Don't hinder debate

Your Oct. 11 editorial, "Courage on the campuses," missed a pivotal requirement for fruitful campus debates. If debates on the Palestine-Israel conflict are to yield any positive results, we must extend to both sides equal access to university facilities and not exert undue pressure on either party or prejudge. Sadly, this is not what happened at Rutgers.

Gov. James E. McGreevey overstepped his mandate when he spoke at the Oct. 9 rally, where he claimed that Israel never targets innocent Palestinian civilians. Unless, the governor believes that all Palestinians are terrorists and criminals, what does he call the 3,000 Palestinians killed since the fall of 2000?

McGreevey should remember that he is the governor of all the residents of New Jersey. He should foster mutual respect and understanding among all ethnic minorities of our great state. As Arab and Muslim Americans, we take strong exception to the governor's partisan politics.

Rutgers should provide a neutral and nurturing forum for debates and differing views. America is premised on the belief that the public is capable discerning the truth about critical issues based on the free and unhindered flow of information.

-- Aref Assaf, Director, Denville

The writer is director of media relations for the New Jersey chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

You minimized the Israel Inspires rally and weekend, presenting, at best, a distorted image. As your coverage shows, a desire to make things equal when they are not leads to biased journalism.

-- Max L. Kleinman, Whippany

The writer is executive vice president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest.

Accenting the negative

I was privileged to attend the "Israel Inspires" rally on Oct. 9. The rally was an affirmation of American support for Israel, based on our common values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Your headline's characterization of the rally as a "protest" was misleading.

You devoted two paragraphs to confrontations between pro-Israel attendees and anti-Israel protesters; in fact, the only picture of the event was of one Israel supporter "challenging" the pro-Palestinian contingent. As far as I could tell, there was little interaction between the two groups. Once again, you seemingly went out of your way to accentuate the few confrontations, missing the supportive and positive essence of the event.

From the article's tone, I would have guessed that your reporters didn't cover the same event I attended. I hope your coverage of upcoming "Israel Inspires" events don't show such bias in the future.

-- Arthur G. Werschulz, Cranford

Biased picture

Your Oct. 12 article "Advancing their Mideast views" was fairly balanced. However, the one photograph accompanying it showed a woman with a sign that said: "Palestine Inspires/Israel Terrorizes." There was no photograph showing the Israeli side. As the old proverb goes, "One picture is worth a thousand words." The photograph more than tipped the scale and put the article in the category of one-sided, if not biased, reporting.

-- Marvin J. Fischer, Monroe Township

The governor's demand

I was intrigued by your report on Gov. James E. McGreevey's speech at the "Israel Inspires" rally on Oct. 9. You quote him as saying, "We Americans must declare our support for Israel in words and deeds."

Does the governor believe that Americans should support further settlement of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israelis, even when doing so involves expropriation of Palestinian lands? Should we support Israeli calls for expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza? Should we support Israeli policy when it conflicts with U.S. policy, as it often does? Precisely how far does the governor believe our support for Israel should go?

I do not support Israel in either word or deed, and I'm curious to know why the governor insists that I must. While he's at it, he might explain why he thinks it's his role to insist on such a thing in the first place. I don't recall foreign policy playing a big role in his gubernatorial campaign. Why is it playing that role now?

-- Irfan Khawaja, Princeton Borough

Murderous inspiration

The picture of the pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrator that accompanied your Oct. 12 article "Advancing their Mideast views" perfectly illustrated the disgusting hypocrisy of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement.

She was holding a sign reading "Palestine Inspires/Israel Terrorizes." Who's she kidding? It is the stated policy of Palestinian Arab militias such as Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigade, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, which enjoys the sponsorship of the Palestinian Authority, to attack Israel using suicide bombers. This, it seems, is what she refers to as "inspiration." It's okay for terrorists to wantonly murder every person unlucky enough to be around them, such as infants, senior citizens, charity workers, other Arabs and even Palestinians. I suppose Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, the Boston Strangler and the Zodiac Killer were also inspirations.

-- Mark Frankel, Wayne

True solidarity

I attended the "Israel Inspires" rally and found it wonderful and uplifting. All of the speakers, whether Democrat or Republican, Jew, Christian or Hindu, were unequivocal in their support for Israel. All acknowledged Israel's right to exist and its right to protect itself. Those speaking included New Jersey's governor and two U.S. senators, several state legislators, an Alabama congressman and leaders of two Christian groups at Rutgers.

Most also stressed that the counter demonstration by pro- Palestinian activists was not to be addressed through hateful words or yelling. After two hours of what only be called "solidarity," it was shocking to leave the gathering and see the 30 or so counter demonstrators yelling, using vicious language ("apartheid," "child murderers," "killers"). I was proud of my fellow attendees standing in silence or just shaking their heads in response to what was obvious incitement. We were inspired.

-- Larry Sherman, Manalapan