LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Honoring Tony Kushner 'degrades' the University
Forum | 5/23/06
Posted online at 4:03 AM EST on 5/23/06
To the Editor:
Brandeis should not have honored playwright Tony Kushner at commencement ("Jordanian prince to address seniors," May 2 issue). An honorary degree is not simply about the recipient's accomplishments. If white supremacist and anti-Semite David Duke were a talented playwright, Brandeis would never ignore his hideous views and honor him. His bigotry would matter.
It should matter. An honoree should reflect the university's values and ideals-or at least, not degrade them. Brandeis has a unique and proud history connecting it to Zionism and Israel, both of which Tony Kushner regards with contempt.
He has called the establishment of Israel "a mistake," saying that "it would have been better if Israel never happened."
He has falsely accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and "deliberate destruction of Palestinian culture and a systematic attempt to destroy the identity of the Palestinian people." He is affiliated with a group that advocates boycotting Israeli products and divesting from companies that do business in Israel-activities intended to hurt the Israeli people.
Kushner has also decried "the shame of American Jews" for failing to speak out for Palestinians. He apparently can't understand that American Jews would be disillusioned by the unremitting Palestinian terrorism that Israel has faced, despite many overtures toward peace. According to Kushner, "the biggest supporters of Israel are the most repulsive members of the Jewish community and Israel itself has got this disgraceful record."
These hateful views, distorting history and facts, clash with everything that Brandeis University stands for. In A Host At Last-a chronicle of Brandeis' proud history authored by its first president and then-chancellor-Abram Sachar described how naming the university for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was inspired in part by his ardent Zionism; he helped persuade President Woodrow Wilson to endorse the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which validated the Jewish right to their homeland in the historical land of Israel.
Sachar also movingly described the university's response to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, noting that Brandeis was "the first institution in the country to declare a moratorium on fund-raising." Though the university was in financial crisis, it decided not to seek new capital gifts and endowments so that potential donors would support Israel.
This is Brandeis' unique and proud history. It shouldn't be tarnished by honoring someone who scorns it.
-Morton Klein
and Susan Tuchman '79
New York
Klein is the president of the Zionist Organization of America and Tuchman is the director of the ZOA Center for Law and Justice.
Brandeis should not have honored playwright Tony Kushner at commencement ("Jordanian prince to address seniors," May 2 issue). An honorary degree is not simply about the recipient's accomplishments. If white supremacist and anti-Semite David Duke were a talented playwright, Brandeis would never ignore his hideous views and honor him. His bigotry would matter.
It should matter. An honoree should reflect the university's values and ideals-or at least, not degrade them. Brandeis has a unique and proud history connecting it to Zionism and Israel, both of which Tony Kushner regards with contempt.
He has called the establishment of Israel "a mistake," saying that "it would have been better if Israel never happened."
He has falsely accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and "deliberate destruction of Palestinian culture and a systematic attempt to destroy the identity of the Palestinian people." He is affiliated with a group that advocates boycotting Israeli products and divesting from companies that do business in Israel-activities intended to hurt the Israeli people.
Kushner has also decried "the shame of American Jews" for failing to speak out for Palestinians. He apparently can't understand that American Jews would be disillusioned by the unremitting Palestinian terrorism that Israel has faced, despite many overtures toward peace. According to Kushner, "the biggest supporters of Israel are the most repulsive members of the Jewish community and Israel itself has got this disgraceful record."
These hateful views, distorting history and facts, clash with everything that Brandeis University stands for. In A Host At Last-a chronicle of Brandeis' proud history authored by its first president and then-chancellor-Abram Sachar described how naming the university for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was inspired in part by his ardent Zionism; he helped persuade President Woodrow Wilson to endorse the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which validated the Jewish right to their homeland in the historical land of Israel.
Sachar also movingly described the university's response to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, noting that Brandeis was "the first institution in the country to declare a moratorium on fund-raising." Though the university was in financial crisis, it decided not to seek new capital gifts and endowments so that potential donors would support Israel.
This is Brandeis' unique and proud history. It shouldn't be tarnished by honoring someone who scorns it.
-Morton Klein
and Susan Tuchman '79
New York
Klein is the president of the Zionist Organization of America and Tuchman is the director of the ZOA Center for Law and Justice.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Anonymous
posted 6/06/06 @ 7:04 PM EST
It is tiresome to continually hear anyone who questions Israel dismissed as a bigot and an anti-semite. It is a silly way to argue, undertaken by silly people, self-righteous people without the patience for imagination and thought. (Continued…)
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