By David Henschke

   I have seen many professors pass their opinions as facts. Many professors who are experts in unrelated topics will gleefully make politicized comments in class. However, sometimes there are proper venues for professors to talk about how they feel on certain subjects even if they are controversial opinions.

Professor Schwarz did say that we should “listen carefully between what you hear in English and what you hear in Arabic. In English you will hear words that are consoling and commiserating and in Arabic you will hear hate and kill.” She also said, “I do not say all Arabs and Muslims, but there is a disparity.” Professor Schwarcz also remarked on how “we are all Israelis.” I fail to see the racism in these remarks and I feel to see how these views hamper peace.

Generalizing that the whole Arab world hates the United States or generalizing about anything is a dangerous thing to do. Professor Schwarcz’s comments were not meant to say that all Arabs rejoiced in the terrorist attacks. Her supposed failing to present the other side of the disparity doesn’t change the fact that she did mention that she was not talking about all Arabs and Muslims. Prof. Schwarcz’s remarks did highlight that in the Arab world there is a segment of the population that does support the killing of Americans and Israelis. The Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memri.org) has been translating articles and opinion pieces from newspapers in Arab countries. It includes articles from all over the political spectrum. Some of the articles strongly condemn the terrorist attack, but others do applaud it. A poll conducted by Bir Zeit University found that one quarter of the Palestinian population believed that the World Trade Center attack was consistent with Islamic law. I don’t know if that poll is representative of other Arab countries (I hope it is not). Two-thirds of the surveyed Palestinians said that the attack was against Islamic law. The point is that it is not a small minority, but rather a large minority which supports the murder of Americans. The percentage of the Palestinian population that supports “military attacks” against Israel is around 85%, according to a poll done by the Jerusalem Media Communications Centre. To ignore these facts and to just label them as based on stereotypes is dangerous.

By saying that we are all Israelis now (and I have heard this from many people including Prof. Schwarcz), it is not meant that only Israelis suffer. Instead it is saying that now Americans can understand what it is like to live under the threat of terrorism. American airlines are proposing security measures that are a copy of El Al’s. In that sense, we are all Israelis now. Not very many countries have felt the pain of terrorism as strongly as Israel.

Ignoring or brushing-away ideas and facts that we disagree with will not achieve peace. Ideas shouldn’t be ignored because some may be offended by them.





Henschke is a member of the class of 2003.