Skip to content

Noam's Letters published in The Guardian and Boston Globe

Details

Article

In May 2022, two Letters by Senior Fellow Noam Schimmel were published in The Guardian and Boston Globe.

Congo crisis is tied to western complicity in the Rwandan genocide” is the title of the letter published in The Guardian. In it, Noam advocates for an honest accounting of the role of the UK, France and other western countries in the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi.

As Noam explains, “Congo’s crisis is directly tied to the role of the west.” For example, France “enabled the creation of an escape route and safe haven in Congo” used by “the Hutu supremacists who organized and implemented the Rwandan genocide.” This route enabled them to regroup in Congo and continue there.

Therefore, it is easy to point fingers at Rwanda, but, according to Noam, that “needs to be complemented at a minimum with a hard look in the mirror.”

Jewish students feel ostracized — and unsupported — over Israel views – The Boston Globe” is the title of the the second letter, published in Boston Globe. In this letter Noam shares about his own experience as a university lecturer.  Many Jewish students have approached Noam and spoken to him about their “distressing experiences of prejudice and ostracization” due to their Jewish identities or affiliations. Unfortunately, university administrators would often refuse to acknowledge these issues.

Because of this, Noam highlighted that “offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion and university administrations need to dramatically improve their efforts to advance” the equity and inclusion for Jewish students.