The matsav in Andover

Solomonia brings our attention to this April letter to the editor in the weekly paper, the Andover [Mass.] Townsman (scroll down to Former student questions teacher's views on Hamas).

Andover High School teacher Dr. Ron Francis recently wrote an article defending Hamas, a Palestinian group classified by the US government as a terrorist organization, against "media bias."

Decent people around the world are busy condemning Hamas, a group whose official charter states, "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.'"

Francis is a member of the organization Somerville Divestment Project (SDP), a local pro-Palestinian group that seeks to force Somerville to divest money from Israel bonds.

In a letter posted on the SDP Web site (www.divestmentproject.org/media_bias.shtml), Francis criticized news media coverage of Hamas. Not once in the entire article did Francis condemn Hamas' terror tactics or its anti-Semitic ideology. Instead, he mentioned a "silver lining" in the murderous organization's rise to power [by winning the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections]. "Well folks,... we have our work cut out for us... the silver lining though is that Hamas victory does provide great opportunity to educate people about Palestine through our literature and talking to people," wrote Francis.

It is difficult for me to remain unbiased regarding this issue. Not only am I a former student of Francis, but I have personal experience with Hamas. On Jan. 29, 2004, a bomb exploded on the street I was living on in Jerusalem. At first I thought my fiancee (now my wife) might have been killed, and minutes later I ran to the scene. I saw a decimated bus (blown up by a Palestinian homicide bomber), with corpses and body parts strewn around the street. There was blood everywhere, and those who were wounded struggled and screamed in pain. Eleven human beings lost their lives in that attack on my former street, and 44 people were wounded. Hamas proudly claimed responsibility for the bombing.

This is one of many terrorist attacks that Hamas, the organization that Ron Francis defends from alleged media bias, has perpetrated. Francis' defense of this organization, and his involvement with the SDP in Somerville, raises some troubling questions: How can a teacher defend a group that deliberately murders civilians, including children? Is a defender of an anti-Semitic terror organization fit to teach students? Does Francis plan on expanding the SDP into Andover? Why does Francis, an outspoken advocate of free speech, defend a group that chooses bombings over dialogue?

I hope that all decent people who want peace in the Middle East (as I do), who think that hate has no place in Andover, and who desire dialogue and free speech over murder and bombings, will publicly and loudly condemn Francis' extremist, radical and immoral statements and views.

Eric Danis
Israel

This Ron Francis character sounds bad enough, eh? Well of course there's more, and it's really nasty. Rather than repeat Solomon's post, I want you to go and read it all and follow the links. Examine the Divestment Project that Francis recruited his high school students to work for and note how the head of the local teachers' union is "not only defending Francis on his free-speech rights, but on the merits of his political activity itself."

Solomon writes:

I have often posted on extremists in academia, but it has almost always been someone abusing a university setting. This is one of the rare times when it's a High School hosting such extremism.... I don't suggest a prescription here, but there is clearly a problem, and a big one.

Victor Davis Hanson once wrote that "The more left-wing the Westerner, the more tolerant he is of right-wing Islamic extremism." I don't know how many times I've written that Western civilization is being dragged into the sewer by Islamic fascists.

surreal video grab

Let me get more specific and up-to date: Western civilization is being dragged into the sewer by Islamic fascists, assisted globally by the radical Left.

[Hassan] Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote in 1934 that “it is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to struggle towards the aim of making every people Muslim and the whole world Islamic, so that the banner of Islam can flutter over the earth . . . "

And leftists like Ron Francis are hastening the day, G-d forbid.

It sounds untypically defeatist of me (even to myself), but they might as well go ahead and fly the flag of Islam over Andover High School. Granted, all I know is what Solomon posted, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there who has any moral clarity, no one with any courage, no one taking care of business. Where are the parents of the Jewish high school student who worked for Ron Francis's divestment project? Where's the rabbi? Where's the principal of the school? If they're not standing up, then they might as well have rolled over.

Hey, we live in a world where hundreds of delegates to the United Nations stand in the Trusteeship Council for a minute of silence to remember friggin' suicide bombers while gazing on a UN flag, a Palestinian flag, and a map with no Israel. We live in a world where the newspaper "of record" is friggin' pro-Palestinian. We live in a world where candidates for the presidency of the United States of America wear the same keffiyah as Yasser Arafat. We live in a world where a preeminent American university grants admission to an offical of the Taliban with a fourth-grade education ... and the Center for Jewish Life on campus feeds him glatt kosher food.

I recognize how upsetting it is that the matsav (situation) in Andover is taking place in a high school; I myself had a pretty lousy experience as parent of a high schooler several years ago. But I guess the thing is, I'm not surprised anymore.

I despise the Left, I despise the utter moral indifference that belies their conspicuous compassion, but like Solomon, I have no prescription. If I thought that, because of this post and others like it, twenty or thirty or a hundred people would be writing to the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Board of Education with copies to his Media Relations office, I would have tangible reason to hope. But almost everyone I know is too overwhlemed by the world we live in to take the time to read all these posts, collect their thoughts, maintain their moral compass, feel their outrage and write an email or pick up the phone.

Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just tonight, but I think it's only going to get worse. It's going to be grade schools and kindergartens. And Hamas is ready with the goods. Oh, and summer camps. I can just see Ron Francis as camp counselor. It's not that much of a leap.

Comments

[Umma Allergic]

It's already pretty bad! Look at what a young muslim male thinks of our tolerance of Islam. This is cross-posted from an online forum, but it deserves a wider audience! http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22784&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 Quote: JihadJedi brother: Islam will rule the world, very soon. Allah Hu Akbar. Constitution for the new Islamic Republic of EU and USA is under construction. To the infidels of the West: We will fight the infidel to death. Meanwhile American laws will protect us. Democrats and Leftist will support us. UNO will legitimize us. CAIR will incubate us. ACLU wil support us Western Universities will educate us. Mosques in the West will shelter us. OPEC will finance us Moderate Muslims will fertilize us Hollywood will love us. Koffi Annan will pass politically correct sympathetic statement for Jihadists. They will go to the West for education in full scholarship. America is paying and will continue to pay for our children’s educations and their upbringing in state funded Islamic schools. We will use your (West) welfare system. Our children will also send money home while they are preparing for Jihad. We will take the advantage of American kindness, gullibility, and compassion. When time comes, we will stab them in the back as we did on 9/11 and 7/7, the Islamic way. We will say one thing on the camera and teach another thing to our children at home. We will teach our children Islamic supremacy from the very childhood. We will teach them not to compromise with Infidel. Once we do that from the very early age our children won’t hesitate to be martyr. We will take over the Europe first and then US will be the next. We already have a solid ground in the UK, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, and now in the US. Our children will marry Caucasian in Europe and in America. We will mix with intricate fabric of the Western society but still will remember to Jihad when time comes. Who are we? We are the “sleeper cells” next door. We will raise our children to be loyal to Islam and Mohammad only. Everything else is secondary. At the time of the real fight we will hold our own children as our armor – this is Islamic way. When American or Israeli troops shoot at us the world will be watching. Imagine,… Imagine the news in the world “Death of Muslim babies by infidels”. We know CNN, ABC, CBS are broadcasting live. Al-Jazeera will pour gasoline on the fire. The news will spread like wildfire. “Americans killed 6 babies, 10 babies”. “Jews killed two women”, We say to the West: Keep your Nukes in your curio cabinets. Keep your aircraft carrier or hightech weaponery in the showcase. You can't use them against us because of your own higher moral standard. We will take the advantage of your (West) higher moral standard and use it against you. We won’t hesitate to use our children as suicide bomber against you. Visualize the news flash all over the world, …Moslem mother is sobbing, ….crying. ….Her babies are killed by Jews and Americans, the whole world is watching live. Hundreds of millions of Muslims all around the world are boiling. They will march through Europe. We will use our women to produce more babies who will in turn be used as armor/shield. Our babies are the gift from Allah for Jihad. Ok West manufactures their tanks in the factory. We will manufacture our military force by natural means, by producing more babies. That is the way it is cheaper. You infidels at this site cannot defeat us. We are 1.2 billion. We will double again. Do you have enough bullets to kill us? On the camera: We will always say, “Islam is the religion of Peace.” We will say, “Jihad is actually inner Jihad.” Off camera, we will do the rest. Moderate Muslim will say there is no link between Islam and Terrorism and the West will believe it because the West is so gullible. Moderate Muslim all over the world will incubate Jihadist by their talk by defending Islam. Using Western Legal system we will assert our Sharia Laws, slowly but surely. You will be impressed when you meet a moderate Muslim personally. As your next-door neighbor, coworker, student, teacher, engineer, professionals you may even like us. You will find us well mannered, polite, humble that will make you say, “wow, Muslims are good and peaceful people”, But, we will stab you in your back when you are sleeping as we did on 911. There will be more 911 in Europe and in America. We will say, “We do not support terrorism but America got what it deserved.” Muslims, CAIR, ISNA, MPAC and other international Islamic Organization will unite. We will partner with Leftist, ACLU, with Koffi Annan, and the UN, and if we have to then even with France. Fasten your seatbelt. The war of civilizations has just begun. We will recite Quran and say Allah-Hu-Akbar before beheading infidels, as we have been doing it. We will video tape those and send it to all infidels to watch. They will surrender - ISLAM means surrender. We will use your (West) own values of kindness against you. You (West) are destined to loose. Must be very depressing for you (the West). Isn’t it? Allah-Hu-Akbar as we say just before beheading. Welcome to the 21st Century Islamic Warfare Let's see the effectiveness of Islamic warfare. Muslims Vs. the West. Quote: ------------------------------------- THE RULE HAS CHANGED. There is new game in town. Bill Clinton ordered 50 Tomahawks Cruise missiles costing $100,000,000 each to destroy $50 mud houses that belonged to Osama's family. What a stupidity? What a poor ROI (Return On Investment) In return Osama's attack on the US. Cost: 19 martyrs and less than $500,000. Cost to the West: over 3,000 dead. At least $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) dollars economical loss in one year. This includes the ripple effect. Osama's ROI with respect to: life = 3,000/19 = 158 fold. Dollar = $1 tr./500K = 2,000,000 fold That is modern warfare. The West will lose. ------------------------------------------- Allah-Hu-Akbar. Islam will rule the world. There is nothing you can do. Even if the per capita GDP of the world drops to half of its present level as a consequence of Islamic laws in place all over the world but still Islam will rule the word. From your point of view we bring to the world to the dark ages, so be it. But still Islam wins, West looses. Are you sure you want to play this game? Jihad, ..Jihad...Jeeehaaad... You are destined to loose. Allah-hu-Akbar

[Eric Danis]

As a graduate of Andover High School and an Israeli citizen (I wrote the letter you have linked to here), I am appalled by the indifference displayed in Andover. Francis has openly said he supports terror bombings and Hamas, and he admitted to recruiting four Andover students to canvas for his political org. (the Somerville Divestment Project), yet the Superintendent in Andover has said that the Andover community does not want an investigation. It's truly a sad situation in Andover these days... For the latest info: http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/008530.shtml http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/20060615/FP_004.html