Celebrating Israel neglects issues
Shirley Eshag-Hay and Shirley Eshaghian (“For this birthday, we have only one wish,” Viewpoint, April 24) boast that their nation, Israel, should be congratulated for its steadfastness in upholding western values of democracy, freedom, and a zesty nightlife.
What’s the big deal? From access to the United States’ best health care at the UCLA Medical Center to the world’s best shawarma sandwiches at Zankou Chicken (don’t try to convince me otherwise), as UCLA students, we can experience all that Israel boasts on a much more grand and diverse scale.
Most importantly, we can do all this without the guilt of having displaced millions of Palestinian refugees, murdered countless innocent Lebanese civilians last summer, imposed hundreds of military checkpoints in Palestinian land, and expanded illegal Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.
That is why instead of lighting another candle for Israel, I joined other students in passing out fact sheets exposing 59 years of illegal occupation.
Muhibb Khan
Third-year, economics
Ban doesn’t ignore women’s rights
Katie Strickland said banning partial-birth abortion promotes women being viewed “as little more than baby-holders” (“Apparently, women’s health comes second,” Viewpoint, April 25).
Women who do not have children (a woman’s right also) have the same rights as all human beings.
Thus, the ban does not make women into “baby-holders” or give a fetus more importance than a woman, but promotes the view that a woman does not have more rights than her fetus or child ““ just an equal right to life.
Joshua Nogales
Third-year, computer science