I am very disappointed to learn that the University of Iowa Students for Human Rights, the UI English Department, UI Student Government, and the Arab Students Association are sponsoring Remi Kanazi’s appearance on the UI campus on March 29. Kanazi’s views toward United States and Israel are abhorrent. He uses myths, lies, and propaganda to promote his vile opinions and has been called out for his disinformation many times. Kanazi has infamously connected the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to American Middle East policy (“Every time I think of 9/11 / I see burning flesh / Dripping off the bones / Of Iraqi children in Fallujah”). Kanazi has stated that the nation of Israel should not exist and lambasted any effort to normalize relations between Palestinians and Israelis.

What is particularly galling in terms of the UI Students for Human Rights involvement in bringing Kanazi to campus is his repeated distortions of Israel’s human-rights record while ignoring the situation of human rights in Palestine and other Arab territories. While a university campus should promote various points of view on important issues, the role of the Students for Human Rights (not to mention the English Department and UISG) suggest the legitimacy of Kanazi’s views. His half-truths do not deserve such an endorsement.

—Steve Horowitz,

UI adjunct professor