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Boston: How French TV Fudged the Death of Mohammed Al-Durah
by Richard Landes
  On September 30, 2000, images of 12-year-old Mohammed Al-Durah and his father circulated globally, along with a claim that they had been the targeted victims of Israeli fire. Raw footage from that day reveals pervasive staging; no evidence of Israeli fire directed at the pair; there was no sign of blood on the ground where the father and son reportedly bled for 20 minutes; and none of the dozen cameraman present filmed anything that could substantiate the claim that the father and son had been hit, much less that the Israelis had targeted them. The raw footage features a long succession of obviously faked injuries. It was stunning. That was no cameraman's conspiracy: It was everyone - a public secret about which news consumers had no clue. The writer is a medieval history professor at Boston University. (New Republic)
Duke: 44 for Divestment Owe Apology
by Andrew Gerst
 Since early 2003, 44 Duke professors have signed a petition calling on the University to withdraw investment from "all companies with military ties to Israel." The petition claims to represent the interests of the Palestinian people, though it is little more than a smear job on Israel. The petition does not mention a word of the enormous good Israel has done for Palestinians: How Israeli Palestinians enjoy a life expectancy greater than in any other Arab nation due to nationalized health care; how Israel offers a culture of tolerance for Palestinian and other homosexuals, unlike any other Arab nation; how the Israeli Defense Forces face strict scrutiny from Israel's supreme court. (Duke Chronicle)
Harvard: The Israeli Model for Detainee Rights
by Martha Minow and Gabriella Blum
 Before enacting the "Detainee Bill" (otherwise known as the Military Commissions Act) two weeks ago, Congress should have spent more time learning from the Israeli experience. Compared with Israel's security measures during a long and difficult experience with terrorism, the U.S. Congress has gone too far in its willingness to compromise human rights and civil liberties. Security considerations, as legitimate and forceful as they are, do not justify such excessive measures, as the Israeli practice demonstrates. (Harvard Law School)
King's College: The Weight of the World on Israel
by Efraim Karsh
 What is the source of this extraordinary attention? Not empathy with the Palestinians; Israel attracted huge international interest well before it conquered the territories in the June 1967 war, indeed well before the "Palestinian problem" gained international prominence. In fact, there has never been a genuine international interest in the "Palestine question," especially by the Arab states, whose decades of mistreatment of the Palestinians has gone virtually unnoticed. It is only when they interact with Israel, the only Jewish state to exist since biblical times, that the Palestinians win the world's attention - not on their own merit but as a corollary of the millenarian obsession with the Jews in the Christian and Muslim worlds. (New York Sun)
NYU: Captured Israeli Soldiers Still not Back
by Zach Stern
 Caravan For Democracy and other campus groups hosted a talk by 23-year-old Gadi Goldwasser, the brother of one of the Israeli soldiers Hizballah captured on July 12. It is a basic human right to have proof of life of any prisoners of war, and communication provided for them through the Red Cross, as well as visits to verify their basic health and well being. It is a key provision of the U.N.’s cease-fire resolution that these two Israelis be released immediately and unconditionally. What would you do if it was your brother?
(Washington Square News)
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Columbia: Seven Deadly Sins
by Ethan Pack
 My anomalous political orientation has given me a glimpse into this. While I define myself as a critical liberal, my immersion in the topics of Israel and Zionism has often alienated me from what I see as cracks in the armor of academia. This could occur to anyone in any subject. But, racking my brain on the topic of my obsession, I developed the seven deadly sins of the academy that make open and constructive dialogue a rarity. (Columbia Spectator)
Georgetown: Hard-Headed Rhetoric Injures Peace Prospects
by Jeff Planchard
 Since destroying Israel is no longer a realistic possibility, groups (like Hizballah) that seek such an end should follow the example of modern-day Egypt and Jordan. These states, despite once being bitter enemies of the Jewish state, have found common ground and made lasting peace with their former adversary. Now, Iran is focusing on sectarian hegemony. Unwisely, however, they too are adopting the hateful rhetoric of genocide that in the past has spelled doom for the offending nation and any prospects for regional peace. Since Iran is now suspected of seeking nuclear weapons, Israel may once again be faced with a belligerent enemy who preaches the end of the Jewish state. (The Hoya)
Harvard: The Lerner-Finkelstein Duet
by Alan Dershowitz
 Last month, the notorious Norman Finkelstein - a strong supporter of Hizballah and an opponent of justice for Holocaust survivors - published a call to arms entitled, "Should Alan Dershowitz Target Himself for Assassination?" As the title of the article suggests, Finkelstein puts forward in his article what he believes to be a justification for my assassination as a war criminal, based on my support for Israel. Nor was this the only obscenity in the article. Not by a long shot. (Jerusalem Post)
Northern Illinois: Associated Press Story about Israel Too Negative, Contradicts Opinion Piece
by Robert Rubinson
 I am surprised about the Star printing "Air strike kills girl, militant" by the Associated Press after the Star printed Alex Ketay's piece "Do your part to support Israel." The AP article was about how Israel killed some terrorist and in the process a girl was accidentally killed. This is not bad, but the AP headline focuses on the death of the girl, making Israel look bad. The headline should have been "Israel kills terrorist" and the article should have mentioned the accidental death of the girl. The headline is only one part of the problem with the AP article. What the writer should focus on is that there are now less terrorists in the world and Israel is one of the few countries that is actually doing something in the war against terrorism. (Northern Star)
Tel Aviv: The Litmus Test for Governmental Reform
by Dan Ben-David
 There is a need to weigh the difficulties in convincing politicians to agree to a genuine adoption of a full-fledged presidential system, versus the legislation of piecemeal amendments that will not pass the existential conditions of the litmus test, with all that this implies. Every Israeli who wants his children and grandchildren to continue living here in the future must understand that what we do - or fail to do - in the coming months and years will determine the future character, and the actual existence, of the State of Israel. The writer teaches economics in the Department of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University. (Ha'aretz)
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