MSA pushes anti-Israel propaganda

By Karin Wessely

It is incredibly disturbing to me when people mask propaganda by
calling it “education.” Members of the Muslim Students
Association shouldn’t say one thing and do another. They
shouldn’t say they want to educate and debate when, in
reality, they want to impose their beliefs on me. They
shouldn’t call their program “Zionism education”
when it is strictly anti-Israel. MSA had no intention of educating
UCLA students; “Anti-Zionism Week” was nothing more
than propaganda.

Occasionally, I have attempted to show my support for MSA
because I am good friends with a few of its members and because I
genuinely believe that most MSA members are driven, passionate
individuals. But each time I came to support the Muslim exhibits
and programs on campus, I experienced racism because I professed to
be Israeli. And then last week, I saw graffiti everywhere on campus
claiming, “Zionism is racism.”

Why is MSA trying to confuse people? Zionism isn’t racism.
In fact, Zionism has always tried to combat racism. The Zionist
movement attempted to secure the lives of oppressed European Jews.
It’s as simple as that.

If MSA members want to educate people about Israel, why
don’t they inform UCLA students that most Palestinians and
Israelis voted for peace and negotiations by democratic referendum?
Why don’t they inform the campus that Palestinians and the
Israelis work and live side by side and are collaborating every day
to forge a new agenda and relationship.

Palestinians and Israelis don’t want to continue arguing;
they want to live in peace and security. It is a minority of
extremists, of fanatic religious leaders, that want to keep the
arguments alive. They interpret the Old Testament and the Koran in
ways that best suit their own interests. But it’s the Arab
and Israeli societies that suffer the reality of those
philosophies, and it is cruel.

We should be concerned with cooperation, not with deception,
propaganda and pseudo-interpretations. Our passion and energy
should go toward resolution, for the sake of the present and future
of the Israeli and Palestinian people. The time to heal is long
overdue.

It is time to plant beautiful trees and to fertilize the land,
where bullets have polluted G-d’s soil. If it’s true
that we reap what we sow, then let us reap nectar fruits instead of
dead bodies. Let the people live with respect instead of constant
fear. We need to work toward the future so that Israeli and
Palestinian mothers can worry about their sons’ school grades
instead of if they will come home safely.

I am not dismissing any of the complicated problems that exist
in the region. What I am dismissing are counterproductive movements
that victimize people instead of helping them. The
“holy” land has suffered five devastating wars in the
past 52 years. This is embarrassing, because the faithful of the
world are watching us.

MSA’s so-called “education” just makes matters
worse by solidifying an environment of “us” vs.
“them.” This only promotes clashes and competition. The
region has survived through such an environment for too many years,
and we know that it does not work.

Khalil Gibran introduced me to the Koran and I recommend that
everyone reads his short story “My Countrymen” ““
it should be a prophecy. And if MSA members want to talk instead of
attracting attention with hateful propaganda, then let’s work
together to achieve something substantive that will improve the
lives of the Israeli and Palestinian people. Isn’t that what
we both want?