Letter to the Editor | Consider the facts

Earlier this week, The Cornell Daily Sun published an article: “Israeli Speakers Explain Refusal to Join Army.” The piece is, in my opinion, quite biased in its recap of a Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) event held last Saturday, and as such I wrote an op-ed piece offering additional thoughts.

Unfortunately, the editors of the Sun neglected to publish my piece, despite my follow up. Given that yesterday was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I believe it’s critical for the Cornell University community, and anyone else who might read the article, to receive another perspective about the SJP event.

Though the Sun won’t publish my article, the beauty of the internet is that my voice can still be heard:

To the Editor:

On April 18th, NYTimes op-ed columnist Roger Cohen raised the point: “There is often something sickening about the continent — Europe — on which Jews were slaughtered reproaching the descendants of those who survived for absorbing the lesson that military might matters.”

I believe Cohen’s quote applies to the subject matter discussed by two Israeli citizens in the recent talk hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine at Cornell. Unfortunately, as an alumnus living in NYC I was unable to attend the aforementioned event. That said, I believe the Cornell Sun’s recap article (and likely the speakers), completely ignored (disregarded?) the fact that Israel is a nation perpetually under attack by groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic State, who very overtly call for Israel’s destruction in their charters.

As a nation constantly needing to defend itself from crazed enemies committed to wiping Jews off the face of the planet, Israel has a responsibility — as does every single sovereign nation in the world — to protect its citizens. If Canada was firing rockets or sending teenagers across the border to attack US citizens daily, you can be sure that the United States would have a consistent military presence in the region in order to ensure the safety of its people.

So yes, the Israeli education system creates an environment where citizens are proud of their country and believe so strongly that they have the right to, well, be alive that they are “indoctrinated” to think that their nation and people are worth serving. The IDF is the most moral army in the world — Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British Army Officer who formerly commanded British Forces in Afghanistan has repeatedly said: “The Israel Defense Forces does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.”

So yes, Israel may be a country that “indoctrinates” its citizens to believe they are worthy of protecting themselves, as Yasmine Yoblonko, one of the speakers, pointed out that “the Israeli education system indoctrinates students as young as kindergarten to become soldiers when they finish school.”

On the other hand, the Palestinian education system is no stranger to indoctrination, regularly teaching its students — children — to murder innocent Israelis. If you don’t believe it, you can watch this clip of a play in the Gaza Strip, which shows a kindergarten-aged girl armed with a knife attempting to “free” a Palestinian prisoner from Israeli jail by stabbing the guards. Or these theatrics, where kids in Gaza dressed as Jews are stabbed and the audience goes wild with applause. Or this video from October 2015, when theatrical brutality became reality in the form of a Palestinian terrorist on a violent rampage in Jerusalem with a vehicle and a butcher’s knife.

So yes, Israel has a strong army — the most moral army in the world. And while in the Sun’s article Sahar Vardi claims “militarization in Israeli society is one of the root causes of the occupation of Palestine,” I would argue that no, militarization in Israeli society comes about from persistent threats to its very existence. The differentiation is clear, as are the facts. Next time SJP invites such speakers to Cornell’s campus, they might want to consider that.