Charges of Anti-Semitism misguided 6-18-2015

18, June 2015             Charges of Anti-Semitism misguided

I was dismayed by Tom Elias’s column (June 16) conflating legitimate concerns over Israeli policies on UC Campuses with anti-Semitism. This makes as much sense as conflating criticism of Russian polices with anti-Christian or conflating criticism of Iran with Islamophobia. Would criticism of Spain or Italy stir the ire of the Pope and lead to charges that we are anti-Catholic?

Students at UC campuses engaged in legitimate criticism of Israeli polices must not be intimidated by charges of anti-Semitism; such tactics have long been used to silence critics of Israeli policies. I was also distressed by Tom Elias’s characterization of the Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘accidental death of thousands of innocent civilians Palestinians’. The death of 2,104 Palestinian including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women can hardly be accidental. Israel has been legitimately criticized for using the so-called "knock on the roof" method - warning people of impending airstrikes by launching a non-explosive missile before the main strike. Some airstrikes have occurred less than a minute later. ‘18,000 homes destroyed in Gaza, tens of thousands lack facilities to go back home – in what Israel described in grotesque terms as ‘mowing the lawn’; our tax dollars continue to fund the Israeli war machine that makes all this possible. Political speech is protected by the US Constitution and must be vigorously upheld at all times especially at our US campuses.