COMMENDATION AND CONDEMNATION
(In response to the Feb. 8 letter to the editor, "Honoring the facts."
Mr. Delgado’s response to the article “Honor killings hit close to home” is a disgusting attempt to misconstrue Ms. Novak’s intent. Mr. Delgado says that his biggest issue with Ms. Novak’s article is, “the way [she] targets Muslims worldwide, and especially American Muslims as bloodthirsty murderers … ”
Nowhere in Ms. Novak’s article does the world “Muslim” appear; Ms. Novak makes references only to the Middle East in general. While Mr. Delgado initially seems to praise Ms. Novak for addressing the issue of honor killing, his blatant attempt to discredit Ms. Novak’s article through hyperbole is downright dishonest.
Whether or not Ms. Novak used data that can be called into question really does not have significant bearing on the honor killing epidemic which now plagues much of the world. To be quite honest, there are really no hard and fast statistics on honor killings in the world, principally because it is taboo in much of the world.
Deutsche Welle, a German newspaper, puts the number in Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkey at a cumulative 5,000, and in a 2008 report from Turkey, the “Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years.”
The fact of the matter is that no matter what the statistics are, honor killings represent a plight for women worldwide.
The reason why honor killings are different from many other types of killings is that the intent with which they are committed is so horrific.
Women are being killed simply for loving men who are outside of their religion or ethnic group, for adopting Western norms and values and for living their lives as most women in the West do.
I commend Ms. Novak without qualification and condemn Mr. Delgado in the most severe manner for his attempt to besmirch Ms. Novak and contort the true nature of her article.
Maximilian Feldhake Undergraduate
ISRAEL: A BEACON OF EQUAL RIGHTS
(In response to the Feb. 7 letter to the editor, "Irony and Democracy.")
Despite the fact that the end of President Honsi Mubarak's reign has serious implications for Israel's security, I am all for the protesters in Egypt.
I believe that every person deserves to live in a democratic country, without discrimination and with the basic human freedoms. Had I known about the rally on Mill Avenue a few days ago, I would have been there too.
But, as it turns out, that wasn't the real goal of the protest. An admirable goal — to support the protesters in Cairo, who are trying to gain democracy and basic rights — was twisted into an Israel-bashing session.
Why the only nation in the Middle East where people can live without fear of oppression by their government based on political views, sexual orientation, religion, etc. was demonized at a rally for Egyptians to gain those rights is unfathomable to me.
Ms. Haddad was almost right about one thing. Hamas did take power in a democratic election (the impartiality of which, however, is highly questionable).
Since then, however, they have continued to kill gays, fire rockets at Israeli civilians and generally disregard human rights, democracy and pretty much every other Western ideal. Sounds like the kind of place everyone should support.
Any event at which distortions and fabrications are leveled against Israel will surely provoke a response, because people deserve to know the truth.
Micah Tuttle Undergraduate
AN UN-INTERRUPTED DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
(In response to the Feb. 2 letter to the editor, “Hypocrisy and democracy.”)
Respectfully, it is hypocrisy for governments to call themselves "democratic" while they fund the policies of dictators. In 2010 alone, the United States funded the government of Hosni Mubarak with $1.3 billion, most of which went to the Egyptian military.
This is despite Mubarak's blatantly non-democratic rule. The demonstration was inspired by the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt but is part of a larger echo throughout the world demanding that the United States and its allies stop interfering in democratic processes.
Since the 1950s, our government has been notorious for challenging democratically elected leaders in the Middle East because such leaders would rule outside of U.S. and allies' interests.
Administration after administration has been perfectly comfortable planting and funding dictators to ensure the protection of our self-interests.
And for the record, the current situation in Egypt is tied to the Israel/Palestine issue. Mubarak has been a useful puppet to ensure Israel's inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip; he bears just as much blame for the suffering of people who live in Gaza as the Israeli government.
With all due respect, we should focus on how "the only democratic government in the Middle East" (Israel) and its staunchest supporter (U.S.) have historically mistreated democratically elected officials.
Any lasting peace in the region depends largely on reevaluating our actions.
Nahid Hiermandi Undergraduate