He made the statements while in high school. What kind of star chamber is the University of Michigan student government running, that they would censure this young man for statements he made before he even got there, and for which he has apologized? The Leftist totalitarians are now demanding that one march in ideological lockstep with them every day of one’s life, or pay the consequences for dissent, no matter how callow one was at the time of the dissent, and how groveling one’s apology.
What’s more, Gerstein didn’t say anything false. The student government’s censure is indicative of the Left’s general tendency to criminalize and marginalize any dissent at all. The “Palestinians” are indeed “rejecting constant peace deals,” financing terror, and “raising kids to hate people purely because of their religion.” So what is Gerstein apologizing for? Even worse, he apologizes for making “statements that erase the history of the Palestinian people.” Yet they are a people that has no history, and are purely a propaganda invention, as The Palestinian Delusion proves.
Benjamin Gerstein looks to have been well and truly brainwashed, thoroughly and efficiently propagandized, at the University of Michigan. His is a cautionary tale of how our universities and colleges today are not institutions of higher learning at all, but factories of Leftist indoctrination.
“Jewish Student Leader’s Past Criticisms of Palestinians Censured at University of Michigan,” by Jackson Richman, JNS.org, March 10, 2020 (thanks to Elder of Ziyon):
JNS.org – The student government at the University of Michigan has passed a resolution condemning its president for remarks critical of the Palestinians he made as a high school senior.
The final vote of the Feb. 25 resolution rebuking Central Student Government president Ben Gerstein was 25 in favor, zero against and four abstentions.
“There should be a test for what type of people deserve a state and what type of people don’t. I think the Palestinian people, with rejecting constant peace deals, with their financing of terror, with their raising kids to hate people purely because of their religion,” said Gerstein on the TV show “North Town News Magazine” in 2017. “I don’t think that people deserve a state at this point in time. Until we see a significant change in the Palestinian mentality and a significant change in the Palestinian leadership, I don’t think they deserve a state at this point.”
On Feb. 19, Gerstein apologized in a public Facebook post.
“In this video as well as an op-ed, I made statements that erase the history of the Palestinian people. I made racist statements, including the denial of the right to self-determination, that were ignorant of Palestinians’ struggle under occupation,” he wrote. “I am sorry beyond words—both for my actions as well as not coming forward with the video sooner and seeking remedy for it. I accept total and complete responsibility for the harmfulness of my language, the offensiveness of my words and the active role I played in the silencing of Palestinian voices.”
“I have grown considerably since I made those statements, and the repulsive views I expressed in the video no longer reflect my current understanding,” he continued. “I am devastated to see them reappear and be defended today. I know an apology is never enough, and I am complicit in the oppression of Palestinians through my past actions.”
Gerstein went on to say that before arriving at the University of Michigan, he had only been exposed to pro-Israel viewpoints, but was “committed” to “learning new perspectives and being empathetic to the Palestinian community.”
“I feel my deeper understanding of history and multiple narratives now allows me to work as a stronger ally to others to dismantle the systems of oppression that perpetuate the suffering of the Palestinian people—but I also know that I have much more learning to do and am committed to continuing that work,” he wrote.
The resolution stated that Gerstein’s 2017 comments are “Islamaphobic and racist, and we formally condemn these comments,” and “we recognize the international plight of the Palestinian people, some of whom are constituents of this government.” It also stated: “We recognize that more work needs to be done to uproot racism and Islamophobia at the University of Michigan.”…
Roland says
No apologies are necessary! This is demeaning.
toomanyhobbies says
Well I know what I am going to tell them next time they call asking for donations!!!
RichardL says
he loves his position more than truth, it seems.
Norman says
I agree, the kid has no balls, but it speaks to the kind of impressions that university students have in terms of being indoctrinated to the point of where they support those who will hang them to dry.
sjmiljkovic says
Universities have become ‘re-education centres’ & higher education is now mostly synonymous with politically motivated indoctrination.
mortimer says
No case in favor of Israel’s right to exist may be heard in the Kangaroo Court of the modern university. That would be heretical.
Heretics must be humiliated, tortured and then sent into ‘internal exile’ in Siberia or executed and their names never mentioned thereafter. Only approved, orthodox PARTY MEMBERS may be allowed to speak and then they must regurgitate the very latest PARTY LINE.
Truth and facts cannot be entered into evidence at the university when they contradict the PARTY LINE.
Once an OFFICIAL PARTY DENUNCIATION has been made, the condemned must proceed directly to punishment without a trial or exposition of the facts of the case.
Orthodox PARTY DOCTRINE is that ‘Islam is benign’ and ‘ISRAEL IS AN EVIL OCCUPATION’ and no fact to the contrary may ever be considered.
Heretics must all be silenced at the modern neo-Marxist, globalist university.
Roland says
Shmuel Rosner, an Israeli columnist, has an amusing retort to people who accept Israel’s “right to exist”. “I accept your right to exist, too!”
Mobuyus says
A cuck in the making.
Westman says
Universities – Experience-free zones pretending to intellectually solve the world’s problems without physical effort. The birthplace of elite politicians.
The typical attitude of both student and leftist professor: We have a great appreciation for hard physical work – we could watch it all day.
I’m predicting that Israel, maligned by students of the University of Michigan, will be the first nation to develop a vaccine for Corvid-19 that could protect these seething antisemitic students. Would these students behave like Iran’s leaders and boycott the cure?
Roland says
In the meantime, Big Pharma should make millions of home test kits available for Corona virus.
James Lincoln says
Benjamin Gerstein would have been better off if he had studied welding, etc., at a trade school rather than attend the University of Michigan.
He should have also read Jihad Watch daily.
It is absolutely sickening to see what has happened to our colleges and universities in the United States…
keith says
I have to wonder who authored Gerstein’s apology?
The words seem to come straight out of the mouths of Islamist propaganda experts.
I could almost visualize someone with a gun to his head telling him what to write.
This whole episode sickened me to the core. I was brought up to never apologize for something I didn’t do.
And to speak the truth. This is beyond belief.
James Lincoln says
Yes keith, this is beyond belief…
JDow says
As an alumna of that institution with a non-trivial estate absolutely none of which will go to the institution now run by bigoted slime-balls. Even in the 60s it was becoming a Berkeley-ish clone. Fortunately that hardly touched the engineering school. Now it seems the place has plumbed the depths and continue to dig. I have better places to which I shall bequeath my estate.
{^_^}
mgoldberg says
you should consider writing and posting your thoughts and comments to the school and let them know not merely your stated renunciation of any funding for them, but why…. this is important. The effect of reasoned people who are alumni upon the discourse at these institutions is the only source that makes even a dent in the panzer like intellectual tyranny that is causing this caving by anyone who dares speak anything other than correctness of the progressive kind
Frederick says
Might want to consider Hillsdale College instead. They still respect rationality, the free market and accept no Federal funds.
William Gruber says
Give it to a Jewish School called a Yeshiva where Jewish children learn their heritage and love for Israel and love for all humanity. Maybe fund a research center in a Israeli University in electrical grids, the grids are all ancient and in danger of collapse.
Hank Becker says
No kow-towing will help you Gerstein. You told the truth. No back-tracking. Don’t humiliate yourself. There is no palestine or palestinian people . These nuts are Arabs who are pyschopaths and deny your people’s right to their Homeland . They support and glorify in the use of terror to achieve their goal of destroying Israel and the Jews. Be a Jew ! Be proud ! Long live Israel !
Cathy says
Well, this is understandable as it’s not too far from Dearbornastan.
jca reid says
Tell them to stuff it demanding an Apology. Should have stood up there & read out bits of the Koran calling for the extermination of peoples & the subjugation of the survivors etc. The Truth doesn’t give a Monkey’s Fart for Muslims feelings! Amazed the guy didn’t Apologize for all them Jews the Nazis killed in WW2!!