So on April 30th I was watching the news and a reporter (not sure which station) was interviewing several protesters at Columbia University. First off several of those he interviewed were not even students of Columbia, so not sure why they were there. I agree with Peaceful Protests, but when one calls for the death of another or violent acts than that to me is no longer free-speech but inciteful, hate speech. That is over the line.

However, what I am getting at is that to a person everyone interviewed, from College students to non-college students stated that “Israel has no right to exist”? This confused me, what confused me even more was when they stated that the land was “… occupied by Jews who were fanatical Zionists and stole the land from the Palestinians.” They even went so far as to state that “historically the land has always belonged to the Palestinians and that even the western wall was the wall to a former Palestinian Castle and never was there a Temple for Jews in that spot.”?

OK I am utterly confused – what is being taught to these students and non-students alike? If they are Christian or even Muslim then do they completely disregard the Torah or Old Testament as they call it? They state their Religion comes from the Old Testament, so does that negate the New Testament and the Koran? One person noted that “The Old Testament is just a fable and the true religion started with Muhammed”.

I really feel we need to adjust our education and properly teach history – world history. When I went to school I learned about the Balfour Declaration, I learned about the history of the Middle East, I learned the long before Islam Judaism was the religion in a land called Judea and Israel. When archeological digs are done and they find ancient Hebrew, and Torah texts, not ancient Aramaic.

I feel that a lot of the problems we face are a lack of proper education. If we can properly educate the next generation without bias then I believe that the world can become a better place.

Let us learn to respect each other for who we are and not just judge others. Let us not let hate get in the way of our thought processes. And if we still wish to protest, keep it peaceful without violence, without taking over a building, without stopping classes, but instead get our messages out with respect.