Letters to the Editor

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

‘After Arafat’


The New York Sun’s November 5, 2004, editorial hopefully suggests Arab Palestinians now have the opportunity to learn from mistakes and to choose a better leader [“After Arafat”].


Unfortunately, finding a Palestinian leader who has not shared Yasser Arafat’s dream of eliminating the state of Israel, is highly improbable. Will we again be hoodwinked by a Palestinian leader’s peace promises?


Arab sociologist/scholar Sania Hamady has written, “Lying is a widespread habit among the Arabs who have no scruples about lying if by it they obtain their objectives.”


The Egyptian-born Mr. Arafat, upon his demise, should be returned to the land of his birth.


The terrorist leader, whose PLO massacred Israeli children in Maalot in 1974, who ordered the assassination of two American diplomats in Khartoum, and who waged a four-year intifada against Israeli civilians after turning down Prime Minister Barak’s incredible offer to sacrifice territory to Palestinian enemies for “peace,” was never prosecuted under international law for crimes against humanity.


Israel will not honor Mr. Arafat’s wish for burial on the historic Temple Mount, which would be a desecration of the Jews’ ancient holy site and would invite a Trojan horse influx of anti-Israel Arabs into Jerusalem, to glorify a terrorist, threatening Israel’s security and sovereignty.


The American government must wake up to reality in the Middle East. A generation of Arab children has been educated in jihad and hatred for Jews and Israel. Mothers of suicide bombers are proud of their children.


To believe it was Mr. Arafat alone who stood in the way of peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is, sadly, an illusion.


ELLEN J. SINGER
Hartsdale, N.Y.


‘Bollinger’s Blindness’


I am writing in response to your recent articles and editorial about Joseph Massad and allegations of anti-Semitism at Columbia University [“Bollinger’s Blindness,” Editorial, October 22, 2004, and “Columbia Abuzz Over Underground Film,” Jacob Gershman, Page 1, October 20, 2004].


I am an American Jew, born in New York, raised in Brooklyn, and currently living in New Mexico. I have known Mr. Massad for almost 20 years, since the time that he was an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico and I was a law student at the UNM School of Law. Based on my knowledge of Mr. Massad as a person, and of his academic writings, I can tell you that the charges of anti-Semitism directed against him are completely false.


Mr. Massad has many close Jewish friends of American, European, Yiddish, Israeli, and Middle Eastern heritage. He has a thorough understanding of, and great sympathy for, the suffering of European Jews at the hands of European anti-Semitism, the destruction of Yiddish culture, and the suffering of the victims and survivors of the Nazi concentration camps.


He has had close personal and academic relationships with many Jewish students and colleagues, including Jewish Zionists who disagree with him vehemently about Israel. He is one of the most respectful, courteous, knowledgeable, and professional people I have ever met in academic circles.


The attacks on Columbia University for anti-Semitism are even more ridiculous than the attacks on Mr. Massad. Columbia University has one of the oldest and most prestigious programs of Jewish studies of any university in the world.


Columbia is the home of the Center for Israel & Jewish Studies and the YIVO Center for Jewish Research. Columbia is located near the Jewish Theological Seminary and offers degree programs in Jewish history, languages, and religion. To say that Columbia University suffers from an anti-Israel bias, or that Columbia students suffer from a hostile, anti-Semitic environment, is a completely false charge.


The attacks on Columbia University and Mr. Massad are part of a larger McCarthylike movement to label anyone who dissents from Prime Minister Sharon’s policy in Israel as anti-Semitic and anyone who dissents from American government policy in Israel as anti-American. Within Jewish communities, and among Zionists in America and Israel, there is currently a great deal of debate about Israel and Palestine, and what should be the proper role of the Israeli and American governments.


There is a great deal of diversity of opinion about whether Mr. Sharon’s policies in Israel are helping or hurting the Jews in Israel and around the world. There is a great deal of debate about whether Israel will be able to move into the future as both a democratic and a Jewish state, with regard to both the occupied territories and to Israeli demographics. There are those in both Israel and America who want to silence these debates by smearing all who oppose them with the labels of being anti-Semitic and anti-American.


As an American Jew, I say shame on you for stooping to these Mc-Carthyite tactics and slanders. Dissent has a long tradition in both American and Jewish heritage. Look at the U.S. Constitution and the Jewish Talmud for long and proud traditions of encouraging dissenting opinion. Shame on you for discouraging dissent.


BETH A. KAIMOWITZ
The writer holds a juris doctor degree and works as a Library Information Specialist at Parish Memorial Business and Economics Library
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque



Please address letters intended for publication to the Editor of The New York Sun. Letters may be sent by e-mail to editor@nysun.com, facsimile to 212-608-7348, or post to 105 Chambers Street, New York City 10007. Please include a return address and daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited.

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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