The Tripod - Editor
Issue:
4/13/04
No Need for Attacks in Discussion of
Israel
By Ty Geltmaker
To the Editor:
The Trinity
Tripod of Mar. 30 prints a letter from Professor Kassow in which he links some
students to an alleged anti-semitism of the left in a way that would allow him
to say he was only warning against such a hateful politics.
On Apr. 6
Josie Weldon, who sees herself as personally attacked and smeared by Kassow,
makes the basic moral point that we are to fight the battles that
we can
reasonably affect even as we lament our ineffectiveness elsewhere, in response
to Kassow's list of tragedies deserving of our attention. I am not privy to the
e-mail exchange under question, but I do know that about a year ago I was also
on the receiving end of Professor Kassow's insinuations when he responded in
similar terms after I petitioned former Trinity teachers I hold in esteem
(including him) to protest then-president Hersh having signed a New York Times
ad admirably advising against
anti-Jewish backlashes to the Bush Iraq
war, even as Joan Scott and the Association of American University Professors
condemned the ad for not also mentioning the need for similar vigilance
regarding attacks on Muslims and Arab-Americans.
Professor Kassow is
entitled to convey his personal position regarding Israel, or any other topic to
whomever he wishes. He should, however, come to terms with the fact that it is
possible for students, colleagues, alumni, and citizens of Israel, America, and
the world to talk of Palestine/Israel in terms he finds offensive without
insinuating anti-Semitism at those with whom he disagrees. Trinity should be
proud of articulate students like Josie Weldon. And
Professor Kassow
should remember to be a teacher committed to dialogue (as I remember him always
to have been), not character assassination.
Sincerely,
Ty Geltmaker,
Ph.D. '74