To the Editor:
The full-page advertisement "Palestinian Wall of Lies" in the March 14 edition of the paper crosses the line from advertisement to full-force hatred.
I understand that The Herald must operate with business interest in mind: Nothing is free and we all appreciate access to the University newspaper. However, that the banner across the top reads "Advertisement" in no way serves to ameliorate the offense I took to this graphic display of anti-Palestinian sentiment. I would not object to an editorial espousing beliefs in the Israeli state, but I cannot stand idly by as such propaganda identifies an entire population as terroristic, as "supporters of Hitler" and inventors of a "refugee ‘issue'" that they use "as a weapon in their war against the Jews."
This ad only serves to alienate beloved members of our Brown community and manipulate readers with generalizations and claims backed by zero factual evidence. I should hope that you hold your advertisements to the same journalistic standards as your writers, let alone moral and ethical standards. Despite the fact that it is an advertisement, its appearance in The Herald implies a level of complicity that reflects very poorly on this University. This form of hatred stands in direct contrast to Brown's goals of multiculturalism and community. I hope this disturbing incident can serve as the impetus to revisit your policy on advertisements in the future to ensure that such offensive remarks do not continue to appear in our University newspaper.
David Adler '14
To the Editor:
I found the advertisement run on page 8 of the March 14 issue of The Herald to be highly offensive,to the point where I believe that The Herald should not have run such an ad. The ad that I am referring to, "Palestinian Wall of Lies," is worded in an extremely aggressive, confrontational manner and even goes so far as to include an Islamophobic depiction of a shadowy figure brandishing a machine gun in one hand and a Quran in the other. I feel that the ad was intrinsically offensive in nature and that The Herald should not have run it for this reason — not merely because it might offend some individuals. This ad is an affront to every student at Brown who supports peace in the Middle East, regardless of his or her particular views on the issue.
I fully support The Herald's First Amendment right to freedom of the press, and I do not dispute that The Herald has the right to run such an ad as this. Still, The Herald remains accountable for everything it decides to publish, including advertisements.
Consider, by analogy, if Fred Phelps of the Wesboro Baptist Church approached The Herald with a request to publish an ad proclaiming that AIDS was God's way of punishing homosexuality. Should The Herald accept such an offer? I say no. There needs to be some kind of sanity threshold in place to prevent the paper from becoming a general forum for publishing hate speech and political vitriol.
Nicholas Gaya '14
To the Editor:
In response to the "Palestinian Wall of Lies" advertisement, I am struck by three significant untruths in the advertisement.
One, readers are given the impression that Israel is an innocent and powerless victim. This is far from the truth. Israel is a nation with a standing army, powerful allies around the world and 60 years of dominance over Palestinian people. This is not the NCAA basketball tournament, where teams are matched according to records and skills.
Two, the ad calls the wall a "security fence built to keep out terrorists, not Arabs." The implication of this is that Israeli people must be protected from Palestinians, all of whom are believed to be terrorists. Whether this wall is made of concrete or chain link is irrelevant because movement through the wall is tightly controlled by the Israel Defense Forces.
Three, the ad declares that Palestinians are kept in refugee status by Arab countries "as a weapon in their war against the Jews." First and foremost, this advertisement equates Israel to all Jews, ignoring Jewish dissent against Israeli occupation and policies. Secondly, the refugee "problem" can be solved by creating a Palestinian state. I look forward to learning more about solutions to problems that face us instead of reading an advertisement like this one which conveniently leaves out crucial aspects of history.
Jesse McGleughlin '14
To the Editor:
As a student at Brown who identifies as both Jewish and Zionist, I was both profoundly angered and disappointed at yesterday's "Palestinian Wall of Lies" advertisement in The Herald. The sponsor's claims are not only inaccurate and distorted, but inflammatory, incendiary and provocative. It should be clear from the onset that the advertisement does not represent the opinions of the Jewish community at Brown, particularly that of Hillel. The ad was completely sponsored by an independent third party.
Perhaps most egregiously offensive is his characterization of the Muslim Students Association as a hate group and his implicit equation of Palestinian activists with Nazism. His characterization of the claim "Israel occupies Arab Palestine" as genocidal is an attempt to conflate criticism of Zionism with those who maliciously plot for the destruction of the Jewish people. This is perhaps equivalent to the claim that Jews who are critical of Israeli policy, like myself, are guilty of self-hatred. This is enormously offensive to Jews and non-Jews, Zionists and non-Zionists and makes a mockery of the Jewish tradition of tolerance and acceptance.
The advertisement has enormous ramifications for the Jewish community at Brown, particularly for students in Hillel who have been working to repair inter- and intra-community rifts that have resulted from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The advertisement pigeonholes the Jewish community into a rigid political framework — one that is both aggressive and hateful. He excludes students, like myself, who believe in self-determination for the Jewish people, yet empathize with the legitimate claims of the Palestinian people and the suffering that they have endured in this long-standing conflict. He is as complicit in constructing a flawed binary of oppressor-oppressed as the anti-Zionist activists he claims to disdain.
As a Zionist and humanist, I am embarrassed by the sponsor's portrayal of the Zionist narrative. I urge the Brown community, both Zionist and anti-Zionist, to move beyond the categorical demonization of the other and engage in civil discourse that recognizes both the suffering and aspirations of both communities.
Harry Samuels '13
To the Editor:
The student leadership at Brown-RISD Hillel would like to express its disapproval of an advertisement that ran on page 8 of yesterday's Herald. The advertisement propagated several Islamophobic, racist and hurtful untruths by linking all modern Arab leadership to Nazi ideology and equating Islam with violence.
Though neither Hillel nor any affiliated students had anything to do with the advertisement, we feel compelled to declare that there should be no place for these spiteful, bigoted words in the Brown — or any — community, even under the guise of political free speech. We stand staunchly beside any members of our community who feel alienated and attacked by the advertisement.
We trust that the Brown University community will be wise enough to view the "Wall of Lies" advertisement as an unfortunate example of hatred and as unrepresentative of Hillel or the Jewish community.
The Brown-RISD Hillel Student Executive Board
