To the editor:

I am writing to respond to Benjamin Rittgers letter regarding Israel and Lebanon. He includes numerous misconceptions that I want to address:

1) Mr. Rittgers states that opposition to the current U.S. policy of more or less blind alliance with Israel is anti-semitic.

Wrong. Israel is a nation that has a government that works, as do all governments, for particular interests. It does not represent the views of all Jews, or for that matter all Israelis.

Support or opposition of Israeli policies is a matter of legitimate debate in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, in regards to Lebanon, there are a number of Israeli groups and Jewish groups

in the United States who oppose the on-going Israeli occupation of Lebanon.

2) Mr. Rittgers asserts that Israel invaded Lebanon to protect itself from Hezbollah. Again, this is wrong. Israel’s incursions into Lebanon started in 1976. In 1982, under Prime Minister Begin and the Likud Government, Israel invaded Lebanon to push out and de-legitimize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (which at the time, according to U.N. monitors, was maintaining a cease-fire). It was in the wake of this invasion, as part of resistance to the on-going occupation of South Lebanon by Israel even after the PLO had relocated to Tunisia, that Hezbollah came into prominence. They continue to draw much of their (non-financial) support from those who have suffered under Israeli occupation.

3) Just because one person believes that Israel should pull out of South Lebanon, this does not infer that they should be equated with Hitler nor that they necessarily support Hezbollah. As stated above, support for Hezbollah in South Lebanon is as much the result of Israeli occupation as it is the cause.

Real civilians unrelated to Hezbollah continue to suffer from the Israeli actions and the actions of Israel’s surrogate force, the South Lebanon Army. For many, opposition to the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon is simply a matter of wanting peace and justice.

4) Mr. Rittgers calls for us to remember that Israeli soldiers are people with loved ones too, but then argues that Hezbollah fighters and civilians who happen to live near an area where Hezbollah is taking cover are expendable as “terrorists”. At the least, this seems ethically problematic. The question should be whether Israel’s actions are leading to escalation or de-escalation of conflict in South Lebanon — with resulting loss of life for civilians and combatants alike?

Very moral people may oppose Israel’s actions and U.S. policy toward Israel for very good reasons. To paraphrase the very apt title given to Mr. Rittger’s letter, Criticism + Israel equals neither anti-semitism nor immorality.

Stephen Gasteyer

Graduate student

Sociology