Anti-Semite to Appear at MSU’s “Palestine Liberation Week”

Update: Amir Abdul Malik Ali used his platform at UC Irvine to rant about Zionism’s responsibility for the financial collapse, the alleged vilification of Islam and global corruption issues.

The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine is at it again.

The group has invited Amir Abdul Malik Ali, a virulent anti-Semite, to speak at the university next week. His talk is titled “The Struggle Has No Borders.”

Malik Ali’s scheduled appearance is part of a weeklong program being sponsored by MSU next week called “Palestine Liberation Week: Getting to the Root of the Occupation.” Other anti-Israel speakers scheduled to appear include Hatem Bazian and Hedy Epstein. In addition, members of the “Irvine 11,” who were suspended for disrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in February 2010, will return to campus to take part in the event.

Malik Ali, who is affiliated with the anti-Semitic Sabiqun movement and is the imam of a mosque in Oakland, is regularly invited to speak on campuses in California. During his appearances at Irvine, Malik Ali has conspiratorially claimed that “Zionist Jews” were responsible for 9/11 and that they control the U.S. government, the economy and the media. He has referred to Jews and Zionists as “the new Nazis” and “the party of Satan.” And, during an address titled “Death to Apartheid” in May 2010, Malik Ali responded “yes” to questions about whether he supports Hamas and Hezbollah.

MSU at UC Irvine did not invite Malik Ali to its annual anti-Israel program in 2011, but he had spoken at the program every year before that going back until at least 2006.

News of Malik Ali’s appearance coincides with an article that was published yesterday in The Jewish Daily Forward that describes how Jewish students and Hillels have begun working with chapters of Muslim Student Association and other Muslim student groups on campus. A representative of the Hillel chapter responsible for UC Irvine was quoted in the article saying that Jewish students on campus are engaging with their Muslim student counterparts and described it as “a new era.” Unfortunately, MSU’s continued willingness to provide a platform to an anti-Semite suggests otherwise.