Tammi Rossman-Benjamin – the ‘academic’ face of Zionist and American McCarthyism

The racist cartoon heading the site of fellow racist Rabbi Fischer.  Arabs are barbarians who hide behind their babies whereas Israeli soldiers defend them (whilst shackling Palestinian kids).

trying to find the mike!

Ross Benjamin's life mission is to prevent others speaking their minds.  It is 'unlawful' to use state resources to host an academic's political webpage (unless you agree with it).

 They don’t like it up ‘em

 As Corporal Jones of Dad's Army fame used to say 'they don't like it up 'em'.  In other words she can dish it out but can't take the flack.  I refer to another Police State Academic Tammi Ross Benjamin, who spends most of her miserable life trying to censor the pages of fellow academics.

I did a couple of features on this particularly grotesque parody of an ‘academic’.  Ms Benjamin obviously didn’t like the criticism she regularly doles out, because she has replied, albeit in her normally dishonest, cut and paste fashion.

In a letter she tells us that she and her fellow would-be censors ‘remain deeply dismayed that you have not responded to our letters to you, nor to the letters of numerous members of the Jewish community, urging you to remove Professor David Klein’s “Boycott Israel Resource Page” from the CSU Northridge server. Disappointingly, you have not even acknowledged our concerns.’

 How impolite.  Don't they know she is an important person and what's more, highly influential.  There are no end of sleazy congressmen willing to take her shilling.  But Ross-Benjaim is nothing if not resourceful.  She wishes to inform her correspondents of ‘a more personal matter.’   With bated breath I read on.

What is the personal matter in question?  Perhaps she’s found out that David Klein has committed bigamy, abandoned his children, become a new Hannibal Lector, had sex with a reindeer ( made that one up!).   Well actually the blighter has been found out ‘unlawfully’ using ‘University and taxpayer resources’.   Ah - crime indeed.  Let us forget the small matter of some $3 billion in taxpayer aid for the Israeli military.  It's that wicked Mr Klein we are talking about.

Clearly Mr Klein must have been using State resources to fund his own business, evade taxes?  Err not quite.  They have been using these resources, including the ‘prestige of the California State University; to tell the truth, sorry libel, Ms Benjamin.  Question – is it possible to defame Ms Benjamin when she does such a good job herself?

What has really got her (kosher) goat is that not only has David Klein supported a Boycott of Israel he has done this on his university pages!  Free speech?  Forget it.  Ross-Benjamin is an important person.  And Boycotts are unAmerican (unless it's Iran of course!).

And holy of holies.  She has linked to my article ‘Rossman-Benjamin: The Face of a Police State Academic.”   What’s wrong you may ask with a Police state academic?  Well for a start they are a bit of a contradiction and in any case she supports the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’.  It may torture, steal and confiscate land, set fire to olive groves, impose hundreds of check points to detain and harass Arabs, it may Judaise the Negev and Galilee and Jerusalem, demolish Arab villages and a thousand more instances of discrimination reminiscent of Apartheid at its worst, but you can still vote in Israel!

Even worse ‘The article to which his webpage is linked bears the same title and was written by British anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein, a leader of the international campaign to boycott Israel.’  Now I hate to point it out to such a distinguished academic but I am a mere footsoldier, not international leader!  My real offences are bullet headed:

I compares Ms Benjamin ‘to a Nazi collaborator.’  Well no I was being a bit more subtle, though clearly Rossman-Benjamin doesn’t do subtlety.  I pointed out that in Germany in 1933 academics rushed to associate themselves with Nazism, shunning their fellow Jewish academics.  Martin Heidigger was, of course, the most famous, elected Rector of Freiburg University in March 1933.  Collaboration was what the Zionist Federation of Germany did and later people like Israel Kasztner.   This was more a form of political prostitution.

And even worse I had ‘accused her of “climbing into bed with Hitler supporters.” ’  Well it’s a pretty damaging accusation – if true.  It would imply that Ross-Benjamin is a Nazi as opposed to a fool and a McCarthyist.  But of course she doesn’t post the whole quote.  She is one of those cut and paste merchants, i.e. a junk academic.  My original quote was about her ‘climbing into bed with Hitler supporters such as Rev. John Hagee of CUFI.’  Which is a very different proposition.
Pastor John Hagee was President of the Southern Baptist Congregation and is currently head of Christians United for Israel.  It is a matter of fact that he has described Hitler as god’s messenger, sent to drive the Jews to Palestine.  He has spoken about ‘Jewish half-breeds’ and used viciously anti-Semitic language. He is one of a number, people like Glenn Beck, who are both anti-Semitic and pro-Zionist.  Indeed it is quite a normal thing for those who are anti-Semitic to wish Jews to leave their homelands.

Apparently it is libellous to imply that the AMCHA Initiative is funded by the Israeli government.  Well I'm inclined to agree with her!  And Amcha?  It is a locally based, indigenous struggle.  And I’m batman!

Apparently the Amcha Initiative, like Camera, Stand With Us and all those other non-Israeli funded ‘initiatives’ is solely concerned for the ‘safety and well-being of Jewish students on California campuses.’  So why is a boycott of Israel any problem for them then?  We make a sharp distinction between Israel, its war crimes and being Jewish.  Fact is, of course, that anti-Semitism is only a concern for Zionism when support for the Palestinians is on the agenda.  Israel is the biggest single cause of anti-Semitism world wide.   And Zionists like Ross Benjamin do their best to associate Jews in the diaspora with Israel's war crimes.  But opposing anti-Semitism (the real kind I mean)?  I can honestly say that in 30+ years of organising against fascist groups like the National Front I have never known a Zionist organisation to become involved with us.

Well dear reader, ‘Professor Klein’s inclusion of a link to Tony Greenstein’s article on his CSUN-hosted webpage is further evidence of the misuse of university and taxpayer-funded resources.’  Perhaps the brilliant mind of Benjamin could enlighten us as to how much this ‘misuse of ….’ actually costs and isn’t free speech the most valuable of all commodities (to those like Ms Benjamin, education is yet another commodlity).

Indeed it is a ‘case a vicious personal attack on Tammi and the AMCHA Initiative, among other things.’  Quite how you make a personal attack on an organisation I shall leave to the brilliant Ms Benjamin.  But as regards herself I was simply painting another side to this, no doubt, charming woman.

In another letter co-ordinated by Ross Benjaim, from 1800 gullible fools who probably don’t have a clue what it’s all about  what is abundantly clear from some of the comments made, is their anti-Semitic character!  This from a defender of those poor Jewish students.

Mr Outraged writes that ‘I would advocate budget-cutting to cut out this cancer.’  Ah yes, nothing to do with free speech, its all a question of economics!

According to another it is a ‘Jew-hating college.”  Of course this particular idiot is long on descriptions but somewhat shorter on fact.  And one fact is that the campaign to boycott Israel is driven in large part by Jewish people!

Another has 3 children ‘all who might have considered CSU as an option.  There is absolutely no way I would consider giving tuition funds, not to mention the considerable donation potential to any of these campuses under these conditions.”  I think I’m getting the message.  It’s about financial contributions and the threat of withdrawing them.  Now where does this particular idea come from?

Isn’t it one of the standard anti-Semitic tropes that Jews bribe their way through life and buy up any one who doesn’t agree with him/her.  True to type Ross-Benjamin shows the anti-Semitism in her as is typical of Zionist supporters when the mask slips.

And where Ross-Benjamin leads others follow.     Rabbi Dov Fischer lends his support to her when arguing that Jews should refuse to support the Orange County Jewish Federation.  And what is the Fed’s crime?  Well they support the Olive Tree Initiative who harbour this strange idea that there is more than one side to a conflict.

Note how ‘Palestine’ and ‘Palestinian’ are in inverted commas.  It is common now on the American right to deny even the existence of the Palestinians.  Martin Heidigger eat your heart out.

And Dov Fischer has a nice line in racist cartoons.  On the top of his blog is a cartoon explaining the differences between the Israeli army and Arab ‘terrorists’.  The Israeli military defends a baby in a pram.   The Arab uses the pram as cover.  Well what do you expect of these barbarians?




Fischer writes that 'Jewish funds should not be expended on paying for Jewish students to travel throughout “Palestinian” towns and villages to hear lectures by trained anti-Israel propagandists from “Palestine,” as part of an OTI mission to expose Jewish students to a “balanced” understanding of narratives:'

Not only is Ross-Benjamin and friends interested in curtailing academic debate but she wants to suppress internal debate in the Jewish community.

  Tony Greenstein

Dear Chancellor Reed,

We remain deeply dismayed that you have not responded to our letters to you, nor to the letters of numerous members of the Jewish community, urging you to remove Professor David Klein’s “Boycott Israel Resource Page” from the CSU Northridge server. Disappointingly, you have not even acknowledged our concerns.

Now, however, we are writing to inform you of a more personal matter.  We believe that CSUN Professor David Klein and Interim President Harold Hellenbrand have been using University and taxpayer resources unlawfully and the name and prestige of the California State University to mount what we believe are defamatory attacks targeting one or both of us:

1) For the last several weeks, Professor Klein has included as the first item referenced on his Boycott Israel webpage a link entitled “Rossman-Benjamin: The Face of a Police State Academic.” The article to which his webpage is linked bears the same title and was written by British anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein, a leader of the international campaign to boycott Israel.  Greenstein’s article includes the following verbal assault against Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and the AMCHA Initiative, a grassroots organization which we co-founded to promote the safety and well-being of Jewish students on California campuses:

 Greenstein compares Tammi Rossman-Benjamin to a Nazi collaborator, writing: “Rossman-Benjamin reminds me of the court academics who prostituted themselves in 1933 when the Nazis came to power.” He has posted three photographs of Tammi next to a photograph of Martin Heidegger, whose caption reads: “famous philosopher who lent his talents to the cause of the 3rd Reich,” and he has accused her of “climbing into bed with Hitler supporters.”
 Greenstein calls Tammi a “police state academic,” a “junk academic,” a “zombie,” a “fruit cake,” and a “McCarthyite apparatchick,” and he insinuates that she is part of the “racist right.”
 Greenstein falsely implies that the AMCHA Initiative is funded by the Israeli government.

Professor Klein’s inclusion of a link to Tony Greenstein’s article on his CSUN-hosted webpage is further evidence of the misuse of university and taxpayer-funded resources to promote Klein’s own partisan agenda, in this case a vicious personal attack on Tammi and the AMCHA Initiative, among other things.

2) CSU Northridge Interim President Harold Hellenbrand has recently issued an official statement entitled “J’ACCUSE! THE NEW ANTI-ANTI-SEMITISM,” which he posted as the April ’12 “Provost’s Message” on the Academic Affairs home page and circulated widely by email to all CSUN faculty and administrators. In his statement, President Hellenbrand demonizes and delegitimizes the AMCHA Initiative’s efforts to address the issue of anti-Jewish bigotry at CSUN.  For example:

 President Hellenbrand criticizes the recent policy articulated by the U.S. Department of Education affording civil rights protection to Jewish students, and he falsely accuses the AMCHA Initiative of capitalizing on the new policy “to denounce, with the fury of Jeremiah, dissent to policy as if it were apostasy.”
 President Hellenbrand falsely accuses the AMCHA Initiative of being a Jewish messianic organization, which “fantasizes its inception as a Golden State recapitulation of the in-gathering of the Jews under the Word”.
 President Hellenbrand falsely accuses the AMCHA Initiative of violating U.S. law through “entangling alliance with a foreign power [Israel]” and ignoring “the separation of church and state”.
 Ironically, although President Hellenbrand accuses us of using University resources for engaging in political advocacy — by which he presumably means the occasional and legitimate use of our UC email accounts to send letters to university administrators urging them to ensure that Jewish students are protected on their campuses (hardly a use of University resources) — as we have noted in our previous letter to you, President Hellenbrand himself has used his administrative office and substantial taxpayer dollars to promote  his own highly partisan and political agenda.
President Hellenbrand’s statement contains false and wild charges and is unprofessional, politically-motivated, and highly unbecoming of the top CSUN administrator. Moreover, his astonishing lack of sensitivity to the issue of anti-Jewish bigotry is extremely offensive to a great many members of the Jewish community.

We believe that Professor Klein’s and President Hellenbrand’s behavior is in clear violation of California state law, including California Government Code 8314, which prohibits any state employee from using public resources for personal benefit, and California Education Code 89005.5(a)(2)(C), which prohibits the use of the state-owned name CSU Northridge for the purpose of promoting personal or political activities including boycott.

Moreover, we believe that Professor Klein and President Hellenbrand are using their University positions and privileged access to University internet and electronic services to silence the legitimate concerns we are raising about their misuse of University and taxpayer resources for promoting a political hatred of the Jewish state and its supporters. Indeed, we note that to the extent that Professor Klein and President Hellenbrand are violating our constitutionally-protected freedom of expression, their speech cannot be considered constitutionally protected.

Finally, besides the potential violations of state and federal law that we have enumerated, we believe the behavior of Professor Klein and President Hellenbrand suggests an egregious failure of leadership at CSUN.

We therefore urge you, as CSU Chancellor, to take the following actions immediately:

1) Remove Professor Klein’s offensive webpage from the CSUN server.

2) Remove President Hellenbrand’s “J’ACCUSE” statement from the Academic Affairs website and replace it with an apology to the AMCHA Initiative for misusing the CSUN Office of Academic Affairs to promote a highly partisan and political message.

3) Post on your Chancellor’s website and circulate widely among all CSU faculty and administrators a statement articulating the state and federal laws and University policies prohibiting the use of University resources for partisan or political purposes, and insist on the proper enforcement of these laws and policies by all CSU employees.

We hope to hear from you soon regarding this matter, which is of great importance not only to us personally, but to the entire Jewish community.

Sincerely,

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org

Leila Beckwith
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org
Cc:
CSU Presidents
CSU Board of Trustees
CSU General Counsel Christine Helwick
California Governor Jerry Brown
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
California Attorney General Kamala Harris
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley
City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles Carmen A. Trutanich
Congressman Brad Sherman
Congressman Howard Berman
California State Senator Alex Padilla (Northridge)
California State Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (Northridge)Bcc: Members and supporter of the Jewish community