To the Editor:
My organization and I were disturbed by the rhetoric in journalist Israel Shamir's lecture, which Tuesday's article "Israelis culpable for Middle East violence" (4/10) recounted. Shamir said in his lecture that "Israeli people represent a virus form of a human being, because they can live anywhere."
Having attended the lecture, I realize that Shamir's statement was part of his attempt to make the point that Jews have settled in many countries and continue to do so. That is a valid argument. Shamir also made other points that are possible to defend through the use of facts and figures. For example, he "accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak of having planned the intifadah." Although I disagree, I believe that one could make a reasonable argument in support of that belief. He also said that "much of the media... is controlled by Jews." I disagree with that statement as well, but again I believe it is possible to defend that point using concrete evidence.
However, I believe that most people, and most groups of people, would be offended by being compared to a virus. Furthermore, the term becomes even more hurtful in this situation when one realizes that the Nazis referred to Jews as viruses.
It is my hope, and it is my organization's hope, that intellectuals stick to arguing about policies, politicians, and people and refrain from using such offensive rhetoric.
Adrian Wilairat, LA '01
President, Friends of Israel
