UNLV Editorial: 'Israelis Indiscriminately Kill Civilians,' Palestinian Terror Justified

March 18th, 2008 1:38 PM

In another example of a shameful editorial by a student "journalist" at an American University newspaper, we find the University of Las Vegas publishing -- not once, but twice -- an editorial that makes the claim that Palestinian suicide bombings of Israeli civilians is justified because "'Israelis indiscriminately kill civilians." Excusing terror campaigns by Palestinians isn't the only outrage in this piece as Israelis are also likened to Nazis, and Palestinians are ridiculously called a "race of people" by student writer Sharief Ali.

On March 13th, in the UNLV's paper The Rebel Yell, Ali published a piece titled "Attack shocks, doesn't surprise," that was so outrageous a member of Congress even wrote in scolding the University for publishing such trash.

Writer Ali began by saying that attack on a Jewish seminary in West Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman on March 6th was "hardly a surprise" and can be blamed on Israel, not the so-called Palestinians. The Israelis seem to deserve the terror campaigns by Hamas and Fatah, according to Ali, because the "Israelis indiscriminately kill civilians" in their attempt to kill "terrorists"... and he did put terrorists in quotes letting us all know he doesn't believe there are any terrorists in Palestinian territories.

Asking the reader why they think Palestinians have turned to terror, Ali answers that it is Israel's fault.

Most may not like the answer, but it doesn’t have to be liked because it is the truth – Palestinian militants target civilians because Israelis indiscriminately kill civilians when they are trying to kill “terrorists.”

Then he gives us the old lie that "Palestinians" have no choice but to resort to terrorism.

Palestinians have been suffering in the worst conditions for 60 years. They are the world’s largest group of refugees, living in camps since 1948. With no army, their only mode of resistance to occupation has been through terrorism.

This is an abject falsehood. The UN and the international community has supported and pumped billions of dollars a year into the Palestinian territories. There is NO reason that the "Palestinians" have been forced to terrorism to find a "mode of resistance." Should they ever had wanted a legitimate forum for negotiation they could easily have gotten it.

The Arabs in the Palestinian areas have turned to terror because their entire basis, the utter destruction of all Jews, can only be achieved through military action. They aren't interested in legitimate negotiations with either the international community or Israel.

Ali next indulges in another ages old lie.

Terrorizing civilians is a violation of international law, both Israelis and Palestinians are guilty of this. Yet, mainstream media lead the American public to believe that Israel is justified in its actions because it’s self-defense, while Palestinian resistance is unjust, regardless of their right to self-determination.

No, "both" are not guilty of this. RESPONDING to terror attacks is a far, far different thing that INITIATING them. And this canard that the poor "Palestinians" are so put upon by the rest of the world is just an outright lie. The "Palestinians" have been given a pass by the rest of the world day in and day out for decades and they have squandered that benefit by insisting that their ultimate goal is the genocide of their neighbor.

 

At the end of his screed, Ali basically equated Israel to the Nazis.

As an old saying goes, “the child of an abusive parent will grow up to become an abusive parent.” In this case, the Jews who were once the children of genocide have now become the parents. This is apparent in Jewish treatment of Palestinians living under occupation. No Palestinians ever gassed any Jews, yet it seems that they are paying for sins committed by the Nazis.

Then Ali goes on to call the "Palestinians" a race.

As long as Israel continues to violate international law, by occupying a territory of an entire race of people while collectively punishing them as a whole, it will never be free of terrorism and can expect horrific acts of violence like the school shooting in Jerusalem to continue to be committed against it.

Sorry, Mr. Ali, but Palestinian is not a "race." The "Palestinians" are Arabs, not a separate race of people.

In the end, this is a disgusting charge made by Ali and the UNLV's Rebel Yell paper. The Jews have NO such genocidal goal against the "Palestinians" as the Nazis had against the Jews in the 30's and 40's nor as the "Palestinians" have against the Jews now. Israel has no such policy of punishing anyone for the Nazi's WWII era crimes against humanity. And I want to stress that those crimes were not crimes solely against Jews, but truly crimes against all men everywhere. It is an abhorrent claim by this terror supporting student and the school paper should be ashamed of itself.

But is it ashamed? No would be an obvious answer to that one. In fact, the Rebel Yell was so proud of this piece of garbage that they published it twice, re-publishing the editorial after the first printing of the paper was stolen and destroyed by unknown thieves.

Many readers and members of the community have written in to complain about Ali's obtuse and hateful editorial. Even Congressman Jon C. Porter, Republican from Nevada's 3rd District, wrote in saying:

Many tyrants have used distortions of history to justify atrocities. I would like to make it very clear to the author of Attack shocks, doesn’t surprise that no murderer deserves a spokesman. While I encourage free-thought and debate on every college campus in Nevada and across this country, to defend murder is reprehensible and it signals to me that this author should hit the books. Language is a dangerous and powerful weapon, especially if it is misguided.

"No murderer deserves an advocate," indeed.

What we have here is nothing short of an utter apology for terrorism and a moral free equating of trying to protect oneself to an action as bad as that of the attacker. And we should all realize that this completely anti-semetic rant that is being paid for by our Federal dollars by University funds.