A letter to the editor was published in the Northwest Arkansas Times yesterday in response to the forum I participated in on August 30. It deploys the typical and almost predictable arguments that ardent Zionists sling against any Israel critic in the US: anti-Semitism (calling for the destruction of Israel) and lack of “balance.” The latter argument reeks of David Horowitz, who has made this his mantra now for several years. There was more to say but the space in letters is too short. Two more points I would have liked to make (1) Hillel frequently sponsors lectures and the like at the UA campus. Ghadbian, Gordon and I have never been invited to appear at any of their events for the sake of “balance” and “objectivity.” (2) A map that shows Israel in the Middle East of course makes it appear that the Jewish state is under threat of being swamped by its far larger neighbors. The purpose of such a map is to disguise Israel’s true power: it has the fifth most powerful military force in the world, possesses nuclear weapons, enjoys the full backing of the US, has never lost a conventional war against its much “larger” neighbors, and so on.
Here’s the letter, followed by my response.
“Objective analysis of Israel lacking” -- Northwest Arkansas Times, September 10, 2006
Darla Newman / Fayetteville
My response, which I just sent off to the editor. We’ll see if it’s published.
Newman also is dismayed by the forum’s lack of “balance” and our “refusal” to invite someone with a “pro-Israeli” stance to participate. Professor Gordon in fact spoke informatively at the forum about conditions inside Israel, which he visited this summer as the guest of two Israeli universities, and where he has relatives and friends But perhaps for Newman “pro-Israeli” means defending Israel’s Lebanon war, and it is true that no one at our forum took this position. Instead, we argued that the US, Israel’s chief ally, should engage in diplomacy with Hizbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran. That is, we advocated a peace policy and argued against Israel’s aggressive war policy in Lebanon and Palestine and against US support for it.
In sum, although Newman argues for “balance” and “peaceful dialogue,” she has in fact misrepresented both the intent of our forum and the nature of the discussion that took place.
Ted Swedenburg
Fayetteville
Update: My letter was eventually printed in the Northwest Arkansas Times. Newman’s letter subsequently also appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and my response (a somewhat shortened version of what appears above) was also printed.
Tags: Lebanon, Israel, Arkansas
posted by Ted Swedenburg @ 11:31 AM
