2 Responses to “Commentator Protestor Speaks”

1. 1 Gadi Jan 28th, 2007 at 12:55 am

   Hah Mordy, had I seen your original piece I probably would have thought twice about responding to your questions, since I thought it was going to be a serious piece of reporting. I don’t recall you approaching me to ask about my petition before you approached me for this article. I certainly do not “become silent and walk away” when challenged with something like this, as anyone who knows me can attest to. In fact, I’d like as much publicity as possible for this issue, so there’s no way I would have done such a thing. In any case, I’d like to respond to your points.

   The Commentator made an official policy banning articles about Israel that did not in some way directly relate to YU. My position is that Israel itself is directly related to YU and to the Jewish people in general. Even articles about Israel that do not have to do with an official YU event or program are very relevant to the “YU community” and does not fall outside the “domain” of The Commentator, as was claimed in their original editorial.

   The Israel Activism Club’s petition calls for a formal retraction of the Commentator’s policy. The articles you cited may mention Israel, but since they are primarily about YU events (e.g. the annual YU Chanukah dinner), they are uneffected by the ban. The Rachel Corrie review wasn’t really about Israel at all; it was about a play, a rabidly anti-Israel play to be sure (though the review painted a little rosier picture of it), but the focus of the article was not Israel.

   History is being made today in Israel. It was recently brought to my attention that there will be an “Israeli Apartheid Week” in New York City in the coming weeks. Most students at Yeshiva have a strong connection to the Jewish State, having studied there in yeshiva, gone on birthright programs, or participated in a number of YU events and missions. In fact, just this Shabbat, President Joel proudly stated that YU has the greatest number of olim of any university. Yet those at the Commentator don’t feel it is “YU-Centric” enough to speak up for Israel.

   The Commentator, as per their original editorial (in which they introduced the policy) would ban articles about things like “Disengagement,” which, according to recent news articles, is now being brought back to the table for Judea and Samaria. History is being made today in Israel, history that concerns us, our people, and much of the world. The Commentator would like to ignore it all and focus on the Warped Tour or Batman.

   So again, the reasons for the petition are outlined in the above Q&A.

   In the future, though I realize you have deadlines, I urge you to do a little bit more investigating before printing nonsense like the original post.

2. 2 Jamie Stein Feb 11th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

   Why is this guy singling out things like the Batman vs. Superman article? I thought it was a great, well-written, and entertaining article.

   I think comic books are quite relevant to the average college student. That said, I think Israel is relevant to the average YU student. Go ahead and petition for Israel, that’s awesome, but why take potshots at other articles? It makes you look bad, dude.

Leave a Reply