2 Weisenfeld’s slander, entirely because I’d been nominated for an honor by the faculty and administration of one of your colleges? I can’t adequately descri be my dismay at the fact that none of you felt stirred enough by ordinary fairness to demand of one of your members that, if he was going to mount a vicious attack, he ought to adhere to standards higher than those of internet go ssip. Mr. Weisenfeld declared to you that, rather than turn to “pro-Israel” websites, he’d gleaned his insights into my politics from the website of Norman Finkelstein. I find it appalling that he failed to consider a third option: familiarizing himself with any of the work I’ve done, my plays, screenplays, essays and speeches, for which, I assume, the faculty and administration of John Jay nominated me for an honor. It would have taken very little effort to learn that my politics regarding the state of Israel do not resemble Mr. Weisenfeld’s account. I don’t intend to mount a full defense of myself or my opinions in this letter, an effort on my part which an hono rary degree ought not to require. But I can’t allow myself to be publicly defamed without responding: - My questions and reservations regarding the founding of the state of Israel are connected to my conviction, drawn from my reading of American history, that democratic government must be free o f ethnic or religious affiliation, and that the solution to the problems of oppressed minorities are to be found in pluralist democracy and in legal instruments like the 14th Amendment; these solutions are, like all solutions, imperfect, but they seem to me more rational, and have h ad a far better record of success in terms of minorities bein g protected from majoritarian tyranny, than have national or tribal soluti ons. I am very proud of being Jewish, and discussing this issue publicly has been hard; but I believe in the absolute goo d of public debate, an d I feel that silence on the part of Jews who have questions is injurious to the life of the Jewish people. My opinion about the wisdom of the creation of a Jewish state has never been expressed in an y form without a strong statement of support for Israel’s right to exist, and my ard ent wish that it continue to do so, something Mr. Weisenfeld conveniently left out of his remarks. - I believe that the historical record shows, incontrovertibly, that the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes as part of the creation of the state of Israel was ethnic cleansing, a conclusion I reached mainly by reading the work of Benny Morris, an acclaimed and conservative Israeli historian whose political opinions are much more in accord with Mr. Weisenfeld’s than with mine; Mr. Morris differs from Mr. Weisenfeld in bringing to his examination of history a scholar’s rigor, integrity, seriousness of purpose and commitment to telling the truth. - I won’t enter into arguments abo ut Israeli policy towards the Palestinian people since 1948, about the security fence or the conduct of the IDF, except to say that my feelings and opinions – my outrage, my grief, my terror, my moments of despair - regarding the o ngoing horror in the middle east, the bru nt of which has been born by the Palestinian people, but which has also cost Israelis dearly and which endangers their existence, are shared by many Jews, in Israel, in the US and around the world. My despair is kept i n check by my ongoing belief in and commitment to a negotiated con clusion to the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. - I have never supported a boycott of the state of Israel. I don’t believe it wil l