I am disgusted with Pete Trombadore’s article in the November 21, 2003 edition of the Miami Hurricane, which stated that OASIS, ISUM, and Amnesty International used funds to directly support terrorism. International Solidarity Movement, the organization that the speakers represented, is in no way supporting terrorist organizations nor is allied with them as Pete stated. ISM is, “working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. (They) utilize nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge illegal Israeli occupation forces and policies.”
After talking with Sara Renn, sophomore at the University of Louisville, she assured me that ISM was not connected with terrorist organizations. “My friend attended an ISM program last year. Her job was to visit with Palestinian children and escort them safely.”
ISM supports the UN resolutions that declared tha Palestinians can defend themselves in times of Israeli torture. So, to you, Pete, and anyone else who was swayed by his libel, I would repeat a phrase from the November 21 article “The goal of peace in the Middle East, the nations of Palestine and Israel living side by side in harmony and equality, does not stand commensurate with the messages of mass murder performed by the Israeli army, such as the 90 Palestinian children killed in the first three months of the Infitada.
I believe Pete’s remarks were racist, myopic, and unpatriotic to say the least. His article is a disgrace and embarrassment to our university, a diverse campus with many Muslim students. I am convinced that it is his bigoted words which endorse hate, profiling, and hostility towards peaceful Muslims and Arab-Americans. The total cessation of terrorism needs to be achieved, and that includes Israel’s terrorist tactics as well as suicide bombers.
Tanya Aquino