A retired University of New Mexico professor, Richard Berthold, recently added to the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish vitriol in academe. He compared Israel with Nazi Germany and opined that Jews have used up their karma.
A UNM student, Lynn Provencio, justly protests in the New Mexico Daily Lobo that the professor’s “view, reminiscent of pre-World War II European academic views, is becoming very common in U.S. academia today as well as in Europe.”
Provencio notes, however, that all is not distortion and prejudice at UNM, whose school of journalism has invited Khaled Abu Toameh to speak on campus in April. Toameh is an Israeli-Palestinian journalist internationally respected for his courage and integrity in reporting.
Provencio rightly commends those who issued the invitation “for stepping out of the rut” and countering bigotry with “knowledge and honesty.”