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Pro-Hamas Prof Protests Suspension from Army War College
Sherifa Zuhur's grievance-mongering gets a supportive shoulder from CAIR.
In January I reported here at Pajamas Media on U.S. Army War College (USAWC) professor Sherifa Zuhur’s paean to the terrorist group Hamas, “Hamas and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics,” published by USAWC’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). In her monograph she claims that Hamas had “evolved” beyond their 1988 covenant calling for the destruction of Israel and the eventual murder of all Jews by Muslims, and that that Hamas has been misunderstood due to the misreporting by “Israeli and Western sources that villainize the group.”
I followed up that article last month with a report about the ongoing controversy between Zuhur and USAWC over their refusal to renew her contract. Last June she enlisted the support of Middle East Studies Association (MESA) president Mervat Hatem, who sent a letter to USAWC Commandant LTG Robert Williams repeating claims by Zuhur that she had been harassed and her academic freedoms had been infringed by USAWC.
I observed that Zuhur’s grievance-mongering with USAWC was merely a repeat performance of her claims of censorship and discrimination when her contract with the American University of Cairo (AUC) was not renewed in 2000. In that case, she had filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming discrimination by AUC on the basis of gender and national origin. The EEOC found that her complaint had no basis and closed the case. She then took her case public by encouraging a letter-writing campaign directed at AUC leadership by fellow academics and ideological supporters. She then began a hunger strike in protest of the decision by the AUC Faculty Senate denying her appeal. Her efforts to win a contract renewal from AUC were unsuccessful and she wandered through several low-level academic positions before being hired by USAWC.
Last Wednesday the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Sherifa Zuhur had been suspended by USAWC beginning this week. According to the Chronicle, her suspension is the result of several incidents of professional misconduct, including threatening the school with forwarding her complaints, along with the MESA president’s letter and another letter sent to USAWC by the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Pennsylvania chapter on her behalf, to the Arab Times.
Zuhur has also made a series of complaints against USAWC claiming sexual harassment, failing to accommodate her religious practices, and that SSI department chairman Steven Metz physically threatened her during a confrontation in her office, prompting her to faint. Unfortunately for her, a witness present during the incident involving Metz contradicted her account. A comment left on my last Pajamas Media article purportedly from Sherifa Zuhur included accusations that Metz and SSI staff had been responsible for my article (for the record, I have not had any direct communication with Metz or SSI officials).
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Patrick Poole is a regular contributor to Pajamas Media, and an anti-terrorism consultant to law enforcement and the military.
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32 Comments
1. canuck:They should heave the guy the hired her as well the individual that seems to think that “gender and identity studies” is of any value anywhere, let alone a war college.
The adage that the captain goes down with the ship…in this case a “pirate skiff”…needs to be enforced.
When you have “studies” such as these foo foo time wasters you have to wonder what has been left out of the curriculum in order to feminize war.
Mar 9, 2009 - 3:45 am 2. Craig:“…and that that Hamas has been misunderstood…”
That is liberalism in one big nutshell. Mass murderers- why don’t you know- are ‘misunderstood’. If we could only sit down with them, reason with them, find some common ground…oh heck, can’t we all just get along?
Hamas is misunderstood.Ahmadinejad is misunderstood. Hezbollah is misunderstood. Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiah, and Kim Jong-Il…
…where the heck is my peace pipe dammit.
Mar 9, 2009 - 4:21 am 3. Leatherneck:CAIR is an enemy of these United States of America. Hamas is a terrorist group. They can start teaching that at the war college.
Mar 9, 2009 - 4:47 am 4. Scott:ha ha ha, her ridiculous antics have finally got her canned!
Hows the hunger strike going? I am willing to sew your lips shut to help out.
Mar 9, 2009 - 5:49 am 5. ked5:Well, it’s about stinkin’ time.
Mar 9, 2009 - 6:07 am 6. MarkD:I’m sure they can find her a position over at the State Department. Unfortunately, this is a serious comment.
Mar 9, 2009 - 6:54 am 7. Meryl:At the time of your original article, identifying her and her role at the War College, I sent a respectful e-mail to the WC, asking if they refuted your observations and, if they did not, what they were going to do about it.
It would be interesting to know how much contact they got.
There is one thing about the American public: when things reach critical mass (think immigration reform two years ago), we certainly are able to make an impact.
We have a limited amount of time to get it down in the big picture and we don’t have time for stupid excess, arrogant ignorance or serious mistakes.
God help us to keep our heads about us as we proceed. Having said that, I don’t consider either calm or cute a priority.
Mar 9, 2009 - 8:15 am 8. deguello:Wait a minute?Didn’t our formrer moron-in-chief,call Islam the “religion of peace”,what’s a Muslim doing teaching at a “War” college? Cognitive Dissonance Anyone?
Mar 9, 2009 - 9:29 am 9. seven:Good riddance. We need an “honor” firing once in a while.
She can go meditate on “honor” killings.
Mar 9, 2009 - 9:44 am 10. Susan Katz Keating:Why would her personal Imams even allow her to teach in the first place? Shouldn’t she be tucked away inside her husband’s compound, never to venture without escort? So we’ve established, then, that she’s a plant. Chalk one up for their side.
Mar 9, 2009 - 11:15 am 11. Barry 0351:Sure thang Bubba’s yet there is a floggin’ Mosque at Quantico and that says it all, islam anyone? it’s coming and sanctioned by Uncle Obama.
Mar 9, 2009 - 11:31 am 12. tommyd:It never hurts to understand where you enemy is coming from. As long as those taking her class understand who and what she stands for I see the whole thing as a way to get a better understanding of the other sides methods or thought process.
Just looking over her past shows they understand our society well enough to actually use our own laws for their benefit and expose the many weaknesses the west leaves themselves open to. (being PC is a fools game)
Mar 9, 2009 - 11:38 am 13. Nina Carlotti:The Islamic way is to use our own laws & customs to their benefit to help them in infiltrating our society.
Whatever means available or necessary….
They can not hope to win on the material battlefield but in the war of minds they are a threat and are a enemy to fear.
And if you lived in Gaza, you’d be…what, a Likud supporter? If only the people who write these loud, ignorant comments could be transported to Gaza, just for a day.
Mar 9, 2009 - 12:39 pm 14. Meryl:10…good point, Susan.
13…Nina, since we live in the United States of America, we will continue to use our freedom of speech on a daily basis. We’re willing to be educated if we’re wrong. (Just keep in mind we prefer factual, historical data and tested conclusions, not namecalling. I realize that may complicate things for you.)
I noticed you didn’t contribute anything to offset our “loud, ignorant comments”.
As I said, I addressed the War College respectfully and asked a simple question, and never got a reply of any kind.
However, now that they’ve cut this person loose, that does sort of answer my question. But now I see that, apparently, you have insights the War College doesn’t. Why don’t you contact them, and explain why they should rehire her?
Mar 9, 2009 - 2:10 pm 15. Alfredo:CAIR is a terrorist front, a Trojan horse for the hateful islamists that want to penetrate America and destroy Israel.
Mar 9, 2009 - 2:51 pm 16. tommyd:#13 Nina Carlotti:
And if you lived in Gaza, you’d be…what, a Likud supporter? If only the people who write these loud, ignorant comments could be transported to Gaza, just for a day.
_________________________________________
But somehow it is just fine that Hamas sits in Gaza and day after day, month after month, year after year fire rockets into Israel.
Mar 9, 2009 - 3:12 pm 17. tommyd:13. Nina Carlotti:
And if you lived in Gaza, you’d be…what, a Likud supporter? If only the people who write these loud, ignorant comments could be transported to Gaza, just for a day.
_________________________________________________________________________
But it just fine for Hamas to sit in Gaza and day after day month after month year after year fire rockets into Israel.
Mar 9, 2009 - 3:15 pm 18. scott:Obviously the Clinton Generals still hold much sway. At least as far as the USAWC in concerned. Sickening.
Why didn’t Bush root out these traitors? Could it be because he was completely uninformed? Nooooooo. Not GWB.
Mar 9, 2009 - 4:02 pm 19. bruce:tom i would love to sit in an m-1A tank in side gaza and blast the crap out of them
Mar 9, 2009 - 4:02 pm 20. Oscar the Grump:Her again, she’s as bad as octomom.
Mar 9, 2009 - 4:56 pm 21. BG N. C. Vail, USA ( Ret):The AWC should fire the person(s) who hired her
without proper review of her background. N.C.
Vail. ( 817 ) 451 1949.
Mar 9, 2009 - 6:07 pm 22. Snippy Sizzorlip:It is inconceivable that a moslem would be allowed to work in the Army War College or any government or military institution. Deport this mole to Gaza where she belongs.
-Snippy
Mar 9, 2009 - 6:27 pm 23. Patrick Poole:Thank you for your comment, Gen. Vail. Army leadership needs to be made aware of what’s happening at USAWC. This is the tip of the iceberg.
Mar 9, 2009 - 7:29 pm 24. Marc Malone:#13 Nina Carlotti – Who’d be stupid enough to live in Gaza? Oh, right. Palestinians.
Mar 10, 2009 - 1:38 am 25. Lilith:Have you spent a day in Gaza, Nina? I’d love to hear your impressions – what you saw, who you spoke to, who invited you to visit – please, do enlighten us.
Mar 10, 2009 - 9:37 am 26. deguello:#18 Scott: No, because he was a halfwit : didn’t the former moron -in- chief tell us that islam was a religion of peace? He actually believed it!
Mar 10, 2009 - 5:56 pm 27. fred:“Why would her personal Imams even allow her to teach in the first place? Shouldn’t she be tucked away inside her husband’s compound, never to venture without escort?”
Ever hear of the Islamic practice of taqiyya? It means deception, and it is allowed in the jihad. Devout Muslims dedicated to jihad may live in the West and look and behave completely secularized. Inwardly, they retain their fierce core of dedication to fighting the infidels. One of the most effective ways they do this is by matriculating within the Western Left and agitating against the U.S. and Israel by employing the language of political correctness and cultural Marxism. Use their Western cool appearance to win over kafirs, while not alerting people to their real agenda.
This woman is engaging in the practice of dezinformatzia (Communist)and mating it with taqiyya. She will eventually land back in her homeland and resume her assigned role in Islamic society. But these people will keep trying. They do it by carefully placing people in our country and their favorite place to initially land them is to place them in academia.
Mar 10, 2009 - 7:07 pm 28. deguello:#27:It works because of the huge numbers of us -hating “useful idiots” in academia,the massmedia,and hollywood.
Mar 11, 2009 - 9:27 am 29. Sandra:How the hell did she get hired in the first place? THAT’S the question that should be answered. Looking at her track record, and her previous difficulties with her employers should have been a deal killer. There’s more to this story than meets the eye. Is she even a US citizen?
Mar 12, 2009 - 12:33 pm 30. Frog:In all fairness, it’s about time Sherifa Zuhur went to Gaza to give a lecture at Al-Azhar Islamic University about Likud to all the innocent students of the religion of peace.
Mar 12, 2009 - 2:52 pm 31. Rubicon:Perhaps, before hiring someone, the USAWC should spend some real time vetting the individual & their potential contribution (or potential disinformation chaos), capabilities.
Mar 12, 2009 - 4:59 pm 32. Paul -Indiana:I find it difficult to believe someone had not vetted her to the point they looked at her track record. Which leads me to the conclusion someone in the HR area has been making sure those “they want” are being installed in positions that enable a campaign to destroy from within.
If any one of us had the track record she has, we would never have been hired for the position.
Then again, perhaps the WC wanted to have an example of the sinister capabilities of those pushing the disinformation campaigns at us?
Still, the hassle is not worth it & lets be real here, we have more important issues to deal with rather than her imaginary offended hurt feelings.
See #29. I wondered why this sounded so familiar. It’s the same questions people are asking about Obama.
Mar 13, 2009 - 8:52 am