Sometime in our youth perhaps we were told by a parent or a teacher that “two wrongs do not make a right.” This is what is happening in the War of Israel and Hamas. There was a cartoon in today’s Inquirer that made this point as well. Two groups of people are pictured. The caption underneath reads: Heartbreaking: All of the Israelis and Palestinians I know are lovely people worthy of a future. Don’t choose a side. Choose a solution.
The crimes against the Israeli people are despicable. It has been hard for various people on CNN and Anthony Blinken to even describe. There has been little coverage of what it is like for the Palestinian citizens. There is an equal number of Palestinians and Jewish people who have been killed. I did see one of the Jewish generals indicate that in a war “these Palestinian civilians were collateral damage. Civilians must die as well. We won’t have people speak to us about morals.” Take that in for a moment.
The solution that Israel has put forward is to have 1.1 million Gazans to evacuate south. There is really no place to go. The Palestinian people are crowded into a small area and are in poverty. The United Nations has said that requirement from Israel is completely unreasonable. It can’t be done, but Israel can now say that they warned the Palestinians. Israel has also said that the Palestinians should put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages. In essence, they have placed the Palestinian people in charge of getting Hamas to do anything as the citizens are caught between Hamas and Israel.
I listened to a Palestinian surgeon who vividly described the ramifications of cutting off water, food, electricity, and medical supplies. It is an untenable position to put human beings in as the surgeon without electricity who must watch infants and the elderly die when the essential elements for life have been removed. The surgeon made the point that the Palestinians have been living under oppression for decades. The war has just made the difficult situation move to tragic in describing what they are currently experiencing.
There is a quality of unreality when Israel states that “they will destroy every member of Hamas.” The Jewish leaders must know how terrorist groups operate. Hamas will move to another “safe” country once they do their damage. They will follow the same path as other terrorists such as Isis. Remember Bin Laden. It took forever to find him.
There has been insult added to injury in the response of Jewish benefactors to the Harvard and Penn communities. I am sure there are other schools who have had the threat of funds withheld from them. A heavy donor to Penn, Marc Rowan, has asked for the removal of the new President of Penn and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for not making a strong enough stand against Hamas as well as permitting a Palestinian Writers Workshop, which was held weeks ago. 4000 people wrote President Magill indicating that she did not show leadership regarding the Palestinian Workshop including Josh Harris, managing partner of the 76ers. The vice chair of the Board has supported Magill’s efforts. The alumni protesters are calling for giving only one dollar to Penn to make their point and to demonstrate how important their giving is to the university.
At Harvard students and some faculty wrote a letter indicating that Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians was the cause for the attack of Hamas. Various wealthy Jewish members of the Harvard community including hedge fund owner, Bill Ackman, resigned from important committees because Harvard did not sanction those students who wrote the letter. One of these alumni had a van with the names and faces of the students noted on the side. They also indicated that they wanted a list of all the names of the students who wrote the letter supporting the Palestinians so that those students would not be hired by their businesses.
Harvard’s new President, Claudine Gill, stated in a video recently released in light of all of this negative response to the university which summarizes my view: “People have asked me where we (I, Jim Squire) stand. Our university rejects terrorism – that includes barbaric atrocities perpetuated by Hamas. Our university rejects hate – hate of Jews, hate of Muslims, hate of groups of people based on their faith, their natural origin, or any aspect if their identity.”
“Harvard rejects the harassment of individuals based on their beliefs and embraces a commitment to free expression. That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous. We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views. But that is a far cry from endorsing them.”
I would add: To all alumni, particularly at Harvard and Penn, you are entitled to resign, you are entitled to your point of view, you are entitled to withhold your money, but you are not entitled to tell us what we should be doing nor are you entitled to shame our students by posting their names and pictures. What you have said and done is important but it may say more about you than it does about the issue at hand. No one likes to be blackmailed by Hamas or anyone else.
Years ago, I wanted the school to hire our first woman clergyperson to be an Associate Chaplain. This is not a big deal now, but at the time and “for the first” it was a big deal.
I received a call from an alumnus who told me if I did this, he would withhold his significant giving to the school. Since it involved fundraising, I met with the head of school, Jay Crawford to tell him what was up. He asked me one question, “Jim, what do you want to do?” This alumnus unfortunately made his threat known to others. I responded to Jay by saying, “I want to bring her on board. It is time for that.”
Fortunately for me and unfortunately for the angry donor, the first woman clergyperson was so gifted that she wowed the school community. The donor was told this by others. It was a bad call on his part. Neither Jay nor I would tolerate people who attempted to blackmail us. Yes, there were others.
Later I would hear from a parent via phone who didn’t identify himself who threatened me for “taking the school in the wrong direction” regarding my stance advocating for people who were gay. His language was vile and hateful. He said he represented a large group of parents. I responded by telling him that I would gladly meet with him and his large group of parents anytime and anywhere. I never heard back from him again. Tacit black mail is never a viable approach against leaders of a school. That is something that the new leaders of Harvard and Penn have demonstrated in this important character moment. We should follow their moral approach because two wrongs will never make a right.
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