Dear Editor,
Yesterday, upon opening the Daily and reading the Op-Ed section, I was horrified to read in Robert Persky's March 6 Op-Ed "Radicals: revolution without solution" the statement that the presence of the Islamophobic and hateful advertisement published in the Daily on Monday was "because of SJP's - and Israeli Apartheid Week's - in-your-face, one-sided policies." This is blatantly false if one takes even a cursory look at the website listed on the advertisement, or on the website of the parent organization's website: the David Horowitz Freedom Center. To call SJP's week of peaceful, consciousness raising activism - whether one agrees with it or not - a catalyst for hate speech from a national organization designed specifically to malign Islam, Muslim-Americans and all communities who might be perceived within those categories is an incorrect reading of facts and a simple case of victim-blaming. The actions of fear-mongers and hate-speakers are not dictated by the annual event of a week calling for a critical dialogue around Palestine-Israel - they are crafted out of a deep-seated malaise that uses the excuse of groups like Students for Justice in Palestine to lash out and disseminate their disgusting message.
Sincerely,
Duncan MacLaury
Class of 2013
