Pincus

I have written in the past and, unfortunately, you have never seen fit to answer my letters, particularly the one regarding the terrible disrespect shown to the President of the United States at a previous commencement. However, nothing that has ever appeared in a Yale publication has angered me as much as the article on page 11 of the February issue of Yale Alumni Magazine headlined "Campus Debates Israel Divestment." This concept is an abomination. The criticism of the only democratic state in the Middle East and one of the United States' few true friends in the entire world is deplorable. That entire part of the world is ruled by tyrannical, terrorist despots whose religious and political beliefs are based on murdering thousands upon thousands of Americans. To compare Israel to South Africa shows complete and total ignorance. I am ashamed anyone accepted, enrolled or affiliated with Yale has no knowledge of 20th Century history. The West Bank and Gaza are under Israeli rule because the Arab states, Egypt, Jordan, Syria etc. caused and subsequently lost the Six Day War. The current situation results from the fact that none of Israel's enemies are willing to care for their own people. The security and, indeed, the very existence of a free and democratic Israel depends on secure borders. When Arafat and his co-conspirators show a willingness to negotiate peace, Israel will, again, make the necessary concessions. Comments such as "apartheid state based on Zionism" are truly racist and should be condemned as such by the Yale community.

I am deeply and sadly unhappy with the attitudes shown in the Yale community in recent years. As president you should speak out and inform the world Yale is an institute of "higher" learning that forcefully opposes those elements trying to bring the University into the gutter.