IsraCampus.Org.il

The very fact that there exists a "Women's Studies" Department at Tel Aviv University may tell you most of what you need to know about the background to all this. While one can argue over whether there could hypothetically be an interesting avenue of scholarly inquiry involving gender issues, this is obviously never (or almost never) what is done in such "Women's Studies" departments. Instead, "Women's Studies" consists of full-time advocacy and propagandizing. In Israel, all "Women's Studies" departments are far leftist and anti-Israel. It is not the only department in which advocacy is the raison d'etre.

http://stevenplaut.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Feminist Soap Opera at Tel Aviv University's "Women's Studies" Department

by Steven Plaut
Monday, March 28, 2011

Just when you thought things could not get sillier at Tel Aviv University, along comes the newest TAU Soap Opera revolving around the Women's Studies Department there.

The "Women's Studies" department at Tel Aviv University is suddenly in the headlines. And the events there make the best soap opera's you have seen on daytime TV look quite tame. Its Queen Bee is one Orly Lubin, a radical anti-Israel leftist whose political pedigree is exposed here: http://www.isracampus.org.il/third%20level%20pages/Editorial%20-%20Lee%20Kaplan%20-%20TAU%20-%20Orly%20Lubin.htm She is almost as hostile to "American colonialism" as she is to Zionism.

Well, Sister Orly got her petticoat in a twist when she was attacked for inviting an alleged rapist to an "academic conference" that she and her Women's Studies princesses were about to host. The alleged rapist in question is Yitzhak Laor, an ultra-leftist Haaretz columnist who used to teach at Tel Aviv University. Some of his students from TAU claimed he raped and molested them. The conference was organized in memory of a radical Israel-hating moonbette at Tel Aviv University named Inbal Perelson. Perelson had been active in the pro-terrorist group "Alternative Information Center" when she was not teaching "literature" at TAU. While hiking with some other AIC terrorists in the Judean desert, the group was washed away by a cleansing flash flood sent by the Great Zionist of the Sky.

Sister Orly's conference, which was to take place today (March 28), was to include Benny Zipper, another ultra columnist from Haaretz. But Zipper's inclusion set off some feminist fang flashings. Some women objected to Zipper being included in the program, because Zipper is not only a Haaretz columnist colleague of alleged rapist Laor, but Zipper has also attacked in his blog the women who have accused Laor of rape and molestation. In particular, Ashkar (that is really her name) Elron-Cohen, an Israeli artist, who filed a police complaint against Laor for rape, had a conniption and directed it against Sister Orly.

Zipper had smeared Elron-Cohen in his blog. How dare you invite Zipper to your feminist festival?, screamed Elron-Cohen. Sister Orly refused to drop Zipper, on grounds that this would be "censorship." Of course, preventing any anti-feminist or pro-Israel article or book from appearing on the course syllabi in "Women's Studies" would clearly NOT be considered censorship!!

Not to be deterred, Elron-Cohen then turned to the mother of Perelson herself, the woman the entire conference was supposed to be commemorating, and Mom also asked Lubin to drop Zipper. At a loss about how to keep the nativettes happy, Sister Lubin then simply called off the entire conference. Orly and her allies then denounced Elron-Cohen for engaging in "verbal violence" against them and the conference. Meanwhile, Elron-Cohen had already organized a petition of feminists and fellow travelers to demand that Zipper not be included in the conference. Sister Orly had a prissy fit when she saw this, and sent her own personal letter to every name on the petition announcing to them that she was hereby resigning from Tel Aviv University!!

Now as tearful as we would be to see such a fine scholar resign from Tel Aviv University, the officials at TAU claim they never got any such letter of resignation from her. Sister Orly says she is "resigning" because she is upset that the "discipline" of "Women's Studies" is being bad-mouthed. Lubin's announcement of her resignation, like similar announcements regularly made back when by Abdul Nasser, evidently were designed to drum up feminist support for herself. Three feminist groups that had signed the petition against Zipper backed off and begged Sister Orly to stay.

I have no doubt that Sister Orly will hold on to her perqs and cushy job at TAU and will NOT really go ahead with her resignation.

But I would be happy to be proven wrong!!