Dear President Santa Ono:
Although I was generally in agreement with the content of your letter regarding the disruption at the honors convocation on Sunday, I take exception with your inflammatory characterization of the participants as "anti-Israel protesters" and your claim that the protest was "especially painful" for members of the UM Jewish Community.
The tendency to automatically equate Judaism with support for the actions of the Israeli government has a long and unfortunate history in the U.S. But Israel has been in control of a right-wing government for decades and many Jews, not only in the U.S. but also in Israel itself, are opposed to many of its policies--including support for illegal settlements in Palestinian lands, the "collective punishment" of Palestinian families for acts of individual members, and a range of Jim Crow-style apartheid laws that deny equal rights to Israeli Arabs. Yet now, under the current Israeli occupation of Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians have already been killed and untold numbers are at serious risk of death in the near future either through continued military action or famine. Many have called these attacks genocidal and though I have seen legalistic claims to the contrary, what is transpiring in Gaza is outrageous by whatever one chooses to call it. Plenty of Jewish persons all around the world recognize this and oppose these actions.
A university honors convocation may not be the appropriate time or place to demonstrate against these actions. But in your unfair and inaccurate attempt to paint Sunday's protest as essentially an act of anti-Semitic hatred, you mischaracterize the cause and righteousness of those protesting genocide (or something close to it), and you further insult the UM Jewish community by implying all of them agree with and support the atrocities being protested.
Sincerely,
Eric Dunn (he/him/él)
LSA Class of 1997
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