Extreme Antisemitism in the Daily Cal

Today, Friday November 19, a shocking and unacceptable op-ed appeared in Berkeley's student newspaper, the Daily Cal. In the article, entitled "War With Iran: New Excuse, Same Conclusion", Matthew Soldad makes the claim that American Jews "aligned with Israel" with a "lust for domination" are behind a scheme involving "subversion of the Republican party" and "baiting American leadership" into going to war for economic gain.

This type of language draws directly from classic antisemitic blood libel, tapping into the themes of subversion, dual loyalty, and control of the economy.

The author, Matthew Soldad, has apparently been at work contributing antisemitic articles to school newspapers before, with an article about Hitler being a Jewish Zionist in the CSUN Daily Sundial in September of this year.

It is absolutely deplorable that the student newspaper at the University of California, Berkeley would print such bigoted dribble. The Daily Californian must immediately apologize to the Jewish community, ensure consequences for the editor responsible, and take steps to ensure that this kind of blatant racism is never published again.

Please email a letter to the Daily Cal at dailycalifornian@dailycal.org, and clearly make your voice heard that this is completely unacceptable.

Israeli civilians murdered; Peace talks not looking promising

This past Tuesday, Hamas terrorists shot to death four Jews who were driving in a car at the Bani Naim junction in Judea. While this massacre would be a tragedy at any time, it is especially troubling on the eve of the peace talks scheduled to begin between Israel and the PA.

Hamas opposition to peace talks of any kind is stated explicitly in its charter, which claims that the only road forward is violence with the aim of obliterating the Jewish state. Any peace deal with the PA will not speak for Hamas, which currently controls the Gaza region.

The American-backed PA is often referred to as more moderate, but many question its commitment to peace as well. A couple of days ago it honored a mother for raising children who became terrorists and killed Israeli civilians. PA television recently aired a broadcast that told Jews to leave Israel (their ancient homeland), and to return to Europe and Ethiopia. And PA president Abbas said that if the upcoming peace talks fail, Israel will be to blame unless it meets the preconditions that the PA demands.

The nation of Israel waits eagerly and prays that after 62 long years, the Palestinian leadership will finally be a sincere partner for peace.

First General Meeting!

Join us for our first general meeting as we kick off the new school year! If you are new, this is a great opportunity to meet us and learn what Tikvah is all about. If you are a returning member you can reunite with your Tikvah friends and meet new members.

We will be introducing our group and its mission, discussing the topic: "Pro-Israel at Berkeley", and getting to know you, our new and prospective members!

Free drinks and snacks will be served.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
7:30pm
185 Barrows Hall.

If you have any questions, please contact us!

New website!

Welcome to the Fall 2010 semester!

We have exciting news! In addition to this blog now being active again, Tikvah will soon have a website up! A real website! The url will be tikvahsfi.berkeley.edu.

Right now that address redirects here, so please be patient as we work out the technical details.

Stay tuned, and check back soon.

Update: the website is up at its permanent location, tikvahsfi.berkeley.edu