David Hirsh of Engage recently debated David Landy, an Israel-boycott advocate in Ireland, on that country’s RTE Radio 1. (The discussion is very brief and begins about seven minutes in.) The moderator, though capable and fair-minded, makes one major misstatement of fact: He contends that Noam Chomsky has been “blacklisted” in the U.S. for his criticisms of Israel, among other things.
I couldn’t help but recall that in April, Chomsky gave an hour-long talk at West Point, probably the foremost military academy in America. Far from being blacklisted, Chomsky is in fact given a platform by the U.S. military, his chief political antagonist.
Admittedly, this verges on surreal:
At the end of his presentation, the military academy’s class of 2008 presented Chomsky with a framed picture of a part of the campus.
Lt. Col. Casey Neff, a staff member for the academy’s commandant’s office, said he too enjoyed Chomsky’s lecture.
Neff said Chomsky was at West Point to state a position and provoke debate.
The free speech of Chomsky and others, he said, “is one of the things we’re here to defend.”
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