Disgusted by the Post

The Coastal Post would have little to say every month if not for its anti-Semitic diatribes (“ADL blasts Coast Post over editorial,” June 6). My husband has been challenging them for years on their articles, which are 99 percent propaganda by some of the most virulent anti-Semites anywhere.

I am mostly disgusted by the advertisers who buy space in this paper. They should all be ashamed to be associated with the kind of anti-Semitism routinely displayed in the Coastal Post.

The Coastal Post is a great example of a newspaper with no ethics or need for facts. I applaud j. for bringing this to the community, as many people have never heard of this paper and are probably unaware of its hate-filled, biased content. I hope that by shedding light and possibly putting heat on the paper, many of its advertisers will pull out, unless of course, they are equally anti-Semitic.

Diane Whitten-Vile | Oakland

Another approach

Jonathan Bernstein, director of the Central Pacific Region of the ADL, did well in writing to Don Deane, the owner/publisher of the blatantly anti-Semitic Marin County Coastal Post. I have a copy of his letter.

With all due respect, however, I do believe that he is in error if he thinks that such a vicious anti-Semite can be persuaded of the error of his ways by a letter, however well reasoned.

We took a different path. We did not bother to write to Mr. Deane. We wrote to each of his advertisers and urged them to no longer advertise in that evil paper, that their customers would be offended by it. We also wrote to all 85 distributors of the paper, urging them to no longer permit this hateful paper on their premises. Finally, we wrote to all Marin County supporters of FLAME, asking them to do whatever they thought to be appropriate to stop the distribution of the Coastal Post. That should do the job.

By the way, we just got the June issue of this rag. It, too, is full of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel venom.

Gerardo Joffe | San Francisco

President, FLAME

Praise to museum

Congratulations to Roselyne Chroman Swig, and to members of the board of trustees of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, on the unprecedented grand opening of a great cultural addition to our community.

My compliments to all of you for your tireless devotion and for your determination to make a dream become a reality.

Words of praise must be given to those individuals who had the vision, and seized the opportunity, to secure the outstanding site in the heart of the beloved city of San Francisco.

The multitude of young people who attended the opening festivities proves that the Contemporary Jewish Museum will be a destination for all ages scattered throughout our diverse population.

The outstanding publicity received from around the world confirms that the public at large continually shows a great interest in Jewish culture.

Best wishes for a great future.

Irving Rabin | Tiburon

President, Judah L. Magnes Museum

‘Not an illegal alien’

Thanks for the review of “Citizen Nawi,” the new film by Israeli filmmaker Nissim Mossek (“Take a road trip with gay activist ‘Citizen Nawi,'” June 6).

Reviewer Michael Fox, however, misunderstands the situation of Faud, Nawi’s Palestinian lover. Fox confuses Israel’s Law of Return, the denial of Palestinians’ right to return and other policies of maintaining Jewish demographic supremacy in Israel/Palestine for an immigration policy. Faud is not an illegal alien. He is in fact an indigenous person who belongs in that country.

I hope the film does not also exploit the violation of some Palestinians’ human rights with the idea that Israel should be regarded as a safe refuge for a minority of Palestinian men who have sex with men. That idea is preposterous when we know that millions of Palestinians live in refugee camps, most of which are under Israeli military control in the West Bank and Gaza, and are probably the most unsafe place to live as they are routinely bombed indiscriminately and occasionally bulldozed entirely.

Benjamin Doherty | Chicago

Doctor’s ‘false claim’

The June 6 short “German group awards Nazi doctor” from JTA was grossly inaccurate.

The facts are that Dr. Hans-Joachim Sewering rescinded his president-elect status of the World Medical Association because the officers of the AMA voted unanimously in January 1993 to withhold the AMA’s contribution to the World Medical Association if he did not resign.

I make this point because the article supports Sewering’s false claim that he resigned because the World Jewish Congress threatened to organize a boycott.

This is an outrageous lie and played well in Germany in 1993.

In addition, I faxed to j. copies of news articles in London, the United Kingdom, the statement of the ADL, and the strong statement of disapproval of Sewering being honored by the German Federation for Internal Medicine with its highest honor.

This is a story you have reported on during the 14 years of my unsuccessful efforts to get Dr. Sewering tried for murder in Bavaria.

Dr. Michael J. Frauzblau | San Rafael

Wrong man for job

I am not sure at all about Obama’s sincerity toward Israel (“With Clinton’s backing, Obama says he’s best for Israel,” June 6). But the most dangerous thing is that he is the least-experienced politician whose unprecedented success in the primaries comes directly from almost 100 percent black and Muslim votes, and also from whites (including Jews) who believe in their so-called “white guilt” (should the same whites respond to their anti-Jewish guilt because of their ancestors were anti-Semites?).

In any case, all these votes are not because Obama is the right candidate for the president but because he is black, which is very sad.

Eugene Voskoboynikov | South San Francisco

‘Reinventing?’ Hardly

The mikvah has brought tremendous dignity, spirituality and meaning into the lives of Jewish women and their families for thousands of years (“Demystifying the mikvah,” May 16). I rejoice that many who had been estranged from this practice are now getting a taste of it, but I am saddened by Stacey Palevsky’s lack of insight into the significance and beauty that is inherent in the traditional use of the ritual bath.

To write that newcomers to the practice are “reinventing, beautifying and demystifying” this mitzvah basically implies that those of us who have known the mikvah for some time have been engaging in something passé, ugly and arcane.

What needs demystifying are the negative assumptions about the identities, lives and spiritual depth of the wide variety of women who use the mikvah in the manner described by the Torah.

Fabienne Adler | San Francisco