Is Obama boycotting Israel's new settlement university?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/is-obama-boycotting-israels-new-settlement-university/67538/

Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Israel on Wednesday, the embassy here is reportedly sending out around 2,000 invitations to Israeli student representatives from universities across the country to attend his speech in Jerusalem on March 21. All except one: Ariel University in the West Bank settlement of the same name (upgraded from a college to an accredited university last year).

According to several reports in Israeli media, the Ariel Student Union is shocked and upset that the embassy contacted all seven accredited universities within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, but left out Ariel’s students. Student Union head Shai Shachaf called the move “discrimination” and the Jewish Home party has already responded to what it’s calling Obama’s “exclusionary” and “political” move.
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Could the U.S. President, or his Ambassador, of the U.S. Embassy therefore potentially be sued by Israeli MKs or by settler students for effectively boycotting Israel’s first settlement university? I doubt it, but it is an excellent example of the potency of the boycott law as a draconian method intended to prevent anyone in the world – even the president of the United States – from publicly challenging Israel’s facts on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territories.

[azurnoir]

1. well ya just knew it'd be something

but does Areil have a partnership with any US University, it seems not

[oberliner]

2. 972mag wrong as per usual

U.S. Embassy denies Obama boycott of Ariel University students

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/03/14/3122011/ariel-university-students-not-invited-to-obamas-jerusalem-speech

Almost as accurate as their election predictions.

[azurnoir]

3. thanks for confirming +972's accuracy in this and adding your input to that end

Last edited Fri Mar 15, 2013, 04:12 PM - Edit history (1)

as it stated in the article the US Embassy stated that Ariel was not included because it has no partnership program's with the US embassy

and oh if +972 was inaccurate so was virtually every other Israeli publication because what +972 published was a compilation of those poll results from a number of different sources , but then again I do seem to remember that the election results were a surprise

[oberliner]

5. Huh?

Obama is not boycotting any university. The headline is BS. As is the article. It's the usual 972mag style.

I am going to petition to have that site banned at DU. Can I count on your support?

[azurnoir]

6. did you notice the word Is at the beginning of the title and the ? at the end like this?

that makes it question rather than a statement, and the question is answered in the article the answer is -no

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

8. "I am going to petition to have that site banned at DU."

Please, oberliner, go ahead. I'm not surprised you would take the low road of censoring what you can't silence otherwise.

What other sites would you like to censor that tell the story you don't want to be heard??

[azurnoir]

9. yes please do petition to have a progressive Israeli site banned from DU

that says oh so much

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. What passes for irony here is delicious.

[azurnoir]

11. lol I agree n/t

[geek tragedy]

4. Hardly a denial

An official at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv told JTA that only students from academic institutions with partnerships or joint programs with the embassy were invited to the speech.

As to why they have no relationship with the embassy, pretty obvious.

Anyhow, result remains that Occupation U gets excluded.

[bemildred]

7. I'm sure Pres. Obama is greatly grieved at the thought he might be sued by these fools.

Calling it a "boycott" doesn't help the argument; whatever it is, it is not a boycott, it's more like a security measure, avoiding obvious sources of trouble.

[oberliner]

12. Well said

The Ariel folks will probably let it drop though.

[bemildred]

13. Yeah, it's empty noise, at bottom. nt

[azurnoir]

14. For now but if Ariel University really wanted to push they could

petition the US Embassy for a partnership, however could we say no?

[bemildred]

15. Who looks nervous?

I am quite sure we can say no.

[azurnoir]

16. well sure

we can say no, but would we say no, I hope we would

[bemildred]

17. I'm pretty sure there are limits.

Where those limits might be remains to be seen. However, Bibi's impotence to affect election outcomes here is already clear, is it not? And everybody wants to make nice now, do they not?

[azurnoir]

18. yes and maybe but as yet remains to be seen

one photo-op visit says very little really

[bemildred]

19. I rest my case:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/mar/21/barack-obama-visits-west-bank-live