Summary of the biased Zionist speech sponsored by Hillel on 10/03/02
by Thomas
fpn@vcu.edu
http://www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn

      Today the VCU chapter of the Jewish Student Union Hillel sponsored a speech by a pro-Zionist “historian” Neil November as a part of their “History of Israel” month.  The speech was attended by a large contingent of Free Palestine Now! Members, and we probably made up about 50% of the audience. (Hillel, the sponsors of the event made up the other 50%) The speech by November was probably the most one-sided account of Middle Eastern History that I have ever heard.  In addition to conveniently leaving out aspects of History that were pro-Palestinian and Pro-Arab, his speech was a tirade of jokes and insults directed towards Arabs and Arab countries.  At one point in his speech he called Islam a violent religion and at another point he implied that pro-Palestinian members of the audience could be members of a terrorist cell.
          In his speech November would again and again leave out important documents that were pro-Palestinian or alter historical records to support the Zionist state of Israel. One such example of this was the Balfeur declaration of World War I.  November read the first sentence of the declaration that states that the British government would support the establishment of a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine, but did not read the second sentence of the declaration that states “only if that national home does not prejudice the rights of the existing Palestinian population” He also did not touch on the fact that in every year after the Balfeur declaration was issued it was renounced by the British government who stated the Balfeur declaration was null and void because “No Jewish minority state in Palestine could exist without prejudicing the rights of the majority Palestinian population”.  Another example of November’s bigotry and bias was a chart that he handed out in a packet of Mid-East maps.  It was a chart showing “every terrorist attack claiming American lives since the 1970’s” however November had conveniently only put Arab countries on his chart, completely ignoring the loss of American life in attacks not contributed to Arabs.  For instance the assassinations of numerous Americans by the Greek group 17 November, or the Italian groups Brigade Rosse were not included.  It was this type of bigotry and one-sided views that summarized November’s speech and Hillel speakers in general.
          After the speech was over, November was assailed by questions from the pro-Palestinian members of the audience and his bias was picked apart.  November was made to admit that he was leaving out parts of history when he was directly challenged on the aforementioned Balfeur declaration.  At another point a Free Palestine Now! Member asked November what he, as an American would do if a foreign country owned 2% of the United States through checkpoints, roads and settlements. (Referring to Arafat’s refusal of 98% of the West Bank and the Gaza strip at Camp David 2000) November replied that he would “fight like hell” to get it back proving the point of the Palestinian resistance.  November directly ducked other questions, refusing to comment on the abuses of Palestinian civilians by the IDF and the revelations of those abuses by the Israeli refusniks, and was forced to admit that the settlements were an obstacle to peace in the region.
          Neil November is a great example of the type of speakers that the right-wing extremists Zionists try and use to justify their oppression and brutality towards the Palestinian peoples.  But fortunately, like most zealots his arguments came tumbling down around a speech of lies and deceptions.  I personally would like to urge Hillel to in the future employ speakers who will actually tell the truth about history and provide somewhat unbiased account of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.