NOTE: While this is old news, I publish this letter so that there is a historical record of the outlandish claims a former professor of mine made about Israel. I want the world to remember Dr. Judith Martin for what she is, an unabashed apologist for Palestinian terrorism. The letter contains many references disputing Dr. Martin’s claims. I encourage readers to use and distribute these references in defense of the State of Israel. The University of Dayton's student newspaper, Flyer News, was kind enough to publish an abbreviated version of this article.

January 27, 2003

Daniel J. Curran, President

University of Dayton

300 College Park

Dayton, OH 45469-1624            Phone: (937) 229-4122 / Fax: (937) 229-3396

Dear Dr. Curran:

I was deeply troubled to find an article now posted on the University of Dayton’s web site, authored by UD faculty member Sister Judith G. Martin, entitled "Failure of justice could lead to genocide" (http://www.udayton.edu/news/nr/041202a.html).

I am a UD alumnus. My father taught at UD for about 23 years. I used to write for the Flyer News, and even took a religion course from Sister Martin. I attribute much of my success in life to the education I received at UD, but Martin’s article has challenged my view of the school.

Are Martin’s wild accusations about America and Israel the official stance of UD?  She accuses Israel of an "intention to exercise the genocidal option," accuses President Bush of colluding in this option, accuses Israel of studying Nazi "tactics," claims Israel is a state sponsor of terrorism, and romanticizes a dictator.  Most egregiously, Martin—a member of the Catholic clergy—justifies terrorism against Israeli civilians, stating that Palestinian suicide bombers are defenders of their homeland.

Martin’s historical analysis is biased and incomplete. She is out of touch with current political reality.  While human rights groups and some prominent Palestinians now condemn terrorism,[1] [2] [3] Martin states that suicide bombings against Israeli civilians are “predictable.” Martin doesn’t hold the Arab world accountable for the countless offenses it has committed against Jews.

In her class, I remember Martin praising Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, St. Francis of Assisi, and Buddha, all advocates of peace and/or passive resistance. Does Martin's belief system apply only to people who aren't suicide bombers? Are Palestinians too “predictable” to practice non-violence? I've met many outstanding Palestinians. They are a noble people with a noble history. But their leadership, always choosing the path of violence, has failed and made conditions terrible for the Palestinian people.

Accusing Israel of genocide is ludicrous.  2005 Palestinians and 685 Israelis have been killed since September 2000.[4]  Ugly numbers indeed, but there are 3.3 million Palestinians in the territories and 6 million Israelis.[5] This is a horrible war of attrition for both sides, but hardly genocide. Martin's claims mimic the hysterical ranting of Yasir Arafat who last year accused Israel of "massacring" thousands of Palestinians in the battle of Jenin.[6] The UN later revealed that 13 Israelis and 54 Palestinians had actually died during the fighting.[7] [8]

Who is intending to “exercise the genocidal option?”  In 1948—just a few years after Hitler’s attempted genocide of all Jews--five Arab nations disregarded a UN vote agreeing to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab sections.[9] [10] [11] [12]  The Arabs attempted to destroy Israel.[13] [14] [15] [16]  What would have been the outcome of an Arab victory at that time?  Three Arab nations wanted to destroy Israel again in 1967,[17] when Egyptian President Nasser promised that Arabs would, “Drive the Jews into the sea!”[18]  Two Arab armies attempted to destroy Israel in 1973, attacking on Judaism’s most holy holiday.[19]  Israel tried to negotiate with the Arabs in 1918, 1949, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1993, and 2000.[20]  Even though Israel is a tiny sliver of land, she gave up territory in 1957, 1974, 1975, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 1998.[21]  Israel pulled out of much of Gaza in 1994 and had tried to pull out of the West Bank.[22] [23]

How are Israel and President Bush colluding to intend genocide?  Bush is the first world leader ever to firmly demand Palestinian democratic reform.[24] [25]  He refuses to negotiate with terrorists like Yasir Arafat.[26]

Genocide?  Homicide bombers killed 12 and wounded 180 Israelis at an open-air market in December 2001.[27]  In April 2002, a Palestinian homicide bomber instantly killed 28 Israelis sitting at a Passover dinner.[28]  In June 2002, 21 Israeli teenagers were killed at a discothèque.[29]  Should I continue the list?  There have been more than 14,465 attacks against Israeli civilians since September 2000.[30]

Some Palestinian parents of homicide bombers gladly send their children to indiscriminately kill and be killed.[31]  Iraq pays these parents $10,000 to $25,000 for each bomber they produce.[32]  Palestinian terrorist group Hamas recruits suicide bombers in its kindergartens.[33]  How does convincing teenagers to blow up themselves and civilians constitute defense of a homeland?  How does Martin stand on 9/11?  Was al-Qaeda’s attack “predictable” because of American policy?  What would Martin call Kuwait’s expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in 1991?[34] [35]  I would call it ethnic cleansing.

The Arab League’s Zayed committee said recently that the Holocaust (a real genocide) was a “fable.”[36]  At the last UN World Conference Against Racism, Arab representatives shouted down Jewish representatives trying to discuss anti-Semitism.[37]  Some Palestinians danced in the streets when they heard Saddam Hussein was arbitrarily lobbing SCUD missiles into Jewish neighborhoods during the Gulf war.[38]  What do many Palestinians really mean when they say, "End the occupation?"  See for yourself: Go the Yasir Arafat’s own web site right now, http://www.industry.gov.ps/, and you'll see a map that shows no Israel--just Palestine in its place. Arafat speaks of peace in English, while in Arabic he and his cronies advocate Israel’s destruction.[39]  These are strange ways of recognizing Israel’s right to exist.  The terrorist groups that Martin mentions, like Islamic Jihad and Hamas, are publicly open about their desire to end Israel’s existence.[40] 

What were Palestinians and the Arab nations doing from 1900 until 1967, when they controlled all the “territories” they now claim would satisfy them?  Did they build social institutions and a viable economy?  Israel’s GDP is $105.4 billion per year,[41] only 3% of which is American aid.[42]  The average per capita GDP for each Israeli citizen is five times that of each Arab.[43]  The whole Arab world’s GDP is less than that of Spain’s.[44]

How could Israel’s occupation of the territories in 1967 cause all the Arab violence committed against Jews before 1967?  Arabs massacred Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929, and 1936.[45] Palestinians attacked and killed 922 Israelis from 1951-1955.[46]  There were 9 fatal attacks in 1956, 8 in 1957, 5 in 1958, 7 in 1959, 1 in 1960, 2 in 1962, 7 in 1965, and 6 in 1966; at least 62 Israelis were killed.[47]  Palestinian grade school textbooks are replete with incitement to violence and hatred of Jews.[48] [49]  The Arab press regularly espouses virulent anti-Semitic opinions.[50]  A prominent Saudi preacher called Jews “the scum of humanity.”[51]  While recent polls show that 59% of Israelis support peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state,[52] [53] [54] polls show 51% of Palestinians support the destruction of Israel.[55]  Unlike its Arab neighbors, Israel has real elections with a real parliament, where 10 of its 120 members are fully-voting Arabs.[56]

Referring to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Martin claims that the U.S. “continues to subsidize the longest occupation in modern history.”  She doesn’t mention that the UN agency for relief for Palestinian refugees receives 27% of its funding from the U.S. and only 0.6% from oil-rich Saudi Arabia,[57] and that Israel would probably have been completely overrun without US aid.  Martin forgets China’s occupation of Tibet, Syria’s occupation of Lebanon, Turkey’s occupation of Cyprus, Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, Iraq’s, Iran’s and Turkey’s occupation of the Kurdish homeland, and Russia’s brutal occupation of Chechnya.

Many prominent Palestinians, like Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, are admitting that their use of violence against Israelis has been a dismal failure.[58]  In June 2002, more than 50 leading Palestinians signed a full-page ad in the al Quds newspaper urging a halt to all acts of terror against Jews.[59]  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have vociferously condemned Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians.[60] [61]  The UN has condemned terror against Israelis for the first time in its history (only Syria voted against the resolution).[62]  Even the World Socialist web site condemns Palestinian terror and calls Yasir Arafat a failure.[63]  Martin is out of touch.

She romanticizes the dictator Yasir Arafat.  Poor Arafat, who tried to smuggle a boatload of plastic explosives into Palestine [64] and opposes democratic reforms which would loosen his grip on power.[65]  He rules by decree,[66] orders summary executions of his own people,[67] and steals UN, US, European aid money.[68] [69]  Arafat's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade keeps killing innocent Israeli civilians with firebombs packed with nuts, bolts, nails, and screws.[70] 

Arafat has led his people from one horrible disaster to another. In 1970, he tried to seize control of Jordan.[71]  Thousands of Palestinians died in this abortive coup, known as “Black September.” [72]  How many Lebanese and Palestinians died after Arafat’s PLO moved into Lebanon?[73]  At Camp David 2000, Israel offered Arafat everything he supposedly wants, and he walked away.[74]  Violence towards Israelis surged soon after.[75]

            I want to see all Israeli settlements removed from the territories.  I will work to prevent Israeli soldiers from mistreating Palestinians.  Palestinians deserve a free and democratic homeland, but not one built on the bodies of Palestinian children and Israeli civilians. 

In a free society such as the United States, Martin is free to speak her mind.  But has UD posted a rebuttal?  Where's the dialogue?  As a long-time member of the UD community, I have the right to provide facts refuting her assertions. I will encourage others to do so.

NOTE: Endnotes/references/citations can be found at the end of this letter.

Sincerely,

Andrew L. Jaffee

Attachment: Endnotes

ALJ/cc:

Endnotes