<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div>With Israel/Palestine, one must understand the rules.</div><div>When Israel bombs Gaza, it is always in retaliation to Hamas “rockets.” Moreover, Hamas’ goal is to kill every Israeli Jew. Israel never does anything except defend itself.</div><div>When academic organizations in this country propose a boycott of institutional relationships with Israeli universities, this violates academic freedom, even if it leaves Israeli academics free to participate in all scholarly activities.</div><div>However when a scholar of Palestinian background is hired, academic freedom must take a back seat to civility in all aspects of that person’s life; freedom is subordinated to the notion that all “viewpoints” must be “respected.”</div><div>Even if that individual of Palestinian background has a stellar teaching record, it is assumed
that his anger at Israel is both anti-Semitic and imminently threatening to the self-esteem of prospective students. When this scholar implies in non-scholarly communication that Benjamin Netanyahu’s killing Palestinian children is ghoulish, that only confirms his/her anti-Semitism.</div><div>A corollary is that sensibilities of Jewish students—assumed to be pro-Israel—are more important than those of pro-Palestinian students, especially those who find it refreshing for the institution to hire its first professor of Palestinian background who is also qualified to address the Israel/Palestine issue in a scholarly manner.</div><div>When administrators ruin the career of such a scholar, it is understood to be for the cause of all the ideals the university stands for, which are imminently threatened by his/her presence in a classroom.</div><div>These rules are not all that difficult to understand.<br></div></div></body></html>