A crusade was launched this week against Sari Hanafi, assistant professor of Sociology at the American University in Beirut. The reason behind the campaign is that Hanafi, a Palestinian born in Syria, co-edited the book The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with two Israeli academics, thereby violating the guidelines of the Palestinian Academic Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) at AUB. But did he?

The fact that Hanafi worked with two Israelis could understandably offend Lebanese who suffered from Israeli aggression for years, and who consider Israel an enemy of the Lebanese state. But if Hanafi’s critics stopped to think for a second or actually tried reading the book, they would realize that Hanafi did not really offend anyone. On the contrary, the content of the book cannot but be regarded as supportive of the Palestinians.

But in Lebanon, things tend to be either black or white.

Hanafi, at a town hall meeting held Monday at AUB, told members of the audience that the book “provides a detailed analysis of the ways in which Israel deploys technologies of power and systems of control to maintain its stranglehold over the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It is a book that concentrates on the illegality of the occupation regime.” Moreover, the two Israelis Hanafi co-edited the book with, Adi Ophir and Michal Givoni, are anti-Zionist.

In their introduction, the editors said the book was an attempt to examine the occupation and came from their belief “that such an inquiry is essential for forming effective resistance to the occupation and for coming to terms with the real prospects of bringing it to an end.”

Ending the occupation through peaceful, intellectual and scientific resistance is the aim of the book. But no, according to those who launched the campaign against Hanafi, this is not resistance; this is normalization. They believe only in armed resistance and that breaking certain debatable “rules” to end the occupation is collaboration with the enemy.

An anti-normalization petition was released and signed by 274 AUB staff, students and alumni, calling on the university “to recognizes that normal academic exchange with Israeli academic institutions and their faculty is not an option open to AUB faculty and staff.”

The town hall meeting, which was supposed to be an academic debate on the implications of PACBI at AUB, thus turned into a trial where critics accused Hanafi of committing the unspeakable, ignoring both the content of the book and Hanafi’s history of defending the Palestinians against Israeli occupation.

Hanafi is known for his activism for the civil and human rights of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Although the petition states that it does not have anything personal against Hanafi, something signees have repeated to the press, the professor was verbally attacked by AUB students who showed a glaring lack of respect for his position and past work.

One of the critics’ claims, that Hanafi violated Lebanese law by collaborating with Israelis, is not true, as he worked on the book seven years ago, before coming to Lebanon, though it was only published now. But this is a moot point, as those who attacked him were not offering well-though-out, reasoned arguments. They reacted emotionally, as is always the case when Israel is mentioned. Neither the content of the book nor its aim mattered to the angry crowd.

Hanafi did what he thought was right, and his choice and point of view should have been respected. But we live in Lebanon. Viewpoints and personal choices are rarely respected here; they are used as material to provoke the masses.

The masses did not read the book. They did not even listen to Hanafi when he said that the book has been attacked by pro-Israeli organizations, condemning it as a publication intended to “delegitimize Israel.”

They did not hear him say that the editors he worked with have for years expressed a clear position in favor of ending the occupation and recognizing refugees’ right to return.

They did not listen to him saying repeatedly that the project was not funded by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, as some claimed during the campaign.

The angry masses did not even stop to consider that their own idols “committed the same crime.” Famed Arabist Edward Said, and Israeli-Palestinian politician Azmi Bechara were not criticized for exchanging ideas with anti-occupation Israelis. Even the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine worked with leftist Israelis at some point. But for the angry crowd gathered at the AUB town hall, that is inconsequential. Said and Bechara were not based in Lebanon, nor did they teach at AUB.

The double standards are striking.

Even PACBI, which initially criticized the book for violating its guidelines, immediately issued a statement clarifying that neither the book nor its editors should fall under the boycott. So what’s really the problem?

If it is only because AUB was mentioned next to Tel Aviv University in the book, it does not warrant the vicious and aggressive attack Hanafi suffered. The problem is that some people live off of their righteous anger and need fuel for their wrath. They do not care if the book serves the Palestinians or not, because the issue is apparently not Palestine or the Palestinians. It is about politics and the desire to keep the masses angry.

Hanafi tried to logically explain his position. He said that he and his co-editors were trying to reach a wider audience. “Fortunately or unfortunately, we know from experience that we have a larger audience when we present more sides. At least in instances like these, the other side is one that is critical of the Israeli occupation and is not giving counterarguments to our ideas,” he concluded.

However, logic is not a welcome guest in the heart of madness. Hanafi was forced to apologize.

Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon