To the Editor,
As a long time resident off Delmar, I was surprised and appalled by a recent letter to the Spotlight (December 20-26, 2023) by a Bethlehem resident with respect to the Bethlehem Library allowing a speaker, Mike Peled, to speak to a gathering sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace. The letter deserves a response.
A claim was made that Mr. Peled, a Jewish former Israeli soldier, was using antisemitic hate speech, and therefore the writer implied that he should not have been allowed to speak on the premises.
A democracy depends upon an educated citizenry. Ideally, we would get our information from unbiased sources. However, in most human affairs, there are no unbiased sources. As citizens, we are therefore obligated to listen to many different opinions, through many different sources, to inform us. While the author of the letter may feel that Mr. Peled was speaking antisemitic hate speech, many of us, including a number of Jewish people who I spoke to, did not. I think it clearly in the community’s best interest, when there is a clear disagreement about whether something constitutes hate speech, to err on the side of free speech. Otherwise, anyone could be silenced by a claim of hate speech. I thing the board voted correctly in this instance, and should continue to allow a broad range of voices to be presented on the premises. I am rather surprised and offended by the writer’s claim that “the room was full of Hamas and terror supporters.” To my knowledge, there were no banners supporting Hamas, claims of support for Hamas, or other evidence for support for Hamas or terror. Citizens listening peacefully to a speaker are not proclaiming support for terror, or Hamas, to my mind. I can only assume that the writer’s defamatory claim was based on prejudice. It was a rather ironic choice of words for a writer allegedly concerned with hate speech. I think this basic mindset may inform his desire to stifle debate on this issue.
Bruce Beesley,
Delmar
This story was featured on page 4 of the January 3rd , 2024 print edition of the Spotlight
