 RACHEL
LEA FISH (cont...) (BACK
TO NEWSLETTER) Because
of the pressure Ms. Fish applied to the university
leaders, Harvard
returned Sheik Zayed's gift.
In an op-ed article in the Wall Street
Journal, Ms. Fish chronicles her reasons for initiatiating
her campaign against the acceptance of the donation:
"Amnesty International has repeatedly documented
the terrible human-rights record of Sheik Zayed's
country: its lack of elections, use of corporal
punishment on political prisoners and trafficking
in Bangladeshi child slaves. Sheik Zayed has ruled
the United Arab Emirates as unelected president
since 1971.
"That is bad enough. But, perhaps more important,
Sheik Zayed also funds the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed
Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, a prominent
think tank of the Arab League, founded in 1999.
The Zayed Center, described on its Web site "as
the fulfillment of the vision of Sheikh Zayed," promotes
Holocaust denial, anti-American conspiracy theories
and hate speech in its lectures, symposiums and
publications."
Ms. Fish is now involved in the much publicized
battle against academic intimidation of students
with pro-Israeli views by some professors
at Columbia
University.
"Academic
freedom does not mean that professors can teach
lies," she said.
She and others have produced Columbia Unbecoming a
video chronicling incidents of academic
intimidation of students with pro-Israeli views
by professors at Columbia on campus
and
in the
classroom. (Click
here to learn more about the
video.)
Columbia Unbecoming is an initiative
of "The David Project," a grass roots
initiative that promotes
a fair and honest understanding of the Middle East
Conflict for which Ms. Fish is also an activist.
(Click
here to learn more about "The David Project")
"At Rambam we continually stress the theme
that you can make a difference," said Rabbi Eliach.
"It is vital for our young students to see
a shining example of that theme in action and Ms.
Fish is certainly that."
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