by Susie Dym
This is about AIPAC. But the story, funnily enough, starts across the ocean – in Great Britain in the last century.The 'P' in AIPAC is not supposed to stand for “Palestinian”
G. H. Hardy was a great English mathematician living at that time. He certainly was not Jewish. What in the world is the connection to AIPAC?? You will see.
Despite his academic greatness, G. H. Hardy is perhaps best known, to the general public, for his unselfish discovery of the mathematical prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was entirely self-taught. As is well known, Ramanujan, a poor clerk in far-off India, wrote to Hardy who recognized the obscure writer’s mathematical genius immediately and brought him to England. Thanks to Hardy’s selfless act, Ramanujan became one of the world’s greatest mathematicians, a doubly amazing feat because of his unlikely background combined with his early death when he was only 32 years of age.
Interestingly, there is also a less well known story about the very same G. H. Hardy. You will see that this second story about Hardy bears a certain similarity to the first story. It turns out that the very same G. H. Hardy unselfishly provided an invaluable springboard for a great American mathematician, Norman Levinson. Levinson, somewhat like Ramanujan, came from a background of abject poverty. His father slaved at a factory. His illiterate mother made ends meet by re-vamping hand-me-downs into useable clothing for the family and buying stale bread at half price for family meals. Levinson attended rundown vocational schools; his family home had no bathroom. But here the similarity to Ramanujan ends, since India after all, is not America. Levinson managed to enroll at one of the top universities in the United States – MIT.
At MIT, Levinson was outstandingly successful. He merited a National Research Council Fellowship which enabled him to spend two years at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Nonetheless, when it came to a permanent appointment, MIT, which had a suitable opening at just the right time, refused to hire Levinson because of his Jewish background. This was not unusual; it was very difficult for Jewish mathematicians to get posts at that time.
As the story goes, the great G. H. Hardy was visiting the United States and was afforded a royal welcome by MIT’s leading academics. He was, after all, one of the greatest mathematicians of the period. Hardy, so the story goes, spared no opportunity to share with his hosts his appreciation of the opportunity to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Theology. Hardy highly praised the Massachusetts Institute of Theology and mentioned the Massachusetts Institute of Theology repeatedly as he conversed with MIT luminaries. At a certain point, a senior MIT official took it upon himself to delicately point out to the great Hardy that the acronym “MIT” stood for “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” – not “Massachusetts Institute of Theology”.
And this was exactly what Hardy had been waiting for all along. If indeed this is the “Massachusetts Institute of Technology”, not the “Massachusetts Institute of Theology”, Hardy shot back, why then does MIT not hire a great American mathematician who happens to be Jewish -- Norman Levinson?
Shy, awkward and eccentric though he was, Hardy was a fighter who stuck up for what was right in a manner which was and is remarkable in the competitive world of academe. G. H. Hardy looked at the acronym MIT and forced MIT to live up to it.
And now we come to AIPAC – as promised.
Do you know what the acryonym AIPAC is supposed to stand for? Of course you do – “American Israel Public Affairs Committee”. So, the P in AIPAC is not supposed to stand for “Palestinian”. The strange thing is that you would not guess this by looking at the AIPAC mission statement. Because amazingly enough, AIPAC’s mission statement promotes not security and peace for Israel, but rather a Palestinian state!
"The mission of AIPAC is to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.
AIPAC’s staff and citizen activists educate decision makers about the bonds that unite the United States and Israel and how it is in America’s best interest to help ensure that the Jewish state is safe, strong and secure.
Cooperation between the two countries is advantageous for both nations. As America's bipartisan pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC urges all members of Congress to support Israel through foreign aid, government partnerships, joint anti-terrorism efforts and the promotion of a negotiated two-state solution – a Jewish state of Israel and a demilitarized Palestinian state."
There can be nothing so absurd as an organization that bills itself as “America’s Pro-Israel lobby” working to establish a new failed terror-state. A terror state and military danger just a bike-ride away from 19 out of 20 of Israel’s biggest cities – and from Israel’s sole international airport. Yet another Arab failed state which will clearly and obviously imperil the only Jewish state in the world.
After all, even Iran does have one advantage for Israel – it is in Iran, about 1700 kilometers away from Israel. The ghoulish Palestinian state that AIPAC is trying to create does not even have that going for it.
Does the mighty AIPAC have in it a single fighter for the Jewish people who will be courageous enough and sensible enough to pop a pointed question, as G. H. Hardy did? Because the question is clear: If the P in AIPAC does not stand for “Palestinian” – why then is the AIPAC board of directors – of all people -- intent on establishing a Palestinian state??
This is Susie Dym, spokesperson for Mattot Arim, writing to you from Israel.
Susie Dym
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/8273#.Vvb7wHqzddt
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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