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Did an Ivy League Professor Suggest Including Anti-Israel Messaging in College Courses?

Did an Ivy League Professor Suggest Including Anti Israel Messaging in College Courses?

Prof. Amy Kaplan, University of Pennsylvania English Department

There is an audio clip making the rounds (scroll down to listen) of pro-Israel blogs, purporting to reveal a University of Pennsylvania professor apparently suggesting that fellow teachers insert a boycott Israel message into their courses, even in courses not connected to Middle East politics.

The audio clip was taped at the National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Conference earlier this month at the University of Pennsylvania about which The Blaze reported.

Israel National News reports:

In a breakout session of the “Academic Boycott of Israel” initiative, Amy Kaplan, professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania spoke about how teachers can most effectively demonize Israel in every classroom as well as the “positive aspects” of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

A member of the audience asked Kaplan how teachers could incorporate ways of de-legitimizing Israel “especially, I guess, when the course is not dealing directly with material that has to do with Palestine?”

She answered:

“Well I don’t know how you can, how you can address the issue if you’re not dealing with a course that has no content or relationship to it…but I know that, I mean, you can make courses that have content.”

“…you can teach a course on which you included prison as a really, really big thing, not only in the political life of Palestinians, but also in their literature and in their poetry. So that will be kind of an ideal way – you take a thematic course, and you bring in themes from this issue.”

Kaplan offered specific texts that could be used to drive home the point:

“…And, literature is a really great way to teach students about what’s going on, students who think they know they have an ideological line, a political line, and then they read, you know, they read Darwish, they read, you know, The Pessoptimist and it opens up a whole new world.”

Mahmoud Darwish was an influential Palestinian poet and PLO member who became a national symbol for many Palestinians. Kaplan was presumably referring to the book “The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist,” by Emile Habiby whose Amazon description reads:

Saeed is the comic hero, the luckless fool, whose tale tells of aggression and resistance, terror and heroism, reason and loyalty that typify the hardships and struggles of Arabs in Israel…The author‘s own anger and sorrow at Palestine’s tragedy and his acquaintance with the absurdities of Israeli politics (he was once a member of Israel’s parliament himself) are here transmuted into satire both biting and funny.

The pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon who originally posted the audio of Prof. Kaplan on YouTube wrote:

Here we have a professor at an Ivy League university explicitly calling on like-minded educators to shoehorn hate of Israel into every one of their classes.

For these academics, college is not about teaching but it is merely a platform for them to spout their political views at their captive audience.

Kaplan, from UPenn’s English department, teaches classes including “Contact and Conflict: Literatures of Palestine and Israel,” “19th Century US Imperialism,” and “The Vietnam War in Literature and Film.” She is also a signatory to the pro-Palestinian “U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel” which calls for boycotting Israeli universities and academics, including those who support the Palestinian cause.

Kaplan’s right to free speech is protected under the First Amendment. However, is the English department presenting alternate points of view to balance out Kaplan’s one-sided presentation? How are impressionable 18 and 19-year-old students supposed to discern the complexities of the Israel-Palestinian conflict if only one side of the story is presented?

Kaplan who is on leave this semester did not respond to an e-mail message requesting comment.*

Does Kaplan have a valid point on the merits of threading Palestinian talking-points into university lesson plans or is it just a veiled effort at indoctrination? Listen to the audio and decide:

*Update: the Elder of Ziyon blog that originally posted the above audio received comment from University of Pennsylvania English Department Chair Nancy Bentley. See her comments here in which she calls the characterization of Prof. Kaplan’s remarks “not accurate.”

Comments (109)

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  • mikee1
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 7:05am

    Here is how you end this if the TEA PARTY TAKES OVER: These fools are paid by the GOV. The tuition is paid by the GOV. for these used students. They get worthless degrees from the worthless courses that these fools teach. Then, they owe the GOV. They join OWS. Eliminate these courses and GOV. tuition on the basis OF JOBS GAINED THROUGH EDUCATIONS FUNDED BY GOV. No JOB, NO MORE FUNDING. The courses can go on-line if you have to have them. TAKE AWAY THEIR BIG SALARIES THAT WAY. Even the used students without jobs WOULD GO FOR THIS.

    Report Post » mikee1  
    • JRook
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:31am

      Is it me or does Amy Kaplan sound like a Jewish name.

      Report Post »  
    • The_Jerk
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:29am

      JRook, you had better wake up and smell the roses. Many Jews oppose the immoral, Zionist state of Israel. Non-Jews have no corner on the moral market. If it was evil then, it is evil now. Evil is not relative to who is being persecuted. Zionism is Nazism, in concept and practice.

       
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:52am

      look at her… she is a self hating jew… pathetic…

      Report Post »  
    • timej31
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:57am

      The better way is to make payroll tax withholding illegal. This would force everyone to include your taxes along with your rent, electric payment, food and your cell phone all due each month. And just that one thing would eliminate union dues being withheld as well. That will solve it all.

      Report Post » timej31  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:06am

      These are marxists first and indoctrinators second and not professors at all… The college degrees they SELL, arent worth the paper they’re printed on.

      Report Post »  
    • mzk1
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:22am

      Well, we don‘t know she’s Jewish. But it would not be surprising; the Rabbis found the phenomenon in the Bible – in their words: “I only set up your enemies from among yourselves”. So it always was, so it shall always be.

      Report Post »  
    • mzk1
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:26am

      I should point out that an academic, literary, and artistic boycott of Israel might be good for Israel; our Leftist professors are every bit as treasonous as yours are, and would likely cause more harm than good. (Well, not all of them; there is a surprising amount of patriotism left in Israel.) We need to fight economic and political boycotts.

      Report Post »  
    • Ruler4You
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:04am

      Many jews are self destructive in behavior. This “IS” one (more) of the things wrong with our “education” system. It depends too heavily on opinionated or personal belief and less and less on fact. I understand that many times popular perception isn’t always the real truth, but when entire populations are manipulated under the guise of popular perception, then that perception becomes the reality. If the facts are revealed later it can be included in the summation, though.

      College has really evolved, in many locations. It has gone from being an educational facility to an indoctrination facility and done it without any one really noticing. We still pay top dollar (more than twice inflation costs) for their classes.

      Report Post » Ruler4You  
    • babylonvi
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 11:26am

      There are many Jews who hate and will destroy other Jews. Take George Soros for example, who worked with the Nazi‘s taking Jew’s property in WW II. They are the ones(not most Jews to be sure) who align with the Leftist Dictatorial Obama administration and believe they are among the ELITE from all backgrounds who think they should be telling everyone else how to live. The same elite making up the UN, EU and all GLOBALISTS.

      Report Post » babylonvi  
    • rshayne62
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 12:50pm

      @The_Jerk: Your username fits you well. Naziism? Seriously? Were you born 2005? Learn what Naziism and what Zionism are before you embarrass yourself further.

      Report Post »  
    • TheWholeTruth
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:46pm

      THE_JERK .. Despite your name, you are correct. It is refreshing to see someone that understands that just because a person calls them self a Jew, doesn’t make it so. Even the Bible explains that “some will call themselves Jews but they are liars as per Rev: 3:9 ..I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars–I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

      The Jews of the bible that are the chosen are not (according to scripture) from Europe and they have not yet entered into the holy land. According to the Bible, the chosen will be coming from the Middle East, those in Iraq, Iran, ect. These are orthodox Jews or Torah Jews. The others converted to Judaism and study the Talmud. The latter are the false Jews Revelation speaks of and those who now are in Israel. So, if one is going to support the Jews of the Bible (God’s chosen) they need to understand that just because one calls them self a “Jew” doesn’t make it so.

      Report Post »  
    • cherigc
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:02pm

      She is like Karl Marx, George Soros etc… a SELF hating Jew….She must REALLY hate her parents for not accepting her gay lifestyle!!!!! She is a gal I would like to see on next tuesdAY>>>>>

      Report Post »  
  • notreally
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 6:26am

    She uses the word “literature”: are Mein Kampf and Mao’s Red Book literature? To her and all her America-hating cloned “teachers”, they probably are.

    Report Post »  
    • The_Jerk
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:07am

      Education, and I use that term loosely these days, has turned into propaganda. Capture the minds of the young and set the future. Here’s an extreme example in reverse: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html

      The International Baccalaureate program, IB, that is being implemented in many of our schools is exactly that, pure propaganda, designed to teach international socialism. Internationalism is a requirement in every course taught. Teachers must take indoctrination courses in order to teach.
      You’ve been duped for quite sometime.

      Report Post »  
    • JRook
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:44am

      It was the National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Conference and a break out session entitled Academic Boycott of Israel. So what exactly is the story. And where are those staunch supports of the First Amendment.

      Report Post »  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:56am

      To answer your statement.Yes those books are considered literature, well of a sort.They are excellent teaching tools for war game strategies.Further more they are also quite useful in political history.Its meant to teach students about how the atrocities happened.What led up to it,the mind set of the leaders and the citizens.Its meant to remind of history so in order to prevent repeating it.These books are also invaluble for teaching kids what propaganda truly looks like.Its much easier to resist propaganda and the tyranny that will follow, by knowing ones enemy and there mind set.

      Report Post »  
    • Dstarr55
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:09am

      Jrook, you are joking – the conference is the least important part of this story. The issue isn’t she was a member of BDS, that is her free choice, the issue isn’t she spoke there, that is her right. It was an academic that is advocating using subterfuge to promote a political agenda. We are talking about brainwashing, in a sense by using anti-Israel themes, quietly implanting their ideology when they should instead be teaching English, Math and Science. Middle Eastern studies should be showing both sides of the coin even if you are a professor that is a member of BDS – your personal opinion should not interfere with giving students all the facts instead of one sided propaganda.

      Report Post »  
    • The_Jerk
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:25am

      Dstarr55, where is your outrage when the schools push pro-Israel, strictly Jewish, agendas? Education should present ‘both’ sides of all issues. As it is, you want yours, and yours alone, to be the sole word.

      Report Post »  
    • Dstarr55
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:50am

      Jerk, either you did not read my full post or you are attempting to live up to your name. Where in my posting did I say anything about teaching only one side – I stressed both sides of the topic should be taught and that subterfuge should not be used to advocate a political agenda. I did not specify a particular political agenda. Even in Middle Eastern studies I said the point of view of both Palestine and Israel should be taught so how is that pushing for my view and my view only. Do you even know my view by reading my post?

      Report Post »  
  • Tandem2011
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 6:11am

    It takes a fearless young person today to take an informed stand in their universities when they‘re outnumbered by parrots and sheep who are either brainwashed already or don’t want to rock the boat themselves for fear of a bad grade. Many Progressive-Democrat professors behave like loud-mouth bullies to intimidate students into line and if students dare challenge them with a question or correction the student is answered with condescension or the cold shoulder by all, at best. Or the professor will nod silently to student counterpoints, taking mental note on who they are so they can flunk them when the class ends. I’ve seen it personally, time and again.

    Report Post » Tandem2011  
    • gsp9993
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 7:02am

      I grew up in the 60′s with these radical, rougue renegades. Freeloading hippies then and not much better. today. Sure they appear to be respectable but in fact they are despicable.

      The underachievers of America are now the Socialist spreading snakes in the American educational system. Where is St. Patrick when you need him???

      Report Post »  
    • readytostand
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 10:08am

      The only way to ever stop this brainwashing madness, is for federal and state tax dollars, to not fund higher education ! Good Luck with that !!

      Report Post »  
  • SeekerEmerald
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 6:00am

    It’s no longer about teaching you HOW to think, it’s about teaching you WHAT to think. How can anyone possibly defend teaching people WHAT the think?

    Report Post » SeekerEmerald  
  • Tandem2011
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:54am

    I endured so much injustice and arrogant deceit from the majority of my leftist teachers and professors during my “education” that I don’t encourage it to my children. And yet school districts tax us the highest each year. Self-educate (build your own libraries) and home school. Even a private Catholic school for secular parents is better than our lousy public school system.

    Report Post » Tandem2011  
  • Tandem2011
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:46am

    Our grade schools, colleges and universities are, by varying degrees, Marxist madrases. Our children are indoctrinated with radical leftist ideologies and Muslim apologetic propaganda while not trained to think critically from all points of view. Is it any wonder that UN-Constitutional radicals like the Clintons and Obama are elected to the highest offices in the world?

    Report Post » Tandem2011  
  • Concernd4USA
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:39am

    I tried to share from here to facebook, then went to youtube and tried to share and it did not work. People have to know this stuff and I make everything I can known.

    Report Post » Concernd4USA  
  • Flyingfish
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:30am

    Older I get the more I realize that anyone who acts like they have all the answers are usually full of BS.

    Report Post » Flyingfish  
  • ares338
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:27am

    She looks like a Rachel Maddow clone! A lesbian elf.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • THE EQUALIZER
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 5:22am

    Know nothing professors! I endured these idiots in the 70′s.

    Report Post »  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 4:58am

    The teaching of a bias course at the Universuty of Pennsylvania. Hatred 101

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  
  • carbonyes
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 4:50am

    Ms. Sharona Schwartz, what kind of a Question is: Does Kaplan have a valid point on the merits of threading Palestinian talking-points into university lesson plans or is it just a veiled effort at indoctrination? That is kind of a no brainer, isn’t it?

    Kaplan is generally a Jewish name – a bit strange that she takes such a hard, indoctrination like, position against Israel, although she no doubt is a liberal Jew, who not only does not support Israel in many cases, but also tend to show their utter ignorance about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, even more strange when you consider her ignorance amid the fact that she is supposedly a professor – obviously not a learned one.

    This is just another example of academia run wild and a muck. These kind of comments and propaganda strategies in the college classrooms should be challenged openly and vociferously by the students and level heads in academia in the various administrations, if in fact there are any level heads left. This is another reason that before you send your child off to college, you better have built a firm foundation within them, and you also better take a hard look at the school in which you are about to enroll your young man or young woman. Unfortunately, a majority of universities and colleges are propaganda machines and, in many cases, fall far short in teaching disciplines and curricula that will benefit or prepare your child for the real world – sad, but true.

    Report Post »  
  • EP46
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 4:48am

    Slightly off topic..but the heading “Ivy League …College” brings up the question we are still awaiting an answer to. How did obama afford to go to 3 of the most expensive Ivy League Colleges in the U.S.? But even before that, with the aid of a scholarship he attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. Was this scholarship based on “Barry Soetoro” aka BHO being a ‘foreign student from Indonesia’ ? This has never been answered but the Left wing media always say he was ‘poor’ !

    Report Post »  
  • tharpdevenport
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:50am

    You know, if you stop the screen at the tip of her nose, she looks like an older Harry Potter.

    Report Post » tharpdevenport  
  • Arc
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:43am

    Look close, Professor Amy Kaplan could be a relative of Valerie Jarrett. Politics even sounds the same.

    Report Post » Arc  
  • DeOppressoLiber
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:32am

    Please watch. As a former SERE instructor these are the play books that are being used today in our moral battle for our country. He explains all about infiltrating academia.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlkPkJInUmU

    Report Post »  
    • Ray2447
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:58am

      “…college is not about teaching but it is merely a platform for them to spout their political views at their captive audience.”

      Every textbook I’ve had mentions Republicans only in a negative context, and mentions Democrats only in a positive context. The prejudice and bigotry coming from America’s taxpayer funded college and university podiums is absolutely sickening in its prejudice as shown in “Marxist Valley College” at Youtube. http://tinyurl.com/7gpjp44

      Report Post »  
  • rambosharley
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:15am

    Pretty sad!

    Report Post »  
  • milez5
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:12am

    I know that there are those who would ask if Prof. Kaplan is a self hating Jew. I would say no, she is just a standard issue leftist who puts her radical leftist beliefs above anything or anyone else.

    Report Post »  
  • Thatsitivehadenough
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:52am

    Here’s her email. Let her know what you think of her:
    amkaplan@sas.upenn.edu

    Report Post » Thatsitivehadenough  
    • milez5
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:10am

      You know, I’m sure there are some who would ask of Prof. Kaplan is a self hating Jew. i would say no—in fact the whole idea of a self lacerating leftist of any kind is a myth. No, Dr. Kaplan is just a standard issue leftist who puts her radical leftist beliefs above anything or anyone else.

      Report Post »  
  • sasquatch08
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:50am

    I can only speak from my experience at a liberal arts college, and that was this:

    Most of the professors are hardworking people who teach in such a way that you would be hard-pressed to discern their political beliefs.

    On the other hand I had a number of professors who were far-far-left and taught their political opinion as fact. These professors were supremely dangerous to take a class from if you were not of the same political persuasion.

    One even went so far as to tell an entire Geography class of mine that the United States was on the U.N. list of Nations that are State Sponsors of Terror. This, was of course total B.S., but when I brought in the list from the United Nations website (to the next class) and asked him about it he FLIPPED out, screamed at me, cursing a blue streak and suggesting that my mother must have done a lot of drugs while pregnant with me.

    I received three outright “F’s” in college, all from this type of professor with whom I dared to disagree publicly. In one case I had to take it to the Dean because I had nothing lower than an 87% on any assignment with perfect attendance and was still given an F. The Dean’s “compromise” was for me to retake the class with the same prof. You can probably guess how that went. I retook the class, got basically the same grades on everything and received a D- (just barely passing).

    Long story short; these type of people do exist in higher education, and a few bad apples…

    Report Post »  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 8:42am

      What you recieved from pointing out the truth is standard fare for them.They will attack in any way someone telling the truth.Doesn’t matter the occupation or industry or if you are even employed.The truth is what scares them the most.If they could admit the truth to themselves they would have to do the unthinkable,Change! Something, that for all their bluster ,is what they can handle the least.They would have to admit to being wrong, something egomanical tyrannical despots are loathe to do.Its something they have in common with terrorist cells.

      Report Post »  
    • DanielH
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:21am

      I currently attend a college in a very conservative state. Just this semester I’ve read 4 articles openly praising communism and Karl Marx. Zero so far on capitalism or any other type of economic system or government with none on the syllabus in the future. We’re supposed to be studying religion now. We‘ve read 3 pages from Genesis and currently have an assignment to read 50 on the Qur’an. I’m feeling the balance in their teaching methods. The sad part is the teacher says she doesn’t have any flexibility on the teaching what is taught in this class because all the material comes from the department chair.

      Report Post »  
  • georgepatton
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:40am

    A real A-HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • ILUVJESUS
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 2:20am

    Uh, I seen this crap before; someone tell this ugly chick to go home andwork out her issues with mommy and daddy.
    Oh, by the way, she should be fired and so should the guy who asked that question. They won’t do it but both should be fired. Parents, get your kids out of that school (indoctrination center)!

    Report Post » ILUVJESUS  
  • AnnaK117
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:46am

    ….just an example of this teacher’s mistaken feelings of her own self-importance. her attempts at pushing her politics on other staff and students should be addressed by the university—btw, Upenn to many isn’t really an ivy! ha!

    Report Post » AnnaK117  
    • M 4 Colt
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 3:18am

      She’s just another left wing pig, she hates people in Israel who she doesn’t even know, who are only trying to live in peace, but they have the misfortune living next to animals that only want to kill them and this woman wants to help the animals. The liberal elite mind such as her’s must be some kind of brain disease because i see that all liberals talk and act just like her, now all we need to do is find a cure for their disease.

      Report Post »  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:35am

    Pretty bad when Jews are trying to make me hate Jews.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
  • lukerw
    Posted on February 15, 2012 at 1:28am

    Alike Soros… Jon Stewart… Kaplan might be another Jew who hates Jews!

    Report Post » lukerw  
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