Letter: Responding to Mr. Joseph Edelman’s resignation from Brown’s board of trustees
I note the recent resignation of Mr. Edelman from Brown's board of trustees and his letter, not to the Brown Daily Herald, but rather to the Wall Street Journal for reasons known perhaps only to him.
I will not take time or space at present to rebut every one of Mr. Edelman's assertions, some of which are ridiculous, if perhaps sincerely believed. I will say however that the upcoming vote at Brown is a sign of strength and not weakness, of robust dialogue and courage, not cowed intimidation, and it is only the first of many such debates and dialogues at Brown and at other US institutions which we will have in the future. I heartily applaud it. Of what is Mr. Edelman afraid? That we are having a discussion?
Mr. Edelman's conflation of the desire of the Brown Divest Coalition to bring to light to the managers of its endowment the moral consequences of Israel's decades-long campaign of oppression of the Palestinian people, and antisemitism is a crude form of weaponization. The same goes for claiming they are indoctrinated by Hamas. Many Jews as well as non-Jews are no longer willing to be intimidated by such character assassination. If you don't believe me, read Norman Finkelstein, Peter Beinart, Masha Gessen, John Mearshimer, or Brown's own Omer Bartov and Chas Freeman. Watch Israelism by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen. That dog won't hunt anymore.
History is a severe and unsparing judge. None of us will escape nor can we appeal her verdicts. Justice must be served.
I look forward to the day when Brown's portfolio better reflects its stated values.
Sincerely,
Will Chapman ’80
Letter: Response to Mr. Joseph Edelman’s departure from the Brown Corporation
To the Editor:
As a father of a current Brown student, I am very sad to see Mr. Edelman go from the Board of Trustees of said institution.
As a fervent defender of Israel, I believe wholeheartedly that he is probably facing an uphill battle to defend his position against antisemitism and irrational people who believe Palestine is run by a normal government and that Israel is all to blame for the war.
But, sorry to be direct — “tachles” — we cannot give up positions where we can educate and defend against wrongdoing. Especially at this time. We must stay and fight for what we believe is right. We must try to educate the public.
I saw the video that was made public of the meeting with the pro-divest student group. It was hard to watch. These students are not ignorant, nor do they seem ill intended. They have, sometimes, strong arguments. But, they are failing to see the context of the situation. Sudan, South Africa, and the other cases cited, were not attacked by a terrorist organization which was followed by regular civilians who performed the worst humanly possible acts of terror, violation and massacre in modern times. “Palestine” is not a country, and even though I would like them to become one, right now they are a population ruled by a terrorist organization, whose main goal (as written in their own formation documents) is the destruction of Israel. So, let's throw some context on what these students want: They want to punish a legitimate state for overreacting to one of the worst terror attacks suffered in modern times.
They may be right on some of the overreach of the Israeli military, they may be right on the excessive death toll of the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. But war and sanctions are a zero sum game, one side will be punished while the other rewarded. So who do you want to reward? The Hamas government? The Iranian proxies? The people who hide behind civilians to protect their terror acts? The “state” that sends their citizens to war, or to suicide missions while living the life in Qatar or Saudi Arabia? We need to be the force of reason, we need to explain, and explain again.
I hope you reconsider. We need people like you.
Sincerely,
Sami Shiro P’26
