[Crossposted from JStreetJive]

The Kennedy School's Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch

Harvard's Dar al Bias

In its apparent never-ending cavalcade of visiting, hard- left Israeli scholars, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government rolled out its latest indictment of Israel in a lecture entitled: Until the Messiah Do Us Part: Israel, American Christian Zionism and the Israeli Palestinian Peace Process.

With the global body count exceeding two million at the hands of Sunni and Shia states and terrorist groups, The Kennedy School chooses to focus on the real source of global injustice: The Jewish State. Following Daniel Filc's attack on Israel via its health system, Michal Ben Josef Hirsch expanded Harvard's anti-Israel curriculum last week by a remarkable study pinning the blame for the "Peace Process's" failure on American Christian support for Israel. Let's see...the so-called "Peace Process" has been going on for nearly seventeen years with virtually nothing positive to show other than a tenuous treaty with Jordan. On the negative side, it can be argued, that the bitter fruit of the "Process" has produced thousands of dead, a genocidal Hamas regime in Gaza and an ever more powerful Iran soon to possess nuclear weapons. All of these gifts were courtesy of the Israeli Left and its precipitous drive to revive a moribund PLO in the person of Yasir Arafat. That's why Bibi Netanyahu is now PM.

Were you aware that Christian supporters of Israel harbor a dark, apocalyptic motive in materially supporting the survival of Jews in their homeland? If you weren't, Ms. Hirsch will enlighten you. According to her exhaustive study replete with illustrative graphs, many Christian Zionists believe (gasp!) that one day, their Messiah, Jesus Christ, will appear on earth, in part, due to the re-establishment of the Jewish homeland. Of course there are repugnant elements within the evangelical community, like the "Rapturists" who believe in the ultimate conversion of the Jews, but they are a small minority. Most evangelical supporters of Israel ask nothing and impose nothing on Israel's existence. Compare their support with the Twelver Shias in Tehran, who believe that the 9th century "occulted" boy imam (who lives in a well) will reappear as the Mahdi to liberate the world from non-Muslims (by the sword, of course). Nothing bizarre about that belief, is there? Strangely, Harvard has never hosted a talk on the subject of the threat and insanity of Iran's theocracy. Instead, they honor faux-reformers like Mohammed Khatami.

American Christian Supporters of Israel

Professor Emeritus, Herbert Kelman

Harvard bears indirect responsibility for the debacle that masquerades as the "Peace Process". Herb Kelman, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, working through the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (also based in Cambridge, MA) facilitated the initial meetings between the PLO and the clique of Israeli leftwing academics prior to the Oslo meetings in the early 1990's. Yair Hirschfeld, Ron Pundak, Joel Singer and Daniel Levy owe a lot to Mr. Kelman and Harvard - as did Yasir Arafat. Today, with the mounting existential threats to Israel and the rise of Jihadism that claims, in large part, that its growing popularity is due to the failure of the "Peace Process", Harvard has a lot to be proud of. One might suppose that given the manifest disaster of all this "Peacemaking", The Kennedy School gurus might have entertained some second thoughts. On the contrary; the anti-Israel events on the Charles- orchestrated, in part, by Mr. Kelman and his colleague and Hamas devotee, Sara Roy - keep on comin'.

Harvard's Sara Roy

In a rational world, the authors of "The War Process" would skulk away to a dark hole and take up new professions. I don't recall Neville Chamberlain embarking on a victory tour of England in 1940. Not so in adacemia. In this case, the JFK observation has been turned on its head: "Defeat has a thousand fathers."

Ms. Ben- Josef Hirsch concludes that the array of American Christian Zionists has played the role of "spoiler" in the Peace Process. Finally, we have identified the villains in the Middle East conflict. Forget about Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, or The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade - it's Pastor John Hagee! He and his Christian colleagues have "spoiled" an otherwise magnificent and productive process. Silly and offensive comments on gays and the Holocaust from many Christian evangelicals notwithstanding, the physical survival of Israel has been no more strongly supported by any other group around the world. And yet, in spite of her hypothesis of "spoiler", Ms. Ben- Josef Hirsch appeared open to modifications of her premise during the Q & A. When challenged on the influence of actors like Hamas, Iran and American Muslim groups, she seemed
willing to include them in her "spoiler" definition.

Almost without exception, those Israeli scholars who are invited to lecture or work at American Universities are of one political hue. For institutions that proclaim diversity, they have exhibited anything but for the past few decades. In a previous paper entitled, "From Taboo to the Negotiable: The Israeli New Historians and the Changing Representation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem", Ms. Hirsch hewed to that hue. Among those she thanked for their suggestions and help with her paper were Naomi Chazan (now the Director of the New Israel Fund in Israel) and Daniel Levy, J Street supporter and Geneva Initiative architect. But don't blame Harvard entirely - she's a post doctoral fellow at Brandeis University as well.

The Beginning of the Never-Ending