The 21st century's Joseph McCarthy

Daniel Pipes tracks our nation’s traitorous professors so you don’t have to.

By Valerie Saturen
February 27, 2008

Published on CampusProgress.org

Illustration by August Pollak

Have you ever suspected that your campus may be little more than the intellectual equivalent of an Al Qaeda training camp, dutifully churning out youthful armies of Osama Bin Laden-hugging, America-hating traitors? Well, fear not. Pundit and right-wing crusader Daniel Pipes is keeping an eye on your university and the treasonous activity percolating therein. Thanks to Pipes and his website, Campus Watch, you can rest assured in the knowledge that someone is working to bring your subversive, un-American professors/terrorists to justice, Joe McCarthy-style, and to replace their indoctrination sessions with a curriculum as fair and balanced as FOX News.

Pipes’ nostalgia for the Cold War may be hereditary. His father, Harvard historian Richard Pipes, headed Team B, a group of extremely hawkish analysts devoted to studying Soviet military and political strategies. A Boston native, Daniel Pipes enrolled at Harvard, where his father was still teaching, in 1967, to study mathematics. Unfortunately, the abstract world of numbers went over his head. “I wasn’t smart enough,” Pipes confessed, “so I chose to become a historian.” While his classmates staged sit-ins in the Harvard administration building to protest the Vietnam War, he wondered why anyone would walk out of classes or miss meals they had already paid for.

Upon earning his B.A. in history, Pipes spent two years studying Arabic in Cairo, and then returned to Harvard to begin working on his Ph.D. in medieval Islamic history. In the late '70s and early '80s, in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and the assassination of Anwar Sadat by an Islamist militant, he abandoned his initial interests and became obsessed with radical Islam.

Pipes held teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Harvard, and the Naval War College, but did not get tenure. The field of Middle Eastern studies was in the midst of a radical paradigm shift, brought on by the publication of Edward Said‘s Orientalism, that would embitter Pipes for decades to come. According to Said, Western portrayals of the Middle East—from paintings and literature to traditional scholarship—contained a supremacist ideology of “Otherness” that served to justify imperialism. Said’s book changed everything within the field. Suddenly, Middle Eastern studies professors began preoccupying themselves with cultural sensitivity, rejecting notions of Western superiority and the “primitive, exotic” Arab. Pipes decided that academia no longer had a place for him.

In 1986, he began running the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a hard-line think tank which would begin agitating for war with Iraq immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since 1994, Pipes has been founding director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, which “seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East” through an aggressive policy of military intervention. Its journal, The Middle East Quarterly, has published such enlightening pieces as “Western Feminists: At the Service of Radical Islam” and “The Arab Mind Revisited,”

which discusses the “inhibiting effects” of the Arabic language and stereotypes Arabs as having a “proneness to exaggeration” and a “tendency to blame others for [their] problems.”

Amid post-9/11 xenophobia and attacks on dissent, Pipes’ extreme views earned him celebrity status. The author of numerous books on Islam and the Middle East, he is a fixture on FoxNews and has appeared on CNN, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. His screeds appear in columns on “Islamofascism” for David Horowitz‘s Front Page Magazine and in an array of national publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The

Wall Street Journal. Pipes’ work can be read in languages ranging from Bulgarian to Kurdish on his website.

Pipes began his own personal "war on terror" with a 1995 piece in National Interest entitled “There are No Moderates,” which declared: “Unnoticed by most Westerners, war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States.” Pipes made this statement shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing, which he and fellow right-winger Steven Emerson erroneously blamed on Muslims.

Pipes has been accused of spreading “Islamophobia” by organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which condemns his “history of hostility toward Muslims in general and to the American Muslim community in particular.” Pipes defends his statements, asserting that “the enemy is militant Islam, not Islam, the personal faith.” However, numerous statements reflect a general antipathy toward Muslims and a tendency to label all Muslims as supporters of terrorism. In an October 2001 speech at the American Jewish Congress Convention, he warned that the “increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims…will present true dangers to American Jews.” Around the same time, Pipes wrote a column for the New York Post, “Muslims Love Bin Laden,” which noted: “President Bush says bin Laden represents a ‘fringe form of Islamic extremism…rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics.’…Well, that ‘vast majority’ is well hidden and awfully quiet, if it even exists.”

Pipes is a strident supporter of U.S. intervention in the Middle East, promoting the view that it is through overpowering force alone that the region’s problems can be solved. A proponent of the Iraq war from the get-go, he said in an interview that the invasion would have a “positive effect” upon “militant Islam, the energy market, the Israeli conflict, the general problem of the Arab states modernizing, you name it.” He opposes any peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and writes frequently about the need for Israel to “crush the will” of the Palestinians. In 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, he published a New York Times column calling an eventual Palestinian state a “nightmare” for its intended beneficiaries. Statehood, he argued, “would hurt Arabs far more than Israelis.” Recently, he has set his sights on Iran, arguing in 2003, that the “situation has become crude and binary: either the U.S. government deploys force to prevent Tehran from acquiring nukes, or Tehran acquires them.” Of course, the recently released National Intelligence Estimate

on Iran’s nuclear capabilities has proved Pipes’ fears to be thoroughly overblown.

Given Pipes’ militaristic thinking and utter disdain for diplomacy, it struck many observers as deeply ironic when, in 2003, President Bush nominated him to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a congressional institution dedicated to “peacebuilding.” Despite a maelstrom of controversy—Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), among others, vigorously opposed the nomination—Bush bypassed Congress with a recess appointment after the Senate session on his confirmation ended without a vote.

Pipes’ ideological crusade is not limited to the Middle East. It is a battle he has decided to take to college campuses throughout America, excoriating professors who fail to dutifully parrot the right wing’s ideology. In a November 2002 piece in the New York Post entitled “Profs Who Hate America,” he singled out a number of professors critical of going to war in Iraq. “Why do American academics so often despise their own country while finding excuses for repressive and dangerous regimes?” Pipes asked.

That year, he also created Campus Watch, a special project of the Middle East Forum. The Campus Watch website, condemned by The Nation as an example of modern McCarthyism, targets professors and students who hold views on the Middle East deemed unacceptable by Pipes. Campus Watch encouraged students to submit reports on teachers, which were published in “dossiers” on the site. Most controversially, the site published a blacklist of eight scholars and 14 universities. Among them was Georgetown University professor John Esposito, who has called for an examination of the root causes that lead to terrorism.

Subsequently, the blacklisted professors were attacked by spammers who sent large numbers of enormous files to their e-mail addresses. Among the victims was University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole, who reported that his e-mail had been disabled by thousands of hate messages the day after his name appeared on Campus Watch. In protest, over 100 professors around the country wrote letters denouncing Campus Watch for its “attempts to silence and muzzle dissenting voices.” Some insisted on being added to the list, in a gesture of solidarity. The website complied, listing the protesting faculty and distorting their protest, which he claimed was “in defense of apologists for Palestinian violence and militant Islam.” Eventually, Pipes removed the dossiers “in a gesture of goodwill,” but the site continues to update its “survey of institutions.”

Pipes swells with pride at the thought that his intimidation efforts may have had an impact. In a speech at David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend in November 2003, Pipes remarked: “I flatter myself perhaps in thinking that the rather subdued academic response to the war in Iraq in March and April may have been, in part, due to our work.”

Indeed, the hysteria fomented by Pipes is far-reaching. In 2003, ripples of Pipes’ efforts reached Congress, prompting the House of Representatives to pass legislation (HR 3077) that would establish an advisory board to “study, monitor, appraise, and evaluate” university area studies programs. The bill also made federal funding under Title VI of the Higher Education Act contingent upon the “fair and balanced” nature of the curriculum. Pipes enthusiastically backed the bill, which was the result of a campaign by Stanley Kurtz of the National Review Online (a frequent publisher of Pipes’ work), who accused Middle Eastern Studies of tending to “purvey extreme and one-sided criticism of American foreign policy.”

The bill did not pass in the Senate, but its specter, along with the combined efforts of Pipes, Horowitz, and their ilk, has left a lasting impact upon college campuses. Their attempts to stifle debate continue to create an obstacle to serious discussion of crucial issues.

Memorable Quotes: The Wisdom of Daniel Pipes

On racial profiling: “For years, it has been my position that the threat of radical Islam implies an imperative to focus security measures on Muslims. If searching for rapists, one looks only at the male population. Similarly, if searching for Islamists (adherents of radical Islam), one looks at the Muslim population.”—“Why the Japanese Internment Still Matters”, New York Sun (December 28, 2004). (And yes, the article does applaud the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.)

And: “There is no escaping the unfortunate fact that Muslim government employees in law enforcement, the military, and the diplomatic corps need to be watched for connections to terrorism, as do Muslim chaplains in prisons and the armed forces. Muslim visitors and immigrants must undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a scrutiny beyond that applied to churches, synagogues, and temples. Muslim schools require increased oversight to ascertain what is being taught to children.”—“The Enemy Within (and the Need for Profiling)”, New York Post (January 24, 2003).

On Iraq: Pipes wrote in the New York Post that Iraq needed a “democratically-minded Iraqi strongman” since its people “mentally live in a world of conspiracy theories” and were not quite ready for full-fledged democracy.—“A Strongman for Iraq”, New York Post (April 28, 2003).

On immigrants: “Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene… All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most.”—“The Muslims are Coming! The Muslims are Coming!”, National Review (November 19, 1990).

On black Muslims: Pipes referenced “a well-established tradition of American blacks who convert to Islam turning against their country.”—“[Beltway Snipers]: Converts to Violence?”, New York Post (October 25, 2002).

Valerie Saturen is a writer and activist with an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona. She can be reached at vsaturen@yahoo.com.

Burial society conference at CAI explores the ultimate selfless mitzvah

Published in The Arizona Jewish Post Volume 64, Issue 4, February 22, 2008

Members of the burial societies known as chevra kadisha (literally, "Holy Societies") gathered Sunday, Feb. 10 at Congregation Anshei Israel to discuss "rites, rituals, protection and procedures." The conference took place three days before the 7th of Adar, the anniversary of the death of Moses, which is traditionally associated with the chevra kadisha. Chevra kadisha members often commemorate the day together, and some fast to atone for any disrespect they may have inadvertently shown the deceased. The conference, cosponsored by the Tucson Board of Rabbis, brought together chevra kadisha members from several local synagogues for the first time.

Preparing a person for burial is considered one of the highest mitzvot a Jew can perform. Rabbi Robert Eisen of Anshei Israel explains that it's the ultimate selfless act, "one of the few things you can do for which they can't say 'thank you.'"

The conference began with a demonstration of the tahara, or ritual purification of the body, using a mannequin. During the tahara, the body is cleansed with an unbroken flow of water. The ritual strongly emphasizes respect toward the deceased person, called the met (male) or metah (female). Men perform the ritual for men, and women for women. While performing the tahara, one does not wear jewelry, chat with others, pass objects over the met, stand in direct alignment with the head of the met, or turn one's back toward the body. Before and after attending to the body, the chevra kadisha asks forgiveness for anything that may have offended the deceased person. After the tahara, the met is wrapped in a burial shroud without jewelry or adornments, signifying that all are equal in death.

The demonstration was followed by a discussion in which attendees raised questions and shared advice. Next year's conference, says Eisen, will place a greater focus on exploring personal experiences.

Most local congregations have volunteers trained in the tahara ritual. For many years, Anshei Israel had the only organized chevra kadisha, which has existed as long as the congregation itself. Over the last several years, other congregations have begun forming their own. The chevra kadisha members are not limited to their own congregations, however, and volunteer wherever they are needed.

Max Ellentuck has been the chevra kadisha coordinator at Anshei Israel for two years, as part of his job as ritual coordinator. "It takes a special kind of person [to join a chevra kadisha]," says Ellentuck. "These are the strongest people I know."

Eisen agrees that the volunteers have made a unique commitment. "No matter how many times you do it, every tahara is unique. It's an emotional investment," he says. "It becomes a final tribute that comes from the heart."

Rescuer of art stolen by Nazis to speak at JCC

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post

U.S. Army Capt. James Rorimer oversees removal of looted art from Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany.

Harry Ettlinger, a member of the team assigned to recover art plundered by the Nazis, will speak at two showings of the film The Rape of Europa during the Tucson Jewish Film Festival on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

At age 19, Ettlinger and 2,500 other men of the 99th Infantry Division were on their way to the bloody Battle of the Bulge when he and two others were stopped and ordered off the convoy. Though he didn't know it at the time, Ettlinger was about to become part of a historic effort to rescue cultural treasures stolen by the Nazis. Born in Germany, Ettlinger had fled to the United States with his family in 1938. Because of his fluency in German, the army sent him to Munich to begin an assignment as a translator. "This was of great significance to me and my life," Ettlinger told the AJP, "in light of the fact that there were eight buddies of mine that I had trained with, three of which were killed in action and five of which were wounded. I was spared that sacrifice."

During his assignment, Ettlinger met Capt. James Rorimer, the head of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Western District's Seventh Army. Rorimer took the young soldier under his wing, making him one of 350 men and women charged with protecting the artistic and cultural treasures of Europe. Ultimately, the group--who came to be known as the Monuments Men--recovered more than five million items, about one-fifth of Europe's art.

In the summer of 1945, Ettlinger was given the task of recovering 900 pieces of stolen art stashed in salt mines at Heilbronn, just 70 miles from his childhood home. The mission had been made possible by French art historian and museum overseer Rose Valland, who secretly recorded information about plundered artworks circulating through the Jeu de Paume museum, which the Nazis used as a collection point for looted items. In the summer of 1944, after the invasion of Normandy, she brought the mine activities to Rorimer's attention, prompting him to ensure that the mines were protected and the artworks restored. "She was a great heroine," says Ettlinger.

Among the works found in the mines were a prized self-portrait by Rembrandt and musical instruments such as the rare eight-stringed viola d'amour, but for Ettlinger, one of the most memorable discoveries was the "Stuppach Madonna" by the 16th century painter Matthias Gruenwald. Rorimer, who later became director of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, sought to buy the painting from the Stuppach church to which it belonged for $2 million, but the church turned down the offer.

The mines hid more than cultural artifacts. They had also housed underground factories manned by Hungarian Jewish slave labor. "They were going to go into production building jet engines," says Ettlinger. "If they had been successful, they would have lengthened the war by a year or two" by enabling the Germans to shoot down American planes making advances into Germany. In April 1945, shortly before American troops reached Heilbronn, the 500 to 1,000 slave laborers were shipped to Dachau. Most froze to death along the way.

The story of the Monuments Men entered the public spotlight with the publication of Rescuing Da Vinci, a photographic and historical volume written by former oilman Robert Edsel. In January 2007, Edsel worked with Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Texas, to introduce House Resolution 48, honoring the Monuments Men. On June 6, 2007, the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, the Senate passed the similar Resolution 223, sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The Rape of Europa film, co-written by Edsel and Lynn H. Nicholas, author of a book by the same name, tells the story of the massive theft, recovery and survival of European art during the war.

Ettlinger, now 82, has served as deputy director of a division of the Singer Sewing Company that produced guidance systems for submarine-launched nuclear weapons. His WWII experiences inspired him to participate in Holocaust education and he is co-chair of the Wallenberg Foundation of New Jersey, which promotes the ideals of Holocaust rescuer Raoul Wallenberg.

"The cultural significance of what we did was very unique in the history of civilization," says Ettlinger. "We were the first country in the history of civilization that, in lieu of taking the spoils of war, did not take it. Our mission was to bring culture back to Europe."

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students, seniors and JCC members. For more information call 299-3000, ext. 200, or go to tucsonjewishfilmfestival.org.

Local business adds personal wedding touch

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post.

A Japanese-inspired huppah created by Original Design Huppah

When Margery and Eli Langner were married in 1989, the two artists decided to design their own huppah, or wedding canopy, rich in Jewish symbolism, combining the words of the Baal Shem Tov with 32 flames--the number that corresponds with the Hebrew word for "heart." The huppah was so admired by guests that the Langners immediately created a new business, Original Design Huppah, and began making personalized huppot for clients around the world.

The huppah, a symbol of a couple's first home together, is a reminder of the tents of our nomadic ancestors. It is also a physical reminder of the couple's commitment to one another as well as a piece of Jewish artwork with special meaning to its owners. Creating a customized huppah can give a couple the opportunity to reflect on the history of their relationship and the places, objects and people that add meaning to their lives. For many of the Langners' clients, the huppah also serves as a family heirloom. Some couples incorporate the huppah into baby-naming ceremonies for their children or use the fabric to create a bris pillow. Others send their huppah back to be adapted for their children's weddings, sometimes having the names of each new family member embroidered onto the fabric. "It's like a fabric record of the important events that happened in the family," says Margery.

To add a personal touch, couples often incorporate pictures of family members or materials that have sentimental value to the bride and groom, such as a piece of clothing, fabric from a mother's or grandmother's wedding dress, or in the case of one groom, a square cut from his baby "blankie."

Jacob Friedman and Marcy Subrin, a Tucson couple whose wedding is coming up in June, have eight friends and family involved in making their huppah. Each person will help design a square with embroidery, hand drawings or transferred pictures. "It's a great way of having everyone's blessing for the wedding," says Friedman. The couple was drawn to the concept of a huppah that will become a lasting part of their home. "We decided it would be nice to have something to hang up in our home afterward," says Friedman.

Often, couples choose to combine personal elements with traditional Jewish symbols and verses, including images of doves, the city of Jerusalem or lines from the biblical Song of Songs. Friedman and Subrin's huppah, for example, will include the imagery of a Tree of Life.

The Langners each bring their own talents into the process of creating a huppah. Margery, a former schoolteacher who also trained at the Parsons School of Design in New York, typically discusses ideas with clients and works on the embroidery. Eli, who majored in drawing at New York's Pratt Institute, where he received a degree in fine arts, does the sketches. "It's a great joy" to be able to work so closely together, says Eli.

In addition to serving local clients, Original Design Huppah works with couples worldwide through its website, customjudaica.com. One of her most enjoyable experiences, Margery says, was where she met three couples for whom she had designed huppot. In each couple, an American businessman had married a Japanese woman who had subsequently converted to Judaism, and the couple wanted a huppah that blended Jewish and Japanese symbols.

The Langners also design religious artwork for synagogues, including Torah covers, tallitot, ark curtains and bris chairs. For Margery, creating the items is both artistically and spiritually significant. "I feel very honored and blessed to have the ability to make objects that get to be used in such an important and spiritual way," she says.

Margery appreciates the opportunity to become part of a family's process of marking important events and creating a legacy. "It really means a lot to me," she reflects, "because I become part of their family tradition."

For more information, contact Margery and Eli Langner at (800) 517-1965 or (520) 749-8111, or e-mail margerylangner@comcast.net.

Making it last: from junior high to grandkids, Tucson couple celebrates

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post.

It all started with a bad blind date at the Jewish Community Center, back when it was still on Tucson Boulevard. Judy, then a 14-year-old student at Mansfield Junior High, was suffering through an awkward evening with another boy at a B'nai B'rith Youth Organization mixer when 16-year-old Tucson High sophomore Ted Direnfeld approached her and asked her to dance. "I wasn't very nice," Ted recalls, chuckling. "I stole her away." The two have been together ever since, sharing more than five decades of love, friendship, and family.

The Direnfelds remember their youth in the 1950s as a time of simplicity. At first, Ted didn't have a car, so the young couple had to rely on Ted's older sister for rides. Like many other young Jews in Tucson, their social lives revolved around BBYO, which frequently hosted social events and community service activities. Ted was involved in AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph), the boys' branch of the organization, and Judy was active in the local and regional chapters of BBG (B'nai B'rith Girls). They talked on the phone every night. "I never dated anybody else," says Judy. "He was the only person I ever dated."

A taste of freedom came along with Ted's first car, an old '36 Chevy Club Coupe. "As we got older and knew we were going to get married," Judy says, "he stayed later at night and snuck out so my parents wouldn't know how late he was there." The car ran so noisily that the only way Ted could leave undetected was to push it down the street, jump in, and get the car going.

In 1956, the year Judy graduated from high school, Ted asked her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage. "I was sitting in her folks' kitchen, and the subject came up as to what I was going to give her for a graduation present," he remembers. "And I said 'a ring, and engagement ring.'" They were married a year later at Congregation Anshei Israel, where Ted had celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah. The congregation has since remained an important part of their lives; all of their children have been named, become Bar Mitzvah, or married there.

The couple has three children: Robert, a physical therapist (married to Amy Broad); Debra, a chemical engineer; and Barbara, who works in sales (partner, Sherry Campbell). They also have two grandchildren. Elayna is a freshman at the University of Arizona, and David is a junior at Catalina Foothills High School.

Ted studied at UA for two years while working at Dee's Shoes, the family business. Judy also attended the UA for a year before spending two years working at RCA, a government contract agency, as a typist and proofreader for government manuals for Fort Huachuca. When Ted entered the family business full time, the business kept expanding. As the children got older, Judy began to help by doing the books and sometimes filling in for store workers. Ted is now the sole owner of Dee's Shoes, while Judy volunteers at Tucson Medical Center, where she is a "cuddler" for babies in the nursery.

On Nov. 4, 2007, they celebrated their 50th anniversary at their home with 75 friends and family. They say the event was particularly special because all the original wedding attendants were present, including their best man, who flew in from China.

The secret of a long-lasting relationship, Ted and Judy agree, is "compromise." After five decades of marriage, they still take the time to do little things to show their appreciation for each other. "Ted always helps out around the house," says Judy, and will sometimes surprise her by coming home with flowers. Ted adds that it's important for couples to know that "there will be difficult times" in addition to joyful ones. The Direnfelds' closeness is obvious in their habit of finishing each other's sentences. "After 50 years, you learn to be a mind reader," Judy says. "Sometimes we'll sit in silence for a long time without the need to say anything, and suddenly we'll start to say the same thing at the same time."