Letters: Professor not engaged in thoughtful criticism

As two of the legislators who first wrote letters to Lincoln University condemning the anti-Semitic statements of professor Kaukab Siddique, we feel that Mahmoud S. Audi's misleading letter ("Denying truth about Palestinians and Israelis," Monday) demands a response.

Audi says that those objecting to Siddique's statements are from "the extreme right." As progressive Democratic legislators, it is our hope that every reasonable person would passionately reject the sort of venom spewed by Siddique.

Audi asserts that Siddique was merely exposing "the Israeli abuse of the Palestinians." Siddique has every right to criticize the policies of Israel, or anyone else. However, that is not what he did.

In the speeches and writings we referred to in our letters to Lincoln, Siddique never mentions specific Israeli policies, nor does he allege abuses of the Palestinian people. Instead he calls for Israelis to be driven out of their homes and for Israel to be destroyed. He writes extensively denying the occurrence of the Holocaust, calling it a "myth" and "propaganda" which has been "rebutted." He says Jews only fabricated tales of being exterminated because it is "Israel's cash cow," and that the Nazis were the true victims of World War II.

With regard to American Jews, he says we have "taken over this country by devious and immoral means" and that we "control the government, the media, education, the libraries, the book chains, the banks, Hollywood, Wall Street, and Madison Avenue."

Siddique is not engaged in benign and thoughtful criticism of Israel. His writings make clear that he hates Jews and that he buys into the worst stereotypes of anti-Semitism. He is a Holocaust-denier and Nazi-sympathizer. There is legitimate debate to be had about the role of academic freedom and the First Amendment in this matter, as well as the wisdom of asking the taxpayers to fund this garbage, but there is nothing to be gained by whitewashing what Siddique said or portraying it as reasonable.

State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery)

State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D., Montgomery)

Harrisburg