In this mailing: Richard Kemp: The Duped Generation that Supports BDS Burak Bekdil: Erdoğan's War Against Freedom on Campus The Duped Generation that Supports BDS by Richard Kemp  •  February 23, 2021 at 5:00 am       BDS tells its supporters that it is "an inclusive, anti-racist human rights movement that is opposed on principle to all forms of discrimination, including anti-semitism and Islamophobia". That is a lie. BDS has also succeeded in making life worse for Palestinian Arabs, the very people they falsely claim to help. This includes backing and strengthening the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas.... Vast international funds provided to assist them have been systematically embezzled by their leaders for their own enrichment.... This month, the UK's Jewish News revealed that $145 million of British taxpayers' money has been spent on incitement in Palestinian schools since 2016 alone. Young and impressionable men and women, whose main attention is on studying for their degrees, have been duped by Barghouti's BDS rabble-rousers into thinking they were demonstrating in support of a two-state solution to be achieved by peaceful means. Using words chillingly resonant of the Third Reich, Mahmoud Abbas said during a speech in Egypt: "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli — civilian or soldier — on our lands". He meant Jews. Israeli Arabs would be welcomed. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he and President Biden are "resolutely opposed" to BDS because it "unfairly and inappropriately singles out Israel and creates a double standard". The US administration should take up the plans... to target organisations that engage with or otherwise support BDS, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch, and cut off government funding. British and European governments should follow suit.... Yet again we approach the depths of the annual Jew Hate Week around the world. Its organizers know better than to call it what it is. They brand their hatefest "Israel Apartheid Week", but their true meaning and purpose is blindingly obvious. Yet again we approach the depths of the annual Jew Hate Week around the world. Its organizers know better than to call it what it is. They brand their hatefest "Israel Apartheid Week", but their true meaning and purpose is blindingly obvious. Since its early festerings in Toronto in 2005, Jew Hate Week has inflicted itself on the world, polluting universities from America to Australia and from South Africa to Northern Ireland. Continue Reading Article Erdoğan's War Against Freedom on Campus by Burak Bekdil  •  February 23, 2021 at 4:00 am       On February 2, Turkish police detained more than 150 people peacefully protesting Erdoğan's appointment of a party loyalist as BOUN's new rector. It was the first time a non-BOUN graduate was appointed as head of the university since 1971. Students, professors and alumni have been protesting the appointment of rector Melih Bulu, a former member of Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party, since early January. On February 3, Erdoğan denounced student protesters as "terrorists" and vowed to crackdown on demonstrations. By then the police had detained more than 250 students. Erdoğan admitted he feared the BOUN protests could grow into anti-government protests and said he would not let them swell. In [Erdogan's] Islamist worldview, youth dissent is good only if it protests ideas Islamism opposes, not if it protests Islamists. Since February 2, Turkish police have arrested more than 250 students at Istanbul's Bosporus (Boğaziçi) University for peacefully protesting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's appointment of a party loyalist as the university's new rector. Police even raided some of the demonstrators' homes and barricaded the campus. Pictured: Police surround and detain several female protestors at Bosporus University on February 4, 2021. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images) Bosporus University (Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Turkish, or BOUN in its acronym) is one of Turkey's top three "Ivy League" higher education institutions. Established as Robert College in 1863, BOUN was the first American university founded outside the US. Its founders were wealthy philanthropist Christopher Robert and missionary Cyrus Hamlin. Robert College was handed over to the Turkish government in 1971 and reflagged itself as BOUN. BOUN's notable graduates include former prime ministers Tansu Çiller and Ahmet Davutoğlu. Times Higher Education put BOUN in 601-800 in its 2021 world university ranking. Every year about 2.5 million Turkish pupils take a national examination to enter a university. In last year's examination 708 of the top 1,000 in 2.5 million contenders enrolled at BOUN. In other words, 70% of Turkey's best students prefer this university. Continue Reading Article