Brandeis professor accused of terror ties

[Ian David]

Brandeis professor accused of terror ties
By Shayndi Raice - Thursday January 26 2006

A Brandeis professor has come under fire this week for alleged ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, bringing the university under intense scrutiny from the Jewish community.

Khalil Shikaki, a prominent Palestinian pollster and academic appointed this year as a senior fellow to Brandeis’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies, is facing renewed allegations that he distributed funds for PIJ.
A Jan. 17 New York Sun article reported wiretapped conversations used in a recent federal case against Florida-based Palestinian academic Sami Al-Arian, which allegedly recorded Shikaki agreeing to distribute funds for the terrorist organization. Shikaki was never indicted, and this week he denied being knowingly involved with members of PIJ.

Yesterday, terrorism expert Steven Emerson, director of the Investigative Project, released exclusively to the Jewish Advocate a compilation of allegations against Shikaki gleaned from the Al-Arian case, claiming that Shikaki knowingly had extensive ties to active members of PIJ. Government documents show that Shikaki worked closely with organizations such as the World and Islamic Studies Enterprise, of which he was a former director, and the Islamic Committee for Palestine. The government has alleged that both organizations were fronts for PIJ.

More:
http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=800



See also:

Brandeis Backs Palestinian Scholar

Ron Kampeas
JTA Wire Service

JANUARY 26, 2006
Washington

A Palestinian academic affiliated with Brandeis University dismissed allegations that he is linked to Islamic Jihad, and says he's not worried about attempts to persuade Jewish groups to cut him off.

Khalil Shikaki's employment at the Boston-area, Jewish-sponsored university came under fire from the Zionist Organization of America, which called on donors to reconsider their relationship with Brandeis. ZOA alleged that Shikaki distributed funds on behalf of figures associated with Islamic Jihad.

Shikaki flatly denied this.

"There was no transfer of funds," he told JTA on Jan. 19.

Shikaki, who heads the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah in the West Bank, co-teaches a course at Brandeis on peacemaking with an Israeli and an Egyptian academic.

More:
http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/5348.stm


Also:

Brandeis is urged to dismiss a scholar
Teacher linked to terror trial

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | January 24, 2006

A pro-Israel group is asking Brandeis University to dismiss a Palestinian scholar in the school's new Middle East studies center, saying that evidence from wiretapping in a terrorism trial had linked the scholar to the Islamic Jihad.

The Zionist Organization of America protested Khalil Shikaki's presence at Brandeis after his name surfaced during the trial of Sami al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida who was acquitted last month on some terrorism charges while the jury deadlocked on others.

Shikaki, a senior research fellow at Brandeis's Crown Center for Middle East Studies, became affiliated with Brandeis in the fall and helped teach a course on the Middle East with an Israeli and an Egyptian.

Among politicians and academics in Israel and in the United States, Shikaki is considered a respected moderate who has rejected violence and who has been critical of Palestinian leadership. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful yesterday.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/24/brandeis_is_urged_to_dismiss_a_scholar/

[bobbieinok]

1. I will watch this....Brandeis is a major university

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Different strokes for different folks

Brandeis - a "historically Jewish university" with substantial Jewish funding has Shikaki on the faculty and is defending him.

My thesis adviser, a Muslim from the Indian sub-coninent, was able to present a paper derived from his PhD dissertation at King Fahd Univ --- but his thesis adviser (a Unitarian with Jewish parents) was not permitted into Saudi Arabia.

My thesis adviser was able to present a paper derived from my thesis at King Fahd University - but I couldn't go because Saudi Arabia didn't give visas to Jews.

(My thesis adviser has a real sense of humor - he brought me a T-shirt that says - in English and Arabic - "My Grand Pa Made Haj -- And All I got Was This T-Shirt.")