Education for anti-Zionists

I don’t know where Yahya Chaudhry received his education before IU, but it certainly did not include any unbiased history of the Middle East, nor basic good manners.
Zionism is basically the national liberation movement of the Jews, who have lived in Palestine for millennia, well before the Arabs arrived and converted many of the inhabitants to Islam by force. Jews do not question the Arabs’ rights to 22 nations, nor to their right to define Islam as their national religion.

Israel is a Jewish state, as England is an Anglican Christian state. But in both Israel and England, Muslims live as minorities enjoying the political and civil rights of citizens. Can Chaudhry say the same about Jews or Christians in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan?

Obviously Chaudhry does not know Prof. Alan Dershowitz, whom he calls “crazed” and a “pedant.” I do know Dershowitz, professor of law at the Harvard Law School and a long-time defender of civil rights, peaceful coexistence in the Middle East and open discussion of all political issues.

Chaudhry calls Israel a “corrupt” country. Has he ever visited Israel?  I have, and there the Israeli courts and parliament take prompt action against those properly convicted of corruption. By contrast, Pakistan’s new president and his murdered wife were notoriously corrupt, yet they are not removed.

In America, we allow fools to express themselves freely. Can Chaudhry say the same about Egypt, Pakistan, Iran or any of the other states controlled by Islamists or dictators?

Martin Spechler
IU economics professor