To the editor,
This past Monday, Hillel, in association with the Jewish National Fund hosted Effi Eitam. I was concerned to see Hillel host such a virulent speaker. Effi Eitam is notorious within Israel for being a member of the far right and a strong supporter of the Settlement project. He is also known for advocating loyalty tests for Arab citizens of Israel and has called Arabs a 'ticking bomb' within Israeli society. He was quoted in an Israeli newspaper Ynet advocating the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. As a Jew, I was most shocked by his belief that it is 'his destiny to lead the Jewish people'. We would not host a leader of the KKK or of the British National Party and similarly this was a wholly inappropriate speaker for Hillel to host.
As a club one is responsible for the speakers that they host. It becomes an impression that the host club supports those speaker's views. I am a member of a student human rights group Students for Justice in Palestine. If we were to host a speaker, we would be held responsible for their statements. We would not and will not host an anti-Semitic speaker. Hillel has denied knowledge of Eitam's views, but a simple Wikipedia search will expose Eitam's radical views. It is irresponsible of a campus group to host a racist speaker and to then apologize and say innocently 'oops.' If Hillel would like to support Mr. Eitam's views, they have a right to; however, they should not feign ignorance.
Past groups on campus have hosted controversial speakers—Ali Abunimah and Norman Finkelstein notoriously. Students for Justice in Palestine never hosted those speakers nor endorsed their views. In a discussion with Hillel Director Joe Davis, these speakers were used as a defense for Hillel's choice of Effi Eitam. The poor decisions of others are never an excuse for poor behavior by oneself.
It is important that UB students stand up to Hillel for hosting such a deplorable character at UB. Many students participated in a protest this past Monday against the speech. They were called 'terrorists' and one speaker attendee spit at the ground in front of the protesters. However, thanks to the character of the protesters, no reaction was given. Hillel should learn from this experience that hate impedes progress and in the future I hope that Hillel will not host anti-Arab speakers.
Nicolas Kabat
Students for Justice in Palestine
nmkabat@buffalo.edu
