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Dear President Brodhead,
As a student and a firm believer in freedom of speech at campus, I protest
your decision to permit a group that supports terrorism to meet at Duke,
and I strongly hope that you will reconsider . The principle of "freedom
of speech" for ISM's case is not applicable here, because:
(a) their racist incitement is illegal and
(b) their thinly disguised co-operation with murderous terror
organizations is illegal.
To prove you (a): at the ISM meeting in the University of Michigan PSM
delegates chanted in Arabic: "Itbah el Yahood" which means: "Slaughter the
Jews." When they met at Rutgers, swastikas were painted on the Hillel and
the AE Pi fraternity house. I am sure DUKE agrees that these are illegal
incitement activities.
To prove (b): PSM sends its young members to Israel to meet with and to
coordinate activities with known members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and
other groups, defined as terror groups according to US administration. All
that illegal under both US and European law.
The goal of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, as you can read on their
website, is the destruction of the State of Israel "by any means
necessary." The Palestinian Solidarity Movement accepts and justifies the
terror murder of innocent civilians for .
Last year, the ISM scheduled its national conference for Rutgers. Though
there were technical problems with simply denying their meeting, the fact
is that University President Richard McCormick did find a way to avoid the
PSM meeting in the campus. The conference was held at a hotel in the city,
and Rutgers did not skirmish its name and prestige with a movement that
supports terrorism as an appropriate way to solve political conflicts.
I and my friends urge you to deny this violent, terror-supporting group
using the prestige of meeting on the campus of Duke University.
Sincerely yours,
Andreas Witte
Heidelberg,
Germany |
