Actions speak louder than words

To the Editor:

The recent op-ed “Actions speak louder than words” by the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (“Actions speak louder than words,” Dec. 7) is just another example of religious intolerance of Israel as a Jewish state. It is a repulsive rejection of calls from the Columbia pro-Israel community to rationally discuss the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This op-ed insinuates that “pro-Zionist” groups like Hillel are wrong to “endorse the idea of Israel as a national homeland for Jews.” Characteristic of the growing movement to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist, SJP completely and conveniently ignores the fact that Israel has been and will continue to be the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years. SJP refuses to recognize the fundamental right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state but instead asks us only to recognize the Palestinians as the “indigenous people of the land,” an intellectually dishonest and seemingly exclusive status that SJP has bestowed upon the Palestinians in order to support its thesis.

Rather than working together to discuss viable solutions to the conflicting claims to the Holy Land, this piece promulgates an incendiary, one-sided narrative that trivializes a multifaceted conflict. Inflammatory displays on Low Plaza will not remedy Palestinians suffering in the West Bank and Gaza but only serve to perpetuate an agenda of hatred and disregard for the reality of the Middle East.

Michael Shapiro, GS/JTS ’12
President of LionPAC
Eric Schorr GS/JTS ’12
Vice President of LionPAC
Dec. 12, 2010