I just sent this letter off to the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, in response to Ken Thrasher’s letter attacking me as a “pro-terrorist” and Nazi symp. Several students and colleagues at the University of Arkansas have also written letters in my defense and, inshallah, at least some of them will be printed. What I learned from this experience is that, in such cases, it is very very difficult to litigate, very difficult (and very expensive) to win cases where one charges slander or defamation of character. Joel Beinin of Stanford, who has been smeared much worse than I have, sued David Horowitz for copyright violation rather than for slander. Several friends suggested that I try to mobilize faculty to urge the UA administration to take up my defense. I consider that a good idea, but for various reasons (some of them sound), that will not happen in this instance. But at least the Democrat-Gazette received quite a few letters of protest. Unfortunately, such attacks on professors who have progressive politics and who are critical of Israel have become almost daily occurrences.
Here’s my response to Thrasher:
I leave it to the Democrat-Gazette’s readers to decide whether calling for diplomacy and raising concerns about excessive civilian casualties makes me “pro-terrorist” and a Nazi sympathizer, and whether aggressive defenders of Israel like Mr. Thrasher really promote that country’s best interests in either the long or the short run.