[Peace-discuss] Letter to the Editor

[Brussel, Morton K via Peace-discuss]

It’s interesting if not surprising that the N-G ostentatiously promoted this nonlocal “guest commentary”.

Thanks for keep plugging away at such scurrilous articles..

—Mort

On Dec 21, 2014, at 1:44 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:

A response to this piece:
http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/guest-commentary/2014-12-21/moving-controversy.html#comment-535426
This responds to Miriam Elman’s commentary “Moving on from Controversy” (12/21). She writes: “In the coming months, will faculty resolutions that vigorously defend academic freedom also say that disparaging and bullying speech like Salaita's contradicts our professional obligations and responsibilities? Because for Jewish college kids an inclusive campus discourse can't come soon enough.”
There is little that’s coherent in a twisted article that relies on the assumption that supporters of Israel are somehow victims targeted by anti-Semitic bullies. Yet I will focus on the last sentence quoted above, which at least can be taken literally while interpreted differently.
For the 16 years that I’ve attempted in our community to promote perspectives critical of Israel based on rigorous scholarship, I have been aware of no event, other than two off campus sponsored by the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort, that included genuinely diverse perspectives.
While controversies surrounding Jewish identity and Israel have become both central and contentious, no local Jewish institution, including the Program for Jewish Culture and Society on campus, has convened an event incorporating diverse perspectives. Meanwhile, Jewish youth are increasingly alienated by Israel’s actions.
This lack of “inclusive campus discourse” has been enforced by the local Jewish establishment, because such discourse would have to legitimize pro-Palestinian perspectives that challenge cherished doctrine. But I will conclude by re-affirming my willingness to participate in such discourse should there be a historic effort to publicly discuss an issue on which rests merely the moral credibility and viability of Jewish-American culture, society, and religion.
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