HIKIND, THOMPSON, CYMBROWITZ CONDEMN BROOKLYN COLLEGE FOR SPONSORING ANTI-SEMITIC LECTURES

NEWS FROM
ASSEMBLYMAN DOV HIKIND

January 31, 2013

Contact: Yehudah Meth                                                       For Immediate Release
718-853-9616

(left to right) NYS Senator Eric Adams, NYC Councilman David Greenfield, NYS Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, Ari Kagan, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz

HIKIND, THOMPSON, CYMBROWITZ CONDEMN
BROOKLYN COLLEGE FOR SPONSORING ANTI-SEMITIC LECTURES

STATE SENATORS, ASSEMBLY MEMBERS & NYC COUNCILMEN LINE UP TO DENOUNCE MISUSE OF STATE FUNDS

“PRESIDENT GOULD SHOULD RESIGN,” SAYS HIKIND

Assemblymembers Dov Hikind and Steve Cymbrowitz along with former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson addressed a huge gathering of students, faculty and press this morning at Brooklyn College to strongly criticize Brooklyn College for officially co-sponsoring an anti-Israel lecture featuring a well-known racist. The event 

“BDS Movement Against Israel,” which is scheduled to take place on the Brooklyn College campus on February 7, will be co-sponsored by Brooklyn College’s Political Science Department.

“This lecture, which is funded by tax dollars, gives a platform to the BDS movement, whose goal is to delegitimize Israel’s existence,” said Assemblyman Hikind. “Like its philosophical brothers in Hamas, BDS aims to eliminate the State of Israel from the map. Only its tactics differ from its terrorist cousins: While Hamas blows up busses of innocent men, women and children, BDS works to isolate Israelis, to cut them off from business.”

“This isn’t an issue of freedom of speech. This isn’t about having a dialogue. This is about the City’s University, which uses public funds, officially sponsoring speakers who call for the annihilation of the State of Israel; speakers who praise Hamas and Hezbollah. I asked President Gould to just withdraw the official support of the Political Science Department because that support is the City University giving its endorsement. Do that and we have no issue. They can go on and have their hateful forum. But President Gould doesn’t get it.”

The Brooklyn College Political Science Department co-sponsored event invites students to hear seasoned propagandist Omar Barghouti, founder of the BDS, who has compared Israelis to Nazis and added that he won’t take a lecture from a “white person”. Barghouti will be joined by Judith Butler, an apologist for Hamas and Hezbollah.

Assemblyman Hikind’s office reached out numerous times to Paisley Currah, chairman of the Brooklyn College Political Science Department. Currah would not accept his calls, nor calls from other elected officials. Hikind called Currah a coward.

In addition to former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, numerous elected officials turned out this morning to condemn Brooklyn College’s sponsorship of the BDS event, including: NYS Senator Eric Adams, NYS Senator John Sampson, NYS Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs, NYS Assemblyman Alan Maisel, NYS Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz, NYS Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, NYC Councilman David Greenfield and NYC Councilman Mike Nelson.

Also in attendance were Helen Freedman, Executive Director, Americans For a Safe Israel, as well as Ari Kagan (a leader in the Russian Jewish community) and Wolf Sender, District Manager, Brooklyn Community Board 12. Dr. Rina Yarmish (Chairperson, Mathematics & Computer Science, Kingsborough Community College) addressed the crowd and delivered comments from CUNY Trustee Jeff Wiesenfeld. Joey Saban, a Brooklyn College sophomore, also addressed the crowd.

Former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson addresses the crowd.

Joey Saban, a Brooklyn College sophomore, talks about the chilling message sent to Jewish students by the Political Science Department's official endorsement of BDS.

Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz from Queens talks about the message  that Brooklyn College is sending to its students by officially endorsing an anti-Israel lecture.

Assemblywoman Weinstein's Education Bill Made the Entire Session Worthwhile

Hikind, Weinstein and Silver

A new education law passed today. Sponsored by my colleague Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, this was by far one of the most important pieces of legislation to come out of the recent session in Albany. The amendments to the education laws will dramatically ease the burden of parents educating special needs children in three ways:

 

1. The new law now ensures that Committees of Special Education (CSE) consider a child’s home and upbringing to determine the child’s most appropriate educational environment. Previously, the Dept. of Education only looked at educational factors; there was no credence given to how a family’s background would impact how the child learned.
2. In addition, the new law eliminates the length and tediousness of the tuition reimbursement process. Parents who found themselves waiting for a year for placement—and longer for tuition reimbursement—will now find that applications must be processed within 90 days of filing, and reimbursement for approved applications must be paid out within 30 days. Yeshivas will no longer find it necessary to pressure parents for promised monies.
3. A third plank of the new law eliminates the re-application process. Each year, parents of special-ed children have found themselves repeating the entire litigious process: visiting schools, proving that schools are appropriate or not, and so forth. The new law says that once a program is deemed appropriate, it remains appropriate as long as the child’s IEP hasn’t changed.

Helene Weinstein is a superstar. This took years of work but Helene championed this important issue through to the end. Our communities can’t thank her enough. This alone would have made the entire legislative session worthwhile.

I must also give credit to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for his role in seeing the legislation passed, as well as Assembly Members Mike Simanowitz, Steve Cymbrowitz, Phil Goldfedder and Rhoda Jacobs; numerous members of Agudath Israel of America; Rabbi Shiya Ostrecicher, Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, Mordechai Biser, and Leah Steinberg; as well as community leaders Leon Goldenberg and Chaskel Bennett.

Many of the players will be joining me this Saturday evening on "The Dov Hikind Show" to talk about the history of this important new law and the momentous advantages the new law will deliver to families with special needs children throughout the community.

World Committee for Israel, Politicians and Community Leaders Call on President to Release Pollard

New York, NY – The World Committee for Israel, a non-profit group dedicated to advocating for the Jewish State and Jewish people around the world, will join with elected officials and community leaders this Sunday, June10 at 1 p.m. on the steps of City Hall to call on President Obama to commute Jonathan Pollard’s sentence and release him from jail.

Assembly members Dov Hikind, David Weprin, Philip Goldfeder, Michael Simanowitz, and Congressman Bob Turner will stand with Jewish activists such as Dr. Joe Frager and Rabbi Elie Abadie to demand an end to Mr. Pollard’s long incarceration. The event is timed in conjunction with a visit from Israeli President Shimon Peres to accept the Medal of Freedom from Obama next week, at which time Peres may raise the release of Mr. Pollard.

Pollard was imprisoned 24 years ago after pleading guilty to one count of releasing classified information – a crime for which the median sentence is only 2 to4 for years. Israeli advocates have repeatedly called for his release on the grounds that his sentence is unduly harsh, his health is failing and he has expressed genuine remorse for his actions.