The "Wheels of Justice" controversy has nothing to do with freedom of speech. We all know that principals and teachers have wide discretion to determine what material to present to students and how to present it. This controversy is really about whether Wheels of Justice is an appropriate teaching resource for high school education on the Middle East conflict.

Like Hamas and Hezbolah, Wheels of Justice advocates want the State of Israel wiped off the map. Sound familiar? This is also the viewpoint of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, whose most recent accomplishment is sponsoring an international conference denying the Holocaust.

Neither Wheels of Justice nor its local supporters accepts the right of the democratic State of Israel to exist, and argues that the sole cause of the Middle East conflict is the presence in the region of a Jewish state. Both refuse to acknowledge that any Palestinians engage in terrorism and equate Israel alternately with apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany.

These extreme views ought to have raised red flags for the school. The right of Israel to exist is not up for debate. Moderates on all sides of the Middle East conflict long ago recognized the necessity of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. High schools hardly have enough time to teach the fundamentals of the conflict and struggle for peace and security in the Middle East. Indulging the fantasies of anti-Israel extremists undermines real efforts at education on this complex topic...

ANDOVER - Student protests and a court injunction are possible if Andover High School does not change the format of tomorrow's visit by pro-Palestinian speakers, a local lawyer said.

Pam Lebowitz has organized about 100 parents and residents who are demanding that the high school invite other guests to oppose Wheels of Justice, which they say is an extremist, anti-Israel group. Middle East scholars are coming to the school next week to give a different perspective, but that is not the same as having the two sides present at the same time, Lebowitz said.

"We don't understand why we can't have a more balanced forum," she said.

Lebowitz and some of her colleagues planned to plead their case to Superintendent Claudia Bach this morning, during her monthly coffee hour at Starbucks on Main Street. If Bach and Principal Peter Anderson do not make any changes, Lebowitz's group will help about 50 students who want to stage a walkout or picket in front of the school tomorrow, Lebowitz said.

Lebowitz, whose nephews attend the high school, may also seek an injunction to prevent Wheels of Justice from coming to the school, she said.

While she and some parents planned their strategy at Memorial Hall Library last night, others - along with students, teachers and community members - attended a forum at Temple Emanuel with David Cohen, the associate director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England.

The purpose of the forum was to give students a "deeper understanding" of the Wheels of Justice, Rabbi Robert Goldstein said. About 20 students attended, and they said that most of their discussions in school have been about whether the group has a right to speak there.

"We haven't really talked about what the group is," senior Jillian Bargar said.

Cohen told the audience that Wheels of Justice has a "destructive" and "frighteningly anti-Semitic" message, and he distributed a double-sided sheet of paper about Joe Carr and Mazin Qumsiyeh, the two members of the group who will speak to students tomorrow.

Carr's Web site says it is "dedicated to the overthrow of the U.S.-led global capitalist oppression" and displays the symbol for anarchy. In a recent article on the Palestine Chronicle's Web site, Qumsiyeh says "ethnic cleansing" is happening to Palestinians in Israel...