Renowned playwright, screenwriter and celebrated Israel-basher, Tony Kushner, was all set to receive an honorary degree from the City University of New York. But that was before a member of the Board of Trustees, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, read a short portion of Mr. Kushner’s anti-Zionist history into the record, which the Board agreed was sufficient cause to deny Kushner’s degree. Apparently, it’s the first time in the history of the CUNY board that they’ve taken such an action. Maybe not so ironically, inside sources confided to me it would have never passed without the concurrence of the gentiles who sit on the Board.
Kushner and “Munich” director Steven Spielberg
At first, the story of Kushner’s rejection was confined to the Jewish media. But yesterday it went mainstream – via the New York Times and AP – after the prolific Mr. Kushner stoked the flames and released a prolix screed objecting to the decision and defending his Israel-loving bona fides:
Mr. Kushner, who had not been alerted that Mr. Wiesenfeld would speak against him, said that he was “dismayed by the vicious attack and wholesale distortion of my beliefs.” He has criticized policies and actions by Israel in the past, and said that he believed — based on research by Israeli historians — that the forcible removal of Palestinians from their homes as part of the creation of Israel was ethnic cleansing. But he added that he was a strong supporter of Israel’s right to exist, that he had never supported a boycott of the country, and that his views were shared by many Jews and supporters of Israel.
“This has been an incredibly ugly experience,” Mr. Kushner said, “that a great public university would make a decision based on slanderous mischaracterizations without giving the person in question a chance to be heard.”
“I’m sickened,” he added, “that this is happening in New York City. Shocked, really.”
Judge for yourself. The sordid history of Tony’s Zionist “leadership” can be found here in a dossier compiled by the media watchdog group Committee For Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).
Knowing academia, and the ultra liberal leanings of NYC (including its Jews), I’m betting the curtain has not come down on this production yet. Can campus protests and charges of “right-wing” censorship and McCarthyism be far behind? Your reporter is on the case.
Stay tuned.
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