TO THE EDITOR:
Last Monday, UNC’s College Republicans displayed David Horowitz’s propaganda piece entitled “Wall of Lies” in the Pit. The Horowitz Foundation has a long history of reaching out to student groups in order to spread its message of fear, division and thinly veiled racist attacks on the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities.
The College Republicans’ agreement to host it should be disturbing to those of us who value equality, social justice and constructive dialogue on campus.
The “Wall” uses a font resembling dripping blood, with a masked figure holding an AK-47 and a Quran as a backdrop, while launching sweeping (yet unsourced) attacks which paint all Palestinians as enemies of Israel and potential terrorists.
Further, it denigrates all pro-Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim populations on campus by suggesting that they are also enemies of Israel and cannot be trusted.
When the DTH published the wall as a full page ad in March, it was rightfully condemned by N.C. Hillel and students representing both Jewish and Arab perspectives on campus as needlessly divisive, inaccurate and borderline racist.
Students for Justice in Palestine thanks them for their principled stand.
The College Republicans have yet to provide any rationale for agreeing to host the aptly named “Wall of Lies.”
However, as the only group on campus which has embraced its hate-filled rhetoric, they owe it to the campus community to explain their decision to acquiesce to the Horowitz Foundation’s request and what they hoped to achieve.
