October 15, 2023

In Reference to the GEO October 13, 2023 Statement - https://www.geo3550.org/2023/10/13/statement-on-israels-siege-on-gaza/

To University of Michigan President Santa Ono,

We are APPALLED by the publication of the University of Michigan’s Graduate Employer Organization’s “Statement of Israel’s Siege on Gaza.” This BIASED letter released by GEO members clearly exposes their IGNORANT, ANTISEMITIC, and even INHUMAN views. It is deeply offensive and insensitive towards students, faculty members, plus community members who happen to be Jewish and/or Israeli. 

In this letter, those who wrote it DON’T EVEN RECOGNIZE the nature of the terrorist attacks by Hamas nor make any mention of the terrorist organization which has been causing some of the most severe and barbaric mass murders of innocent people in modern times. They completely ignore the unquestionable slaughter of the innocent people living in and visiting Israel who were viciously murdered by Hamas just days ago, which is ENTIRELY INCOMPARABLE to anything that has ever happened before in the Middle East conflict.  

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING JUSTIFIES THE TERRORIST ACTIONS OF HAMAS!!!

The aggressions from Israel mentioned in the letter are not and have never been with the purpose of targeting civilians in Gaza. Israel’s military operations have always been TO ERADICATE HAMAS and IN THE COUNTRY’S SELF-DEFENSE - to STOP terrorists from KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIANS!!!  The GEOs conveniently ignore the fact that Hamas uses their children and women as human shields. Hamas hides their terrorists PURPOSEFULLY among their civil population to protect these terrorists AT ALL COST and uphold their abhorrent ideology of terror. 

The Hamas regime does not allow Gaza civilians to leave their homes and seek safe shelter EVEN when Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ALERTS them of their operations to capture terrorists. This is because Hamas believes that human shields will deter Israeli response and so when people are killed, they then use their deaths as a propaganda tool to encourage more violence. 

The IDF is the MOST humanitarian army in the world with these initiatives, and the GEOs lack of recognition of the strides made by the IDF to preserve civilians' lives obviously stems from their DEEPLY ROOTED ANTISEMITIC SENTIMENT.

Hamas does not seek or desire peace. They have declared openly through public statements that their sole purpose is to KILL EVERY JEW alive, and also, KILL AMERICANS and ANY “INFIDELS'' opposed to their Jihadist views. Their universally-known position is aligned with those of terrorist countries like Iran, where all these assassins get funding, training, and indoctrination to BECOME BARBARIC SYSTEMIC MURDERERS.

The GEOs dare to enjoy all the benefits of living in our beautiful and free nation of The United States of America, whose closest and most faithful Middle East ally is Israel, and still dare to go against our democratic values, adhering to those of radical regimes, while seamlessly enjoying all the freedoms those regimes would NEVER give them. To those signing, you are IGNORANT AND AN EMBARRASSMENT, NOT DESERVING OF EDUCATING OUR MICHIGAN STUDENT COMMUNITY!

Israel is NOT an Apartheid State! This term the GEOs use freely DOES NOT resemble in ANY WAY Israel’s actions in the region. With this baseless claim, GEOs are simply attempting to confuse others with misinformation, impregnating others with their own antisemitic views. Their ignorant opinion is simply theirs and goes against our President Joe Biden’s, our country’s leadership, and those of democratic countries all over the world, all condoning the events. SHAME ON THESE GEOs FOR NOT ALIGNING WITH OUR DEMOCRACY’S VIEWS!!! YOU DO NOT REPRESENT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POPULATION!!!

Hamas has CONTROL of Gaza, Israel has NOT occupied this territory since 2005. Until the attacks last Saturday, Israel supplied water and electricity in their support. How would ANYONE expect Israel to continue supplying these resources after the Hamas' terrorist attacks? Israel's innocents get murdered in the most brutal way in modern history by terrorists decapitating babies, killing children point-blank, raping women and then parading their lifeless bodies, and celebrating all these assassinations, and you dare to suggest that Gaza is now suffering from a humanitarian crisis DUE to Israel? SHAME ON YOU!!!

Gaza CHOSE its government led by Hamas! Hamas CHOSE to brutally murder innocents. Gaza has received BILLIONS of dollars from countries all over the world, including the U.S., to support themselves, develop their own resources, buy food and get water from other nations, cover their basic needs, and create a prosperous nation while NOT being dependent on Israel. Instead, Gaza’s leadership uses the BILLIONS that have been allocated to them to purchase WEAPONS to OBLITERATE Israel. Israel MUST for their own safety STOP all services to Gaza, and deprive them of all resources they generously were giving them for almost two decades EVEN while being ATTACKED by them continuously with missiles, until they are able to CEASE THESE TERRORISTS from MURDERING CIVILIANS.

The letter FALSELY claims that U.S. Dollars and many Fortune 500 corporations support Apartheid. The ONLY entity or money supporting a state of decadence and ANY crisis Gaza citizens are undergoing is a PRODUCT OF HAMAS, which RULES a regime of terror within its own territory, MURDERING ISRAELIS AND ITS OWN PEOPLE to create CHAOS. ISRAEL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHAOS IN GAZA - HAMAS IS TO BLAME! You want a Free Palestine? Free it from HAMAS!!!

Israel has 1.5 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who are mostly loyal to the Jewish state, some of them serving in the army, others in the judiciary and diplomatic branches of the Israeli government. In the GEO letter, those signing do NOT EVEN DARE to mention the name “Israel”. Instead, they refer to Israel as the “Occupied Palestinian land”. You are a DISGRACE to our community! Israel has been a sovereign nation since 1948 and you MUST respect this fact. SHAME ON YOU!!! People like these GEOs are the reason why Israel needs to defend its livelihood! People NOT SEEKING PEACE, people taking action and promoting the goal of ERASING Israel from the map, people with deep-rooted HATRED for the Jewish State and for Jews, people who despise Israel so much they do NOT RECOGNIZE Israel’s right to exist as the home of the Jewish people. You SHOULD NOT BE EDUCATORS – YOU ARE HATEMONGERS AND A THREAT TO THE PLURALIST UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COMMUNITY.

The GEOs’ Statement is DIRECTLY ANTISEMITIC, one-sided, misinformed, deeply offensive, and misleading. Their OUVERT DISMISSAL of the terrorist attacks expresses their LACK of MORAL COMPASS, and even more concerning, their SUPPORT for Hamas VIOLENCE. Whether they are Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish or other, the University of Michigan GEOs endorsing this letter ARE antisemites who are creating an unsafe environment for at LEAST part of the student population (at a minimum, the Jewish and Israeli students) who easily will FEEL THREATENED when having to work, attend class, or be graded by these GEOs.  

WE DEMAND THAT THE GEOS WHO AUTHORIZED THIS MESSAGE BE PLACED ON PROBATION UNTIL ENSURING THEIR VIEWS WILL NOT HURT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LARGER STUDENT BODY.

 

Claudine Vainrub, Ross MBA 1997, Mother of 2 University of Michigan students

Malka Littman, mother of 2 UMICH alum

Nachman Littman -father of 2 UMICH alum

Erica Dayan, parent of one at U Michigan

Jodie Fratantuno-UMich parent 

Mike Fratantuno-UMich parent

Kim Gronich, Mother of 1 UMich Senior

Blake Gronich, Father of 1 University of Michigan Senior

Shalva Morr, Mother of University of Michigan students

Natalie and Robert Nejat, parents of two University of Michigan students

Alexander Kupchik, parent of 2 University of Michigan students 

Rebecca Klausner UM BA ‘94, parent of 2 University of Michigan students 

Didi and Adam Hutt, Mother of 1 UMICH alum and 1 current UMICH sophomore

Natalie and Robert Nejat, parents of two umich students

Flory Nessim, Parent of UMich student 

Javier Wainer, Parent of UMich student

Lisa Fishbein mother of UMich student

Todd Fishbein father of UMich student and alum class of 90’

Jennifer Gilman, Alumna of University of Michigan

Deborah Dejman, Mother of UMich student 

Peter Dejman, Father of UMich student 

Sandra Glass, Mother of Umich Freshman

Daniel Minski, Father of a UMich student 

Annie Vainrub mother of a Freshman 

Moises Kleiner father of a freshman

Melissa and Marc Spellman - Parents of Alums

Robin and Marc Miller- parents of 1 UMich alum and 1 UMich junior

Lisa Chetrit mother of U of Michigan student

Dawn & Seth Ader (alum), parents of U of Michigan student

Euge Greenstein 

Holly Friedsam Parent of a University of Michigan Junior

Brenda Jackson, Mother of U of M Student

Katherine Blum, UM BA ‘90, parent of 1 UM alum, ‘22 and 1 current UM student, class of ‘27

Cara & Jeffrey Klein, parents of two U of M students

Hillary Cooper, Parent of University of Michigan Student

Alyssa Goldberg, Parent of a University of Michigan Student and an Alum

Karen and Hal Benett, Parent of a University of Michigan Student

Jordana Levine, Parent of a University of Michigan Student

Susan Koffler, Parent of a University of Michigan Student

Sherri Bichoipan, Parent of a University of Michigan Student

Ricardo Halfen, Father of a University of Michigan Sophomore

Stephanie Halfen, Mother of a University of Michigan Sophomore