Hillel Pleased With Bush Speech

Harvard Hillel leaders interviewed yesterday said they were pleased with President Bush's call to repeal the 1975 United Nations resolution that equates Zionism with racism.

In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Bush said, "this body cannot claim to seek peace and at the same time challenge Isarel's right to exist."

Bush said that Zionism is not a policy, but rather the idea that led to the creation of Israel as a state for the Jewish people.

Daniel J. Libenson '92, co-chair of Hillel's coordinating council, said he was happy with Bush's statement, even though it came 16 years too late. "The resolution was ridiculous in the first place," Libenson said.

Kamran Rokhsar '94, the leader of Harvard Israel Political Affairs Committee, agreed.

"Israel gets immigrants each year from Yemen to Ethiopia to the Soviet Union," Rokhsar said. "Such an agglomeration of people does not constitute racism."

Rokhsar said HIPAC is planning a campaign at Harvard in November to show that Zionism does not equal racism. The campaign will mark the anniversary of the U.N. resolution.