The Aug. 9 Chronicle reported
that one of the victims of the "bombing at [the] Hebrew University
in Israel" is a UMass alumna, Janis R. Coulter.
The "bombing" was a premeditated heinous murder committed
by Hamas, a terrorist organization which is opposed to almost
anything that Western civilization holds dear. It is therefore
very sad that the reporter saw it fit to include Hamas' "justification"
or "rationalization" of this cruel murder in the article.
By printing it the Chronicle has become a propaganda tool of this
criminal group, spreading its "message" over campus.
This is what the "free press" in the United States and
Europe has been doing for years and this is one of the main reasons
that terrorism is so widely spread in the world today. All that
the terrorists have to do is murder a few people and their "cause"
gets immediate attention all over the world. The more spectacular
the crime, the more extensive the coverage of the perpetrators'
"motives" and "agenda" becomes. Unlike commercial
companies and civil organizations that have to pay for exposure
in the media with money, these criminals pay for it with their
victims' blood and the terrible suffering of the survivors and
their loved ones.
It is a disgrace that the Chronicle
has become involved in the attempts to legitimize the murder,
even if inadvertently. I think an apology to Janis Coulter's family
and the campus community would be in order.
MICHA PELEG
professor, Food Science
