To the Editor:
I am writing to express my dismay with the above-referenced article, which ran in the edition of The Heights that arrived in my inbox on Oct. 23. In the third paragraph, the authors describe Hamas as follows:
“Hamas—a Gaza-based Islamist political and military organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States—abducted hostages during an attack near the Israel-Gaza border.”
Really, a “political and military organization”? Would The Heights in the 1930s describe the Nazis as a “social and cultural organization dedicated to the advancement of German values”?
And while there is an acknowledgement that Hamas “abducted hostages,” which is a war crime if they are a military group, the article neglects to mention the over 1,000 civilians—men, women, and children—murdered in cold blood by what the article seems to regard as a benign “Gaza-based Islamist political and military organization.”
The article notes that Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the United States—but apparently not by The Heights. How big a slaughter has to be committed before The Heights feels comfortable designating the perpetrators “terrorists”?
As a former staffer and editor (albeit as sports editor) of The Heights, I am extremely disappointed in this factually misleading and morally tone-deaf description of the tragic developments in the Middle East. One can be empathetic to the Palestinian situation and critical of Israel’s response to the recent attacks without attempting to normalize Hamas, which regularly inflicts barbarities on both Palestinians and Israelis.
Sincerely,
Thomas Sugrue, BC ’68
Heights Staff 1965-68, Sports Editor 1967-68
