On Saturday, Dec. 3, Northeastern University hosted The Jericho Project’s International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War.
The Jericho Project’s stated goal is the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of war, regardless of the reason the prisoners were put in jail in the first place.
Obviously, this leads to a problem when the participants begin calling for the release of terrorists both in America and around the world.
The group claims to be a human rights group, but any reasonably informed individual can see the countries they criticize (like the United States and Israel) are the countries that protect their freedom to vocalize these outrageous ideas.
The presentation made numerous attacks on Israel for mistreating the Palestinians living in Israel proper, the West Bank and Gaza.
However, if one looks at the facts, it becomes apparent Israel is constantly concerned with the rights of the Palestinians. Israel employs about 120,000 Palestinians from the disputed territories.
From 1993 to 1999, Israel allocated $90 million to Palestinian authority.
According to Freedom House (a non-partisan, broad-based non-profit organization that monitors and evaluates democracy and freedom around the world), Israel is an open democratic society with fair and free political life.
No other country in the Middle East can claim this. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where homosexuality is legal and there is protection from hate crimes.
Israel is the only Middle Eastern country to have total rights for women. Israel is also the only country in the Middle East with freedom in the media, and the freedom to criticize religion.
When a group like the Jericho project supports the terrorists that set out to destroy a democratic country like Israel or the United States, it is a step backwards in the march toward peace and freedom for all.
It is irresponsible for Northeastern to host such events.
– Gordon Dale is a middler music industry major and president of Students for Israel.
