Comparing Arabs to Snakes is Wrong

To the editors:

I am writing to express my utmost shock and outrage at the cartoon by Benjamin I. Rapoport ’03 (Editorial Cartoon, April 12). The cartoon, featuring a Herculean Israel surrounded by a Hydra of snakes, a clear reference to Palestinians and potentially a reference to surrounding Arab countries is a disgusting racial slur and an affront to decent journalism. If you agree that even implied racism is intolerable, it is irrelevant that the cartoon fell short of placing a Palestinian or Arab label on the snakes. To refer to Palestinians as snakes not only reflects plain bigotry but it also reveals greater malice: by de-humanizing and vilifying Palestinians, and failing to highlight the Israeli killing of civilians in Jenin and elsewhere, your paper perpetuates Israeli myths of victimization and justifies the continuation of occupation.

In addition to being facially racist, the cartoon assumes a version of Israel’s borders—encompassing the occupied territories—not recognized by any nation in the world, including the United States. It is nothing short of shameful that, while the entire world is calling on Israel to end its invasion and calls for the legitimate rights of Palestinians, your paper publishes such an inflammatory cartoon

Ahmed el-Gaili ’98

Cambridge, MA

April 15, 2002

The writer is president emeritus of the Society of Arab Students and president emeritus of (Harvard Law School’s) Justice for Palestine.