I was one of the many people who (for good reason) submitted a heated e-mail to The Cavalier Daily about its error in the April 16 issue of the paper. For those who missed it, a Nation & World article mistakenly was titled "Israel Executes Two Palestinians," when in fact the terrorist group Hamas executed two Gaza citizens for "collaborating" with Israel. In light of the correction and statements of regret made in the next issue of The Cavalier Daily, I believe some thanks and forgiveness are in order. I know that oversights such as this one made in the pre-dawn hours are less likely to occur in the future.
With this in mind, I believe that the numerous e-mails and letters to the editor were both warranted and, to my knowledge, took the appropriate tone given the situation. In defense of the staff on this topic, Tim Thornton, The Cavlier Daily's ombudsman, editorialized yesterday ("To Err is Human," April 26) and questioned these charges of libel and ignorance about whether Israel could actually kill Palestinians. Thornton's logic stems from the unchallenged first sentence of the (originally) Washington Post news article itself. The sentence read "The Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip yesterday executed two Palestinians convicted of providing Israel with information that led to the assassination of Palestinian militants." Thornton's argument stemming from this line is that "How can it be libelous or ignorant to state that Israel executes a Palestinian when Israel is accused of assassinations of Palestinians?"
This line of reasoning has several faults. It is first important to note that the accusation that Freih and Muhamad Ibrahim aided in Israeli assassinations was made by the radical terrorist group Hamas in what could easily be trumped-up charges. Other types of "collaboration" punishable by death include providing Israel with information on imminent terrorist attacks targeting civilians.\nSecond, we must look at use of the word "executes." In context, execute means "to put to death," according to Merriam-Webster, either by capital punishment or otherwise. Since Israel does not use capital punishment for the most heinous acts of terror - they were only used on Adolf Eichmann for his instrumental role in the Holocaust - Thornton must be referring to the latter. But this case does not suit Israel either, because of the connotation in the English language of extra-judicial killing. No U.S. paper would print a title that America "executed" a major Al Qaida leader if the killing was done in the way that Israel's supposed assassinations have taken place. To give a similar example, the U.S. recently gained some measure of victory and praise for killing just such a leader in an air strike in Pakistan's terrorist infested northwest.
I would contend that Israel's unconfirmed role in the assassination of a key Hamas leader on what appears to have been a trip to Iran was a victory as well. One that could not be titled as an execution unless one uses a double standard. Clearly, charges of ignorance or libel by error were a logical step before corrections were officially issued.
Joel Taubman\nSEAS I
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