Despite what Michael Zarkin, the director of Hillel of Buffalo believes ("Tug of War: Students and Faculty Debate War in Iraq," April 16), there is nothing anti-Semitic about not supporting the policies of a right wing Christian fundamentalist government here in the United States that props up the government of the State of Israel with economic and military aid; it is quite simply an anti-terrorist stance. The first thing that anyone should consider when deciding the appropriateness of American support for the State of Israel is the history that led to the creation of that state. Despite what many misinformed individuals believe, the war that created the State of Israel was not World War II, it was a violent struggle waged by a group of extremists in the area of Palestine. Extremists in this region repeatedly used terrorist tactics against the British colonial government in Palestine at the end of World War II. To begin researching just what kind of struggle this was, and also what many historians believe is the creation of modern day terrorism, enter the terms: "King David Hotel, Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin" into a Google search and start reading.
Quite frankly, it seems to me that supporting the policies of any American government that supports the government of a nation that has elected no less than two terrorists to the office of prime minister is a fundamental violation of the policies of a government that claims to disavow all forms of terrorism. American support for the Israeli government is especially disturbing because it exposes an obvious double standard in American foreign policy. This is clear because the repressive tactics used by the Israeli government in the occupied territories of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip occur while the Israeli government violates several U.N. resolutions, and is made more disturbing because of the fact that according to all evidence, Israel has numerous weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Sound familiar?
If the American government does not want to appear hypocritical, at the very least, American aid to Israel should be suspended until the Israeli government no longer violates several U.N. resolutions while engaging in numerous repressive human rights violations.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
