Noam Chomsky Makes First Gaza Visit
Image by Getty Images
Noam Chomsky, the prominent American academic and critic of Israel, has made his first trip to the Gaza Strip.
Chomsky, who is Jewish, is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a frequent critic of American foreign policy and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
He was in the Gaza Strip for a conference at the Islamic University, according to Agence France-Presse.
“Our trip to Gaza was very difficult, but we arrived here and I saw several things which I hoped before to see,” Chomsky said in remarks broadcast on Palestinian television from the university on Thursday evening.
In May 2010, Israel barred Chomsky from entering the West Bank, where he was to deliver a lecture. He finally broadcast his speech by video link from Jordan.
Chomsky, traveling with an academic delegation, coordinated his entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egyptian authorities,Jamal al-Khudari, head of the university’s administrative board, told the news agency.
On Saturday, Chomsky was to deliver a speech on the Arab Spring and the future of foreign policy in the region. He will also meet with NGOs, especially human rights groups and tour refugee camps, al-Khadari said.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
