Hillel Has Gone Over To The Dark Side

Is Hillel Columbia/Barnard aware of the seriousness (okay, outright ridiculousness) of what they are doing in hosting John Ging?

Date: November 14, 2010 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: 304 Barnard Hall/Held Auditorium

John Ging, the head of the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency in Gaza will be speaking!

Event Category: Just Peace

Tags: Subgroup (Hillel Group)

J Street involvement:

Mr. Ging, who has served as the Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza since 2006, will discuss the interdependence of Israeli national security and the material well-being of Palestinians in Gaza.  He will reflect upon the challenges to peace presented by Hamas and the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and the steps required to achieve a two state solution. 

Mr. Ging currently manages over 11,000 staff and an annual budget of $450 million delivering education, health care, relief and social services to more than 1 million Palestine refugees.  Prior to joining UNRWA, John Ging worked in a variety of missions in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.
-- 
Ira Stup 
Campus Organizer, J Street U 
Cell: 215-704-5537 
www.jstreet.org | www.jstreetu.org 

During the Gaza war, Ging hid the fact that Hamas fighters were firing weapons near a UN school compound that was hit by IDF fire, and also fed the propaganda claims of deaths inside the school. Only after the war did he admit that there were fighters right outside the grounds (more or less where the IDF fired) and that nobody was killed in the school. (CAMERA has a decent summary of the media's accounts <http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=9999&x_article=1625>, including some of Ging's statements.) In NGO Monitor's report on NGO mis-statements about the incident <http://www.ngo-monitor.org/digest_info.php?id=2286#unrwa>, it is shown how Ging's statements were responsible for the demonization of Israel on this incident.

A quick Google search will show similar occurrences of Ging repeating the Palestinian narrative of demonizing Israel and de-legitimizing self-defense measures. He also has some statements in support of flotillas into Gaza.

See:  http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-john-ging-un-spokeperson-blames-israel-for-un-convoy-atack-2346785.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80aa6_john-ging-head-of-unrwa-in-gaza_news
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96545


(Thanks to friends for links)

Contact Hillel and express your opinion:

Columbia/Barnard Hillel

The Kraft Center

606 West 115th Street

New York, NY 10025

Telephone Number: 212-854-5111

Fax Number: 212-854-3012

Email: info@hillel.columbia.edu

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