Sharansky’s hypocrisy
Re: “Israeli minister for Jerusalem hopes for peace”, Sept. 18, 2003.
Natan Sharansky’s predictable hypocrisy shines with all its glory in everything he had to say. He says that freedom for the Palestinians is necessary for his country’s security, while ignoring his government’s primary role in robbing the Palestinians of that freedom.
He also argues that the Palestinians must create democratic institutions, while at the very same time insisting that they also need new leadership. Apparently he forgot that they have already democratically elected Arafat as their leader, and will probably do so again if they have the chance. Or maybe he thinks the Palestinians have the right to elect only a leader who is sympathetic to Sharansky and his ilk’s agenda. Also, I’m somewhat curious as to what definition of democracy he’s using that allows him to label a country that has an official policy of discriminating between its citizens on the basis of religion as a great democracy fighting for survival.
And for all his babbling about democracy and free speech, it is interesting that Sharansky and his cronies chose to go ahead with a limited event accessible only to like-minded Jewish students. Don’t they want to listen to what the other side has to say? Or maybe proving them wrong? Aren’t they interested in debating with and making their point to Palestinians and other students? Since when did free speech and democracy refer to hiding from those who do not see eye to eye with you on everything and surrounding yourself only with yes-men?
Peter Riad
Hooray for new health plan
I would like to offer my congratulations to SAC for not only improving the student health plan but also for offering it at a lower cost. No one should really question which insurance agent benefited by the change. What is quite clear, is that after all these years, it is the students who have finally benefited. Being a former SAC executive assistant, I know that the Executive often questioned not only the health plan, but other financial transactions at SAC. We could never get the full co-operation from the people involved. The change to the health plan is an excellent start, hopefully it is only just a start.
Terry Buckland
Former SAC executive assistant
