Your statement in the editorial “Univer­sities Are Betraying Their Central Mission” (Bulletin, March 2009) that “supporters of Israeli government policy feel that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism” is both an insult to the intelligence of your readership, who understand that supporters of Israel — other than the straw man you set up — are capable of making such a distinction, and an indication that you are going along the route of those anti-Israel acti­vists who decry any criticism of their positions as illegi­timate suppression.

Beyond a commitment of universities to “radical, critical teaching and research,” with which we all can agree, there also needs to be a commitment to the pursuit of the truth. The anti-Israel cartoon, which you reproduce for the edification of your readership, seems to assert that the only possible target Israel had in Gaza was an innocent little boy with his teddy bear.

Absent is any reference to the hundreds of missiles launched from Gaza indiscriminately targeting Israelis, without which there would have been no incursion at all. Nor is there any reference to the massive Israeli efforts to in­form Gazans (by telephone and text messaging) in advance of their targets so people could leave those areas.

Is it indeed your purpose to defend to the hilt the rights of the creators of this simplistic, one-sided and distorted cartoon and to delegitimize the recourse of those whose freedom to enjoy a uni­versity open to reasoned discourse is thereby damaged?

Ira Robinson
Religion
Concordia University

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