We, the undersigned, wish to express our profound distress and indignation at the recent article "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom."

Thomas Friedman’s article uses metaphors of wasps, caterpillars, and trap-door spiders to describe various Middle Eastern people, groups and political dynamics, attributing inherent predatory and parasitic behaviors to them. It compares the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to a parasitoid wasp that lays eggs inside caterpillars, equates other groups like the Houthis and Hezbollah to the larvae that consume the host from within, and likens Hamas to a trap-door spider that ambushes and kills its prey. It is especially dangerous because, until it acts, it can seem benign.

The metaphor suggesting the need to "kill the wasp without setting the entire jungle on fire" is particularly egregious. This insinuation of violence, especially at a time when there is widespread concern about the massacres and atrocities against the people of Gaza, causing over 27,000 deaths and turning the infrastructure to rubble in a manner comparable to Dresden after years of a major war, is deeply troubling. Furthermore, when the Arab and Muslim communities in America are under great pressure and attack, and our very concern on these issues gets labeled 'anti-Semitic,' despite the fact that the vast majority of incidents of actual violence, including killings and physical violence with chemical weapons, have been against Arab Americans and Muslim Americans.

This type of metaphorical language is evocative and carries strong connotations. Comparing people and their ethnic/national political groups to insects or parasites is a rhetorical strategy that can dehumanize them, similar to the way Nazis dehumanized Jews by comparing them to lice and parasites.And it can inspire violence.

In light of these concerns, we demand that the New York Times take immediate action to retract this article, issue a public apology, and review its editorial processes to ensure such harmful content is not published in the future. We also call for disciplinary action against the writer responsible for this insensitivity, to uphold the highest standards of journalism and social responsibility.

By signing this petition, we stand in solidarity against the dehumanization and vilification of Arab and Islamic communities and call for a media landscape that respects the dignity of all peoples.