The Muslim Student Union at the University of California at Irvine organized a series of anti-Israel events in May 2007 featuring lectures by anti-Semites and Israel bashers. The presentations, as well as literature distributed by the students and a large display set up on campus grounds, delivered a mix of hateful messages, anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories and support for terrorist groups.  

Two of the more extreme events were called "Holocaust Memorial Week" and "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected." These featured Imam Abdul Alim Musa and Imam Amir Abdul Malik Ali, the anti-Semitic leaders of the Sabiqun movement, and Mohammed al-Asi, a radical DC-based Islamist known for his pro-Iranian and pro-Hezbollah positions. Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a spokesman for the Neturei Karta anti-Israel fringe Jewish sect, was another of the participants.

The Muslim Student Union (MSU), the Muslim student group at UC Irvine, has staged such events every spring for the past several years, with some of the most anti-Semitic speakers participating regularly. While these annual hate fests may be the most offensive, the most radical, the best organized and, it appears, the best financed, Muslim student groups are now organizing similar events every year at other California campuses, often featuring the same anti-Semitic speakers that frequent UC Irvine.     

Muslim Student Union (MSU)

In addition to inviting anti-Semitic speakers to campus, MSU also distributes radical and anti-Semitic literature through an affiliated publication, Al Kalima, UC Irvine's Muslim student paper. For example, one editorial published in June 2004 praised Hamas and justified its use of terror by arguing that it is directed against "the evils of Shaytan (Satan) and the enemies of Allah." It said that the "only solution to the Zionist situation is through military force, which is espoused by Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other Islamic resistance organizations." Together with al-Talib, a sister publication of Muslim students at UCLA, Al Kalima also produces brochures that employ Islamist militant language. One of these, a colorful glossy leaflet that was handed out at this year's events, advocated jihad and martyrdom, explaining that "the individual or community that participates in jihad finds itself between two blissful outcomes, either victory and the establishment of justice, or the reward of martyrdom and Paradise."

Chronology of Anti-Semitism at UC Irvine

·         May 14-18, 2007: MSU held "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected," with key speeches by Imam Amir Abdul Malik Ali,  Mohammed al-Asi, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss and Lenni Brenner delivered at an outdoor amphitheater in the center of campus. Close by, the students erected sixty foot mock up of Israel's security barrier. The wall-like construction served to display anti-Israel messages and "facts" about the conflict, including some gross misinformation. It included a poster that hailed Hamas as "Freedom Fighter" adorned with a picture of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmad Yasin. Another display featured an American flag with a Star of David in place of the fifty stars, representing the idea that Israel controls U.S. politics. One section of the wall described Zionism as "an ultra nationalist movement concerned with establishment and maintenance of a Jewish-only state in Islamic Palestine."

The event opened with a speech by Mohammed al-Asi, during which he argued that the U.S. is fighting the war in Iraq on behalf of Israel, stating: "You can't differentiate between Washington and Tel Aviv any longer." He also alleged that the U.S. knew about the plan to attack on the World Trade Center before September 11. He said his positions were not anti-Semitic; adding that Jews should take the stand that "Zionism is one thing and Judaism is another thing." Later in the day, al-Asi spoke about Hamas.

On the second day of "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected," Lenni Brenner, a self-described "Trotskyist" and a staunch anti-Zionist, gave a speech entitled "Zio-Nazis," in which he claimed that all Zionists are racist and that the Zionist movement in the '30s and '40s made common cause with the Nazis. He claimed that contemporary supporters of Israel are hiding their racist origins from the Americans but that they are still racists. He contrasted it with the MSU activists who openly state their ideology.

Ali, who spoke on the May 17, fourth day of "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected," claimed that Zionist Jews are working behind the scenes against the civil rights of African Americans while pretending to support the rights of oppressed minorities in the U.S. to get their support. Standing in front of a large banner that said "Death to Apartheid," he said: "the older Zionist Jewish leaders know what I'm talking about." He expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah, saying that "Hamas are freedom fighters, not terrorists." Ali said: "The Zionist Jews, the Israelis, these are oppressors. There is nothing honorable about what they are doing… the Palestinians are paying for the crimes of the Germans. Let the Germans pay…. And so now, Alhamdulillah [Praise God] we know that their time is coming to an end…. The Zionist Jew has only one fear… the ultimate fear of the Zionists are the Muslims. They never defeated us in history…. Even though we got the FBI coming down on us [Muslims], even though we got the media coming down on us, even though we have the government coming down on us, everyone… in terms of who are running the system; we are still not afraid of them… You are dealing with people who fight in the name of Allah, against your imperialism, against your colonialism, against your occupation, and against your racism. And we will not stop until we are either victorious or we are martyred." According to Ali, the Israelis are "the new Nazis" and that there is no room for civil dialogue with Nazis. He also claimed that "Zionists control the agenda for Iraq and Lebanon" through their control of the government and that Israel is pushing the U.S. into war with Iran.

During a second speech Ali gave that day, which was titled: "The UC Intifada: How You Can Help Palestine," he claimed that Zionist-Jews were behind September 11 attacks: "That's exactly what they do…they do things to make people think that it's Muslims when it is actually them behind the scenes [that is] how they do this in Palestine, how they did this with the World Trade Center, both of them: in 1993 and in 2001."      

·         May 9, 2007: The misleadingly named "Holocaust Memorial Week," organized by MSU at Irvine, included an anti-Semitic speech by Imam Abdel Aleem Musa, during which he said: "who ran the slave trade…who funded [it]? You'll study and you will find out: the Jews…It was the Jewish bankers…in Vienna, with pockets full of money, funding and insuring [sic], that's who did it…. you can't tell us about no holocaust. Between the African Americans and the Native Americans, everybody else's stuff was small potatoes."

Also as part of the Holocaust week, Professor Ward Churchill gave a speech titled "Manifest Destiny and the American Holocaust" and Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor and activist with the Wheels of Justice, talked about the experiences during the Holocaust, though her address was listed by organizers as: "Surviving the Nazis: Remembering is Not Enough."

·         October 5, 2006: Imam Amir Abdul Malik Ali spoke at UC Irvine about the war between Israel and Hezbollah.  Ali accused "the Western Zionist controlled media" of covering up the truth about what happened in the war.  He praised Hezbollah and argued that every time Muslims fight Israel in the name of Islam they are victorious. In response to a question from the audience about peace between Israel and the Arab states, Ali said: "If history is any indication, there'll be peace when you're gone and we are in control again."

·         May 18, 2006: During a speech at MSU's anti-Israel week, "Holocaust in the Holy Land," Ali praised Hamas and Hezbollah for fighting against Israel, saying: "The truth of the matter is your days are numbered. We will fight you until we are either martyred or we are victorious…It's about time that they [Israelis] live in fear." He claimed that Israel's defeat was imminent because unlike the Muslims, Israeli soldiers do not embrace death. During his speech, which was titled "Israel: The Fourth Reich," Ali also claimed that the media in the U.S. is controlled by Jews, repeating several times: "Rupert Murdoch is a Zionist Jew!"

The MSU "Holocaust in the Holy Land" included also speeches by Mohammad al-Asi, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss and Professor Norman Finkelstein. At the entrance to the venue where Finkelstein spoke, someone was handing out literature by Holocaust denier Mark Weber. During a protest the MSU held as part of event, students chanted: "Judaism, yes, Zionism, no! The state of Israel has to go!"     

·         May 25, 2004: Al-Asi gave a speech at an MSU anti-Israel event at UC Irvine in which he blamed Israel for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, stating that : "the U.S. — lock, stock and barrel — is doing what Israelis want you to do." He urged the students to "tip the balance and recreate [America's] image-not in the image of Zionist Israel." Al-Asi also argued "Many of our [Muslims] innocents have been killed when we all believe 'an eye for an eye' and 'a soul for a soul.' We're lagging behind, but we have plenty of time to catch up."

·         February 26, 2004: During Ali's lecture at UC Irvine, which was titled "America Under Siege: The Zionist Hidden Agenda," he said that Zionism was a mixture of "chosen people-ness and white supremacy." He claimed that Zionists had "Congress, the media and the FBI in their back pocket," and blamed Israel for September 11: "The Israelis knew about and were in-control of 9-11," which he claimed "was staged to give an excuse to wage war against Muslims around the world."

·         September 9, 2001:  Muslim students at UC Irvine held a benefit dinner for Imam Jamil al-Amin, a Muslim activist who has since been convicted for killing an Atlanta, GA, deputy sheriff. The dinner featured a speech by Musa, in which he stated: "You think Zionism and Palestine is the only dictatorial power in the world. We're telling you about apartheid right here in America.… When you fight Old Sam, you are fighting someone that is superior in criminality and Nazism." Another keynote speaker at the benefit, a popular speaker and Muslim activist, Hamza Yusuf, who was at the time on the board of advisors of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added: "This country is facing a very terrible fate, and the reason for that is because this country stands condemned. It stands condemned like Europe stood condemned, because of what it did. And lest people forget that Europe suffered two world wars after conquering Muslim lands."

·         February 21, 2001: During a speech at UC Irvine, al-Asi said: "You have the Jews who are blind and deaf and dumb [for whom] discrimination, if it is against a gentile, is not objectionable; but anything that happens against a Jew becomes a Holocaust…Where is the courageous Jew who can come out and say Israel is as fascist as the most fascist of Europe? Israel is a racist as Apartheid could ever be…. We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co-exist equally and brotherly with other human beings."