Dispute Erupts On HIPJ-Open E-mail List

A private dispute erupted between an alum who decried Zionism as racist and a student who linked the peace movement with anti-Semitism over the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice (HIPJ) open e-mail list this month, stirring a controversy on a list that usually sees few posts.

In repeated e-mails to the HIPJ open list, Joachim C.S. Martillo ’78, who is not a member of HIPJ, called the Zionist movement racist.

He referred to Jews affiliated with Israel’s cause as “Ashkenazis” and in one e-mail compared Harvard Hillel and Harvard Students for Israel to pro-Nazi youth organizations.

Eric R. Trager ’05, who is also not a member of HIPJ, said he joined the HIPJ-open list in order to monitor the anti-war dialogue at Harvard and felt that Martillo’s posts were a confirmation of widespread anti-Semitism throughout the peace movement—which he said he feels exists in the peace movement around the world.

“There are hateful elements on the HIPJ list that have nothing to do with the peace movement, nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said.

But Hillel Vice President for Communications Michael Grunfeld ’04 said that few members of the Hillel community have been riled by the posts, which Trager forwarded to the Hillel open list.

“It seems to me like there wasn’t much of a response over the Hillel community list,” he said.

Trager said that he responded to Martillo’s e-mails by sending requests for HIPJ leaders to condemn the posts—which they never did.

Trager said that he believes HIPJ’s non-response is tantamount to endorsement of Martillo’s ideas.

“For me, the real issue is that  HIPJ is providing a forum for an extreme form of hatred,” Trager said. “They have a responsibility to address this, and not doing so is completely irresponsible.”

But Matthew R. Skomarovsky ’03, one of HIPJ’s leaders, said they did not issue a response to the dialogue because the HIPJ-open server is simply a forum for informal discussion and is not even central to HIPJ’s operation.

“HIPJ does not endorse the views of people who post on the HIPJ-open list, and most members are not even on that list,” he said.

Alyssa M. Shell ’06, a HIPJ member, officially responded to Trager’s e-mail by explaining the role of the HIPJ-open to the Hillel community.

Shell wrote in her e-mail to the Hillel list that HIPJ’s “important discussion and organization” happens on a private list and that, until recently, only ten people had ever posted to the open list. According to Shell, many of the 35 members of the open list are not even affiliated with HIPJ.

“It is an open, unmoderated list; anyone may join and post their thoughts,” Shell wrote. “Therefore, by no means does HIPJ-open represent the official actions and opinions of HIPJ.”

Skomarovsky said HIPJ leaders had previously removed Trager from the HIPJ planning list for actions Skomarovsky called “bordering on harassment.”

Skomarovsky said the leaders booted Martillo from the planning list at the same time as Trager.

Chanda R.S. Prescod-Weinstein ’03, a founding HIPJ member and a member of Hillel, said Trager unnecessarily inflamed the discussion.

“As a member of the Jewish community, I found the assumption that criticism of Israel was anti-Semitic was just offensive,” she said. “It didn’t create an environment where people wanted to have a dialogue.”

Skomarovsky said that he hopes the e-mails will not cause a rift between his organization and the Jewish community.

“HIPJ and Hillel are two organizations concerned with peace, and our cooperation should not be undermined,” he said.