Editor’s note: The University Times received several emailed letters objecting to a story in the July 14 edition titled “Professor encounters joy amidst fear when war erupts during Israel visit.” We are choosing to run the letter below as representative of the sentiments shared by those who wrote in.
In addition, as is the longstanding letters policy of the University Times: Persons or groups directly addressed in a letter will receive a copy of the letter so that they may prepare a response if they desire. Professor Ilia Murtazashvili, who was the subject of the July 14 story, has chosen to respond to the letter criticizing the article. His response also can be found below. The University Times does not plan to run any more responses on this subject.
Letter: Failure to mention Gaza casualties is shameful
To the editors of the University Times,
As a University of Pittsburgh alum with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Media, I am appalled by your recent piece, “Professor encounters joy amidst fear when war erupts during Israel visit,” and the editorial decision to publish what is, in effect, an uncritical platform for Israeli state propaganda.
While the piece portrays the experiences of a Pitt professor visiting Israel during a period of heightened conflict, it utterly fails to meet the basic journalistic standard of context. There is not a single mention of the over 60,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza — a figure that could in fact be as high as 400,000 disappeared Palestinians — nor of the 150,000 injured, most of whom are civilians, women, and children. That is an unconscionable omission in an article published by a university-affiliated outlet during an ongoing genocide, recognized as such by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. Leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have long described Israel’s policies as apartheid. This context is not optional — it is essential.
The article goes to great lengths to detail the comforts and accommodations available to visiting academics and Israeli civilians: "spacious" and "well-accommodated" bomb shelters, safe hotel basements, emergency evacuations via VIP treatment at the Jordanian border. But no mention is made of the fact that Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters. They have no protected zones. They are bombed in their homes, in hospitals, in schools, in refugee camps, while trying to retrieve bread or water for their families. There is no “normalcy” under siege. To juxtapose missile defense systems and celebratory weddings in shelters with the complete annihilation of life in Gaza is grotesque.
Even within Israel, the apartheid system rears its head — Palestinian citizens of Israel are regularly denied entry to shelters, their lives deemed less worthy of protection. These facts are not difficult to find, yet they are conveniently erased in favor of a feel-good travelogue about “resilience” under fire. To suggest this professor found “joy amidst fear” while attending a government-sponsored propaganda tour — one that explicitly aims to whitewash Israel’s ongoing crimes — is a slap in the face to every Palestinian student, faculty member, and community member at Pitt, and a stain on this university’s reputation.
No responsible journalist or academic should be participating in or promoting trips like Academic Exchange while the Israeli military, aided by U.S. funding and private contractors, continues to destroy Gaza with impunity. No one should glorify the experience of being a temporary visitor to a war zone when millions of Palestinians are denied the right to flee, the right to safety, and the right to live.
That the University Times saw fit to publish this piece without even the faintest gesture toward balance or critical thought — no mention of Palestinian casualties, no quotes from affected communities, no contextual facts about international law — is beyond disappointing. It is shameful.
Sincerely,
Jonas Caballero
2010 Pitt Honors College alumnus
Response: We must leave space for complexity and empathy
To the editors:
Jonas Caballero’s letter condemning my personal reflections on my recent experience in Israel during the war with Iran rejects the spirit of open inquiry that universities should uphold. These accusations are deeply troubling in their refusal to allow for complexity or empathy in a time of conflict and suffering.
Let’s be clear: engagement with Israel and its neighbors is not a moral failing – it is a necessary path toward peace and mutual understanding. Zionism, contrary to the tone of Caballero’s letter, is not a settler-colonial project but a belief in the self-determination of the Jewish people. Israel should be recognized for its commitment to rights, liberties, and democratic governance in a volatile region. Like any country, its government should be subject to criticism, and fortunately, Israelis regularly exercise their right to peaceful protest.
Journalism’s purpose is not to advocate a political position but to illuminate the world as it is. The article Caballero criticized did not glorify war or overlook suffering; it reflected a professor’s real experience and the resilience of ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances. By any reasonable standard, that is within the repertoire of what journalists do.
Reflecting on resilience in war is not shameful. What is shameful is suggesting that humanizing Israelis is equivalent to propaganda. The real threat to serious discourse is the insistence that any engagement with Israel must begin and end with denunciation. Caballero’s rhetoric, while couched in moral outrage, is a transparent attempt to silence discussion and to bully journalists into parroting BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) talking points.
Far from promoting peace, this approach — attacking anything that humanizes people living in Israel — diminishes the possibility of dialogue and understanding. Too often, it reflects not solidarity with Palestinians, but animus toward Jews.
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is heartbreaking. But a serious conversation on Gaza should focus on Hamas, the terrorist organization that began the war with Israel by massacring thousands of people — Jews and Muslims, Israelis and non-Israelis alike, and which continues to hold its victims as hostages.
Since Caballero mentions genocide, we should be clear that Hamas’ charter is an open call for genocide and the slogan “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea” is a popularized call for genocide.
Israel is abiding by international law by investing substantial time and effort to defend the baseless claims that it is committing genocide precisely because Israel is committed to the rule of law. Israel has conducted its wars against Hamas and Iran, the head of the snake in supporting terrorist networks, with the utmost attention to international legal standards.
Failing to denounce Hamas emboldens extremism but also denies the agency of Palestinians who seek to govern themselves free from a radical Islamist regime that terrorizes both Israelis and dissenting Palestinians. The relentless effort to dehumanize Israelis does not advance peace — it empowers Hamas and prolongs war. Framing Israel as a settler-colonial state to be dismantled, rather than a nation to be engaged, is not a cry for justice; it is a strategy of rejectionism that erases any path to coexistence.
Hamas thrives in this environment. It survives not through liberation, but through fear, repression, and the destruction of hope.
Many Palestinians understand this and have begun to speak out — not just to end the war, but to end Hamas’ grip on their lives. While this war is tragic and imperfect, it is aimed at dismantling a terrorist regime that brought devastation to both peoples. Moral outrage that fixates solely on Israeli culpability while ignoring Hamas’ atrocities is destructive. It emboldens extremism, silences Palestinian moderates, and ensures that more innocent lives will be lost. True solidarity demands more than slogans. It requires the courage to confront complexity.
As a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, I want students to engage the world, not retreat from it. Dialogue — especially across deep divides — cannot flourish through isolation or insult, nor by maligning journalism that dares to show more than one side. Dialogue happens when we confront difficult truths, acknowledge diverse perspectives, and resist the temptation to reduce complex realities to ideological slogans. That requires courage, not conformity.
Sincerely,
Ilia Murtazashvili
Professor, School of Public and International Affairs