And the Leftist thugs who shouted down David Horowitz were nowhere in evidence, of course. Not that they would have wanted to turn out to protest a speech by an apologist for jihad terror — and meanwhile, Emory’s President James Wagner pretended that conservative students were just as likely to behave like fascist thugs as liberal ones, and took precautions to protect Ashrawi’s speech that he did not take for Horowitz.
“Ashrawi defends Hizbullah and Hamas,” by Gil Hoffman in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to all who sent this in):
Veteran Palestinian Authority lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, who represents PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad’s Third-Wave party, defended both Hamas and Hizbullah in a speech at Emory University in Atlanta on Monday night.
“The [Second Lebanon] War proved [Israel] could not defeat a nation fighting for freedom,” Ashrawi said. Later, the Christian lawmaker blamed Hamas’s January 2006 election victory on Israel, saying the occupation bred extremism.
Ashrawi also discussed the plight of the Palestinian people, saying they had plunged into a deep depression with unemployment and poverty at record levels, and that peace was the only answer.
Palestinians are experiencing “one of the most difficult phases in our history,” she said. “Violence and [the] extreme ideology of Israel feed violence and extremism on the other side. And that’s what led to the election of Hamas.”
“Now we see not just a political and economic battle, but a battle over the soul of Palestine,” she told an audience of about 200. “We find ourselves in the grip of… the deconstruction of Palestine.”
Nearly 75 percent of Gazans were dependent on welfare and the Strip’s unemployment rate had skyrocketed to 50%, she said, adding that conditions there had worsened since Hamas seized power in June.
[…]
She said peace talks must be moved forward rather than waiting for the violence to subside.
“You cannot hold peace hostage and say, ‘Until every single Palestinian becomes peaceful, I’m not going to have talks,'” Ashrawi said. “You have to talk in order to bring about peace.”