LET TERS
WHAT’S PROGRESSIVE?
Jack Dresser’s complaint [letters,
3/7] that EW betrayed its “progressive”
credentials when it excluded two
documentary fi lms critical of Israel from
its list of top documentaries raises the issue
of what does it mean to be progressive
when it comes to Israel’s confl ict with
secular Palestinians, radical Islamists
such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic
Jihad who are unequivocally bent on
Israel’s elimination, and Iran.
There is nothing progressive about
demonizing, as Dresser does, the only
country in the Middle East that is a multi-
ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural,
pluralistic democracy (half of Israel’s
population originated from the Middle
East, 20 percent is Muslim, 120,000 are
Ethiopian), that protects the rights of
religious minorities, that does not harass its
LGBT population, that protects freedom of
speech and whose independent judiciary
has sided with Palestinians against the
government on issues such as preventive
detention, interrogation techniques and
seizure of land.
There is nothing progressive about
holding Israel, as Dresser does, to a double
standard that would deny it the right that
any sovereign country has to protect its
civilian population from the murderous
designs of its enemies. The security fence
separating Israelis and Palestinians that
Dresser decries has practically eliminated
suicide bombings and drastically reduced
deaths of Israelis and foreign visitors.
Security fences separate Protestants and
Catholics in Northern Ireland, Sunnis and
Shias in Iraq and Indians and Kashmiris
among dozens of places, with little or no
controversy.
There
is
nothing
progressive
about promoting conspiracy theories
by suggesting, as Dresser does, that EW
is afraid of criticizing Israel because it has
been intimidated by an all-powerful, pro-
Israel lobby. EW has never been shy about
promoting speakers or viewpoints that are
profoundly critical of Israel.
What is progressive when it comes to
the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict is promoting
a two-state solution that establishes two
states for two peoples.
Craig Weinerman
Chairman, Jewish Community
Relations Council of Lane County
EXPLOITING ATHLETES
Despite its two closing losses, the Oregon
men’s basketball team had a successful season
beyond expectations. We all can empathize
with the players for missing out on the Pac-12
Conference title that was within their grasp.
More important, they need sympathy
for having their fi nal exams preparation
interfered with by an unjustifi ed Pac-
12 tournament. They are learning from
excessive demands on them that higher
education is based on bringing in TV
money. This post-season tourney, and
others like it nationwide, is the money-
making scheme of TV networks which
bribe schools with game fees. Like the
many NCAA playoffs that follow, they
exploit student athletes.
Schools choose to not pay players, using
the lie that they have educational standards
of amateurism to maintain.That’s a sham.
So is the published statement by Athletics
Director Rob Mullens regarding the
“ongoing NCAA investigation” of Ducks
football: “I think we do things the right
way here. I think people in the industry
absolutely know that.”
So now we hear it from the top. College
sport is an industry. All it wants is more
sports money at the expense of its players’
education — obvious when the Pac-12
tournament is played in Las Vegas.
George Beres
Eugene
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