IsraCampus.Org.il

If anyone questions our motives for exposing “Israel’s academic fifth column” here at Isracampus or accuses us unfairly of conducting a “witch hunt” in opposition to free speech, he or she need only take a look at the likes of Senior Lecturer of Computer Science Roy Wagner at the Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo to see an Israeli academic in desperate need of public exposure. Among the most important academic achievements listed by Wagner on his web page is this: He was “co-organizer” of something called the “Tel Aviv University's queer theory reading group and Sex Acher conferences.” Tel Aviv University is so proud of Wagner that they honor him on their alumni pages.

While some professors might try to claim they are only promoting peace or mutual understanding with the Arabs, others, like Professor Wagner, show an unabashed level of support for a terrorist organization that openly murders their fellow Israelis. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or PFLP was once the leading terrorist group when it came to plane hijackings. Wagner’s personal homepage features a photo of one such terrorist on it. Wagner is a leading organizer of homosexual anti-Semitism. He leads several “Queers against Israel” groups (their terminology), and is a leading advocate of worldwide boycotts of Israel. He was one of those Israelis who signed a petition declaring that Israel was about to commit Nazi-like atrocities the moment the allied troops invaded Iraq. That statement is still carried on Holocaust Denial web sites like Stormfront. Saddam was long ago toppled, but no apology from Wagner.

Wagner has been involved recently with the pro-terror International Solidarity Movement. In an email message it was mentioned that a number of Israelis met with foreign nationals to commemorate the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash’s communist terror group and the second largest faction of the PLO. According to the email, sent by Wagner to Anarchists Against the Wall, Wagner himself led a group of people to celebrate Christmas with the PFLP terrorists. Here is the message, unedited:

“Some 30 Israelis and 15 internationals celebrated Xmas (and the 42nd anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) in Bi’ilin today. They joined the weekly local demonstrations against the wall with St. Nick and Mrs. Claus (how come she hasn't got her own name?) costumes and toys for the kids. The soldiers were offered a Xmas tree decorated with used gas canister baubles, and reciprocated with brand new gas canisters for the demonstrators and village youth. But since collecting and displaying used army projectiles is grounds for arrest and indictment (as shown by the case of Abdullah Abu Rahme), the good boys of the local shabab politely returned the army's spent ammo. High level Fatah officials joined to congratulate and show solidarity. The demonstration ended with no casualties, and most Israelis continued to Sheikh Jarah.”

The PFLP has been involved in some of the bloodiest attacks on Israelis in history. The raid on Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 came about when the PFLP hijacked an Air France jetliner and held the Jews on board for ransom. Other PFLP “accomplishments” include organizing the terrorist attack on Lod airport in 1972, and the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1986, when an invalid 69 year-old Jewish-American named Leon Klinghoffer was murdered when he and his wheelchair were dumped overboard by PFLP-affiliated terrorists, who had taken over the ship.

Another PFLP “operation” was the murder of the Israeli cabinet minister Ra’baam Ze’evi in a hotel room in Jerusalem. The PFLP is the second largest faction of the PLO, just behind Fatah, and is dominated by Christian communist pan-Arabists. It has never gone through the pretense of posturing its interest in peace, even as a ploy, unlike Fatah.

The PFLP’s communist links are doubtless the main reason why it is so popular with Israeli anarchists and communists. The PFLP has been closely collaborating with the International Solidarity Movement and still plays a role in ISM affairs, most notably through the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem. So it should come as no surprise that Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW), an ISM-affiliated group, should be attractive to someone like Wagner.

In yet another ISM missive, Wagner writes to the AATW:

“A total of about 25 Israelis and internationals joined the Palestinians of Bi’ilin for a relatively small demonstration against the wall. The focus of the protest was the arrest of Abdullah Abu Rahme, a member of the popular committee, whose prominent presence in demonstrations and attempts to curb the use of stones and gas canisters made him such a dangerous person, that the Israeli army had to break into Ramallah in the middle of the night to abduct and arrest him. The new border police soldiers were very eager to spend gas canisters, and the wind made it difficult to maintain steady presence near the gate, which was nevertheless opened by the demonstrators. Many suffered from gas inhalations, some were bruised, and some went on to get arrested in the demonstration in Sheikh Jarah, just in time for the lighting of the first Hanukka candle. May the occupiers be defeated as was the evil king Antiochus.”

For Wagner to make comparisons of such terrorists to the Maccabees during Chanukah and urge the defeat of Israel by the likes of the PFLP is obscene. The Abu Rahme referred to in the message has been instrumental in fomenting riots in Bi’ilin during the last two years, in which over 150 Israeli soldiers and border guards have been injured, some seriously.

Of course, Israeli soldiers fired teargas because they were responding to attacks on the Security Fence and to stones thrown at them. In other words, Wagner’s account of the affair is largely fictional.

Who exactly is Wagner? While he did most of his studies in Israel at Tel Aviv University in mathematics, he did spend some time at UC Berkeley, where he may have picked up some of his radicalism and anti-Israel ideas. Some of his animosity towards Zionism seems based on his belief that Zionism oppresses homosexuals. He is also a member of the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and signed on to statements such as these:

Regarding Operation Cast Lead, Wagner writes:

“After closing and controlling its borders, Israel brutally bombed and then invaded Gaza—leaving 1,417 Palestinians dead including 313 children and youth.” (Just how many of those 1,417 were genocidal anti-Semitic terrorists is of no interest to him.)

Wagner is also gung ho in support of the so-called “Boycott Sanctions and Divestment” movement against Israel and Israelis (including his own university). He justifies this as logically necessary in light of an isolated attack on a youth center for homosexuals in Tel Aviv. Here is Wagner:

“Queers Respond to Tel-Aviv Homophobic Violence, Call for BDS against Israel. As people who reject the Zionist premise of safety based on violence and isolation of people from each other, we cannot subscribe to the representation of this crime as an isolated event, separated from the violence that pervades the state of Israel. To sincerely engage with the question of building true safety, we must recognize the systemic aspects of this incident. Israel is marketed as a gay-friendly tourist destination and a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. In fact, LGBTQ people of all ethnicities and religions face discrimination and violence in Israel, just as we do in all other parts of the world.”

Curiously Israel still hosts the only Gay Pride Parades in the Middle East and discourages prejudice and violence against gays. The Palestinians beloved and championed by Wagner murder homosexuals and torture them. Palestinian homosexuals routinely seek sanctuary in Israel.

Roy Wagner also openly and strongly supports Iran. This is also a bit surprising, given how Iran routinely hangs homosexuals in the public square.

The IJAN website which Wagner openly supports carries these statements:

We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran against all threats of military aggression against Iran by the U.S., Israel, and supporting Northern states. We are committed to participating in anti-war mobilizations in our respective countries against any plans of military aggression.
We categorically reject the Islamophobic demonization of Iran and its President.
We appreciate Iran's material and moral support for popular forces of resistance to Zionism and U.S. imperialism in the region.

Well, one mystery is at least explained – why Wagner feels so at home celebrating with the genocidal terrorists of the PFLP.

========================================

Op-Ed articles appearing on IsraCampus.Org.il are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of IsraCampus.Org.il