Letters to the Editor

War, not USAC, is the thief

In response to Joel Schwartz’s column “Councils rob
public with anti-war ads,” (Feb. 27) as a member of the
Undergraduate Students Association Council who voted for the
resolution opposing the war, I wanted to comment on what I feel is
the true theft. This war, and any subsequent wars it will
cause, is robbing the public (and especially students) of funding
that should otherwise go to alleviating our increasing
tuition, keeping hospitals open, and providing employment
for the many students who will soon graduate, as well as
maintaining employment for those people who are losing their jobs
en masse. A printed resolution, or time spent at a meeting is
the least we can do to use our public positions to call out
the true injustice and theft of the nation’s communal
resources which are now being funneled to the military industrial
complex and oil producers.

Christopher R. Neal USAC external vice
president

Levy lives in fantasy world

Adir Levy’s column “Israel advocates peace in face
of violence” (Feb. 26) illustrates the fact that idealists
like Levy create fantasy worlds for themselves, in which one of the
world’s biggest military superpowers is “under
siege” from a stateless and impoverished people. In
Levy’s fantasy world, Israel has “only fought wars in
self-defense.” Perhaps Levy should read the words of former
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who, in reference to the
1967 Six-Day war, says, “We must be honest with ourselves. We
decided to attack (Egypt President Gamal Abd al-Nasser).”

While Levy is correct in stating that Israeli civilians have
been subject to an unprecedented level of violence by the
wickedness of the Palestinian suicide bombings, Levy fails to
recognize the even greater level of violence being inflicted upon
Palestinians since the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Almost 1,900 Palestinians
have been killed since the start of the conflict, compared to
almost 700 Israelis who have been killed in what Levy calls
“morally justified” military operations.

Instead of repeating hackneyed catch phrases, Levy might do well
to return to the real world, where Israeli and Jewish human rights
groups like B’Tselem, Gush-Shalom, and others that work
tirelessly with their Palestinian and Arab counterparts to stop
what’s at the heart of the conflict in the Holy Land: The
daily humiliations and degradation the Palestinians must endure
every day.

Bobby Ronaghy Fourth-year, political
science