The editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet had to expect an angry reaction after publishing a viciously anti-Jewish rant in the Aug. 8 edition of the community paper.
The column, by Iranian student Kurosh Arianpour, lauded Muslim terror, denied Israel’s right to exist and blamed Jews for bringing anti-Semitism upon themselves. No wonder it sparked a strong response from local Jewish and civic leaders.
Among those signing letters of protest were Rabbi Ferenc Raj of Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and several members of the Berkeley City Council.
We will not reprint here any of Arianpour’s rabid screed. Nevertheless, we affirm the Berkeley Daily Planet’s absolute right to publish it.
There is no First Amendment question in play here. But this story is much bigger than the Daily Planet.
Just because one is free to publish something does not mean one is obligated to do so, especially when the material is hateful, racist, ignorant garbage.
Had Arianpour’s rant run on some jihadist Web site, no one would have blinked. But to take up op-ed space in any respectable newspaper lends a measure of credence that such work does not deserve.
Even more distressing is the fact that hate speech remains alive and well in our world.
With global anti-Israel hysteria at an all-time high, perhaps we should not be surprised that openly anti-Semitic hate speech has crept back into public discourse. With heads of state like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel’s extermination, perhaps it makes sense that open Jew hatred — for so long something unacceptable in society — is making a comeback.
Hate speech comes in many forms. Hatred of Muslims, of gays and lesbians, of poor people, of racial and ethnic minorities, still echoes across the land.
Jews, too, are guilty of such speech. If it is wrong when enemies of the Jewish people condemn entire ethnic groups, then it is wrong when Jews do it, too.
But we will not draw any moral equivalence here. Arianpour and all other apologists for the worst in humanity should be condemned loudly and unequivocally whenever they open their mouths.
And those that enable them, who provide a megaphone or a platform for them, are also subject to the strongest criticism.
That is why we express extreme disapproval of the Berkeley Daily Planet’s decision. A responsible editor would have done the right thing the moment Arianpour’s essay arrived: trashed it.