If someone truly wants peace, then they
should promote peace and well being for everyone, not just themselves.
Throughout history, those who only want peace for themselves at the expense of
others have all been brutal dictators, such as Stalin, Hitler, and Saddam
Hussein" said Fred Taub, President of Boycott Watch. "The conference at Duke is
nothing more than a hate fest. The promoters claim they want peace, yet at the
same time they espouse hatred of Jews and promote economic warfare against
Israel by means of divestment campaigns and other boycotts. These conferences
even discuss ways to intimidate companies from doing business with or in
Israel; then instruct students how to lie to Israeli immigration about their
intent when visiting Israel. The conference promotes illegal and unethical
activities - plain and simple. Knowingly hosting such a conference is therefore
unethical too.
"If Duke University holds the
conference on their campus, the university may very well be an accomplice in
the crimes that have been promoted in the conferences held at other campuses."
Taub continued.
Boycott Watch is a consumer advocacy
organization that is at the forefront of fighting illegal foreign boycotts. For
more information, contact the Boycott Watch office at 216-765-2273.
Click
Here to read the Boycott Watch letter to President Richard H. Brodhead of
Duke University.
