LETTER: Palestinian rights revisited

The article in The Daily Free Press (“Protesters march for Palestinian rights,” Oct. 12, p.1) was a prime example of what Jack Clearly states in the article, “our media doesn’t do a very good job of balanced reporting.” Articles like this one eliminate that balance completely. As these protesters marched across Copley Square, disconnected from the Boston University community, nearly 1,000 people gathered on Boston University grounds, in Metcalf Auditorium, to hear from experts on the issues of misinformation and misrepresentation in the media about the existential threat that Israel faces.

From the coverage in The Daily Free Press, it would seem that there is no legitimate opposition to the Palestinian supporters’ claims, as referenced in the article. For example, a protester said, “Just because you support the Palestinians rights to the land they’ve always had…doesn’t mean you’re anti-Israel.”

Today’s news would assure us that this is untrue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to extend the building freeze in the West Bank in return for recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Israel, as a democratic state, allows a member of any religious background to acquire citizenship.

However, the surrounding Muslim countries have ethnically-cleansed themselves of Jews. The Palestinian Authority immediately refused Netanyahu’s offer, confirming that they have no intention of allowing Israel to exist. In addition, until 1948 there was no “Palestinian people” because there was no country. There were tribes, most of who are ethnically Jordanian and Iraqi. This claim of “land that was always theirs” also asserts that it was not land that is historically Jewish, which is factually incorrect. There have always been Jews on the land and the last autonomous government to rule the land was Jewish.

Another quote stated that, “More than 7,454 people have been killed in just the last 10 years . . . a majority of those killed have been Palestinian.” Although not false, the bias of this article could not be clearer. The number of those killed who were terrorists is not given, the number killed by Palestinians is not mentioned and the number of victims used as human shields is omitted. The number of Palestinians referenced is one of the most blatant examples of media-manipulated facts, not to mention that the source is an unreliable interest group.

The hate-based and propagandist nature of the statement, “Our taxes pay for Israel to kill the people in Gaza and the West Bank and to destroy their homes” is transparent. All foreign aid in the U.S. amounts to less than one percent of the federal budget. Israel is the only democratic ally the U.S. has in the Middle East. Beyond the moral and ethical tie Israel and the U.S. share, the economic and military benefit of U.S. aid to Israel comes back to America through military innovation, medical advances and American companies based in Israel such as Google and Intel.

Israel is the West Bank’s largest trade partner. Israel is also the largest independent donor of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Since the end of the Israel Deference Force operation in Gaza (Jan. 18 2009) until June 5 2010, 1,025,686 tons of aid, 49,610tons of cooking gas and 136,097,330 liters of fuel have been delivered to the Gaza Strip.No Palestinian is denied medical care in Israel; in fact, Palestinian families receive the same subsidized healthcare as Israelis, about 10 percent of the cost for the same treatment in the United States. However, Hamas often denies Palestinians the permits to travel to Israel for medical treatment – a huge humanitarian violation.

If “Palestinian rights” are the objective of protest, we should be listening to those who really know, like Mosab Hassan Yousef – the son of the Hamas’s founding father. The daily hangings by Hamas, the subjugation of women, the violent oppression and rival political parties are only a few examples of violated “Palestinian Rights.”

Rachelle Rubin, CAS ’12