To the editors:
Your article “Protestors March for Palestine at Smith College and Northampton” (Oct. 21, 2023) could have done better. A few examples:
The article reports that “As of Oct. 19, Israeli attacks have killed over 2,800 Palestinians, according to the New York Times.” This sentence gives the impression that this number had been confirmed by the New York Times. However the New York Times article itself makes clear that the New York Times was reporting numbers presented by Hamas that were in dispute, not numbers that had been confirmed by the New York Times. Maintaining clarity as to the source of reported information is important.
The article uses the word “genocide” five separate times regarding Israel without any additional reporting. Genocide is an extreme charge, more so when used regarding a country that was founded in the wake of a terrible genocide. Good and balanced reporting would have included a quote from one of the many experts who could have responded to the notion that the term “genocide” can properly be applied to Israel. Even better reporting might have included a quote explaining that the Hamas attack that triggered the Israeli response may itself have been an act of genocide.
Finally, Smith College is a campus that is extremely sensitive to micro-aggressions and how language affects minority groups. In that regard, the expression “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” means different things to different people, and it is hardly likely that Smithies use the expression to call for genocide against Jews. But because of the widespread use of the expression by people who mean it in exactly that way, many Jews, including Jewish Smithies, hear the expression that way. It is a deeply painful and scary expression for many Jews. Those who use the expression on the Smith campus may be unaware of this. As campus members committed to diversity and sensitivity, those who may be unaware of this would surely want to know this. Your article would have done a service to the entire Smith community, especially its Jewish community, by letting your readers know.
I’m writing this letter anonymously because I am unsure whether it will be welcome.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
