Harvard Student Apologizes for Asking Tzipi Livni Why She's 'So Smelly'

The Israeli politician Tzipi Livni visited Harvard where a student asked her why she smells. Jews became furious and accused the student of antisemitism even though he never said anything about her jewish origin:

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.715591

What's your opinion on this bizarre controversy? Is it really "antisemitic" to ask such a funny question if "the butt of the joke" happens to be jewish? Is it right of these jews to associate a harmless young joker with Hitler's National Socialists? Post your thoughts.

 

I didn't find the question "funny" and it's like asking a black if he loves fried chicken and watermelon. That's the kind of "funny" it was though I'm sure that's what passes for humor at Harvard where
Israel is mostly detested and it's political representatives fair game for morons.

 

These are the brilliant minds academia is churning out these days.

 

really??

an international VIP comes to speak at your school, and the only question you can think of is "why do you stink"???

damn right its classic anti-Semitic (*)(*)(*)(*), and its a good thing I wasn't next to this pig when they asked this.

 

The kid is supposed to be smart, so he knew what he was doing, but he turned out to be the dumb one.

 

how is that anti semitic? was it based on the fact she is Jewish or the fact that the questioner was offended by her smell.

 

how is calling her a "smelly Jew", anti-semitic??

 

Ask Obama that question and then quickly turn on MSNBC.

 

go to a press conference for Jesse Jackson, ask him why he smells bad, see what happens

 

you're changing the issue. The OP merely suggested she was asked why she smells

and don't you think a world leader should not reek?

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what if he does smell bad?

 

she was accused of smelling bad, simply due to the fact she is a Jew.



stop playing ignorant.

 

so are you saying that the olfactory organ on some people reacts differently based on the ethnicity of an individual? do you really think someone at Harvard is offended by Jews given that Jewish rates of enrollment at Harvard is rather high?

 

Left wing extremists are notorious for their hatred of Israelis.

 

yeah I know. I don't think anyone with an IQ over say 4.5 would ever claim I am a "left wing extremist" or anti semitic given my maternal great grandmother was most likely Jewish (family records at Dresden were either destroyed in the firebombing or by the Nazis before the Allies immolated the city and with it family records of my maternal great grandmother's heritage

 

so you're saying one cannot be bigoted against Jews if their great-grandmother may have been a Jew?

LOL!!!!!!!!!

 

Making an issue of it has just revived the old stereotype, which IMO had been completely forgotten, in the US at least. I never heard of it.

Most Americans try very hard to eliminate any body odor but I have heard this is not the case in Europe. Robert Redford was notoriously offensive in this regard, I have heard.

Possibly a new trend will be for the most powerful to maintain their exclusive right to stink, unchallenged?

 

why are you even trying to insinuate I am bigoted against Jews which is clearly your tactic? the fact is you have assumed if someone says something negative about a person that HAS NOTHING to do with the fact they are Jewish-you ASSUME they must be anti semitic. that is dishonest and bigoted

 

Eleven Jewish students and recent alumni of the Harvard Law School have signed a letter defending the law student who asked former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni why she is “so smelly.”

In a letter to the Harvard Law Record, the students defend “our friend and peer” Husam El-Qoulaq, whose comment at an April 14 panel event on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was condemned by Harvard Law dean Martha Minow, the Jewish Law Students Association and others, with many saying it evoked an anti-Semitic stereotype.

Qoulaq, whose identity was not made public until this week, published an apology in the Record last week saying he had not intended to be anti-Semitic and was “entirely unaware” of any stereotypes about Jews being smelly. The apology did not explain what he had intended to convey, however, nor did it acknowledge that whether anti-Semitic or not, calling a panelist “smelly” is generally considered impolite.





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The incident comes at a time when speeches by Israelis on campuses throughout North America and in the United Kingdom are frequently disrupted by anti-Israel protesters. Many campus activists are calling for universities to boycott or divest from Israel. It also comes amid fierce debate as to whether anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic or is merely legitimate criticism of the Jewish state.

In their letter published Monday, which had garnered 84 comments by midday Tuesday, the 11 supporters of El-Qoulaq say their friend is the “target of a vicious smear campaign,” with people on the Internet threatening “various forms of violence” against him.

“These tactics are part of a sadly well-worn playbook aimed at discrediting and defaming those who dare challenge Israel’s abuses against Palestinians,” they continue.

continued

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/11-Je...ts-defend-peer-who-called-Livni-smelly-452454

 

“I would never, ever, ever call anyone, under any circumstances, a ‘smelly Jew,’” the student wrote. “Such a comment is utterly repugnant, and I am absolutely horrified that some readers have been led to believe that I would ever say such a thing. With regards to what I actually did say, I can see now, after speaking with the authors of this article and many other members of the Jewish community at HLS, how my words could have been interpreted as a reference to an anti-Semitic stereotype, one that I was entirely unaware of prior to the publication of this article.

"I want to be very clear that it was never my intention to invoke a hateful stereotype, but I recognize now that, regardless of my intention, words have power, and it troubles me deeply to know that I have caused some members of the Jewish community such pain with my words.”

What else could this man's utterance be construed as? Was he suggesting she had stepped in offal seeping from the Harvard administration building and should clean it off ? Does the man have Tourette syndrome?

Blatant.

Cheers
Labour

Sent from my SM-T900 using Tapatalk

 

Did she smell bad or didn't she? Answer that and you find out who has a motive or who has a chip on their shoulder. You can argue about whether someone was racist all day long, but it won't do anybody any good unless you have all of the facts.

 

im not.

YOU however made the silly claim that one cannot be anti-Semitic if one of their 8 great-grandparents may have been a Jew, as if someone was accusing you.

 

FYI..........................

 

you are not making any sense. merely asking someone why they smell bad (assuming they do) is not any evidence that the questioner is anti-semitic just because the person questioned is Jewish. Now if you ask an Orthodox Jewish man why he "wears a stupid beanie" that might well be evidence of such bigotry.

 

Oh come on. If a person genuinely has issues with hygiene neglect, and genuinely stinks because of it, that person should be shamed or otherwise compelled to "clean up their act".
Being offended by rank body odor has zero reflection on ones' intellect, or any other quality of the offended. The subject is that this Livni person needs to discover soap on a regular basis, but our world and values have degenerated to the point where personal neglect is defended as some kind of "right". This offends ME.

 

Asking because I really don't know.

While saying that was obviously rude and rather stupid and boorish, is that an insult that singles out Jewish people in an anti-Semitic way?