Princeton student body candidate called ‘poor choice’ because he served in IDF
Fellow student claims David Esterlit ‘was part of an organization known for the torment and abuse of an entire population’; others defend him
JTA — A letter in Princeton University’s student newspaper said that a candidate for the US university’s Undergraduate Student Government is a “poor choice” because he served in the Israeli army.
Junior David Esterlit entered Princeton in 2014, and in 2016 took a three-year leave of absence to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. He is running on a platform that includes remedying financial injustices for disadvantaged students.
In his letter to the Daily Princetonian, fellow junior Braden Flax said that Esterlit “is as poor a choice as one can possibly conceive, given his front-and-center background as a member of the Israeli Defense Forces.”
Flax said Esterlit “was part of an organization known for the torment and abuse of an entire population of human beings,” and urged student voters to “consider life in Gaza, where blockades have starved out a largely defenseless population.”
NEWS | With the voting period opening Monday, The Daily Princetonian sat down with both candidates for USG president. David Esterlit '21 discussed economic goals, his "outsider status" in the race, among other issues.https://t.co/ATbVTTME0S
— The Daily Princetonian (@princetonian) December 10, 2019
He concluded that Esterlit “unabashedly advertises his participation in the Israel Defense Forces, which continuously inflicts injustice that dwarfs proportions of anything most of us have ever encountered.”
Junior Clem Brown defended Esterlit in a letter that said Esterlit did not serve in the West Bank or Gaza, but was “stationed on the Israeli-Egyptian border, defending Israelis and Thai migrant workers from ISIS.”
Brown criticized Flax for his “broad and sweeping generalization and rejection of all that the Israeli military accomplishes and stands for,” adding that “rejection of a nation’s right to self-defense is a call for its destruction.” He also said that with the hostility toward Israel and fellow Jewish students, “I’m just another Jew trying to say that I feel unsafe around a lot of students here these days.”
The student government elections were held Wednesday. No winner was announced as of Thursday afternoon.
