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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Ilaine who wrote (46767)9/24/2002 9:41:47 PM
From: JohnM  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
CB,

Thanks for the careful post. Let's just assume your rendition of the structure of Summers' argument is one he would accept. Then the problem comes with the notion that because Israel, among all human rights violators, was singled out, it is indicative of "bias."

1. Since there is a very strong argument that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and of Gaza is a public issue of great moment, right now, to put together a petition on that certainly, in and of itself, is not indicative of bias. It is indicative of attempts to address present public issues.

2. The standard argument for keeping one from doing social action is that you must do it in all cases not just the case at hand. That's an argument Summers makes. And it's fine to make that argument. But to disagree with him is not to be anti-semitic; it's to say it is time for some action.

Now whether the petition was wise is an entirely different matter. I'm not arguing that it was. There's a good argument that it was politically unwise at least for the moment but as I said in another post I can well understand the frustrations that led to it.
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