Festival ‘does not speak for us’

The Jewish Film Festival does not represent the majority of the Jewish community. The fact that Mike Harris was not included on the panel of the SFJFF meant that the “fiery” issues were not going to be “tackled,” in spite of your headline (“S.F. Jewish Film Festival panel tackles fiery issues — minus the ‘Rachel’ hysteria,” Aug. 5).

In a poll conducted by Democrat Pat Caddell and Republican John McLaughlin for the non-partisan organization Secure America Now (www.secureamericanow.org), 93 percent of American Jewish voters expressed deep concern about Israel being threatened by Arab nations and Iran wanting to destroy Israel, 81 percent are against Israel being forced to return to its pre-1967 borders and oppose the U.N. recognizing a Palestinian state. Seventy-six percent are concerned about Islamic terrorism committed in the U.S. by American-born Muslims, 73 percent believe Jerusalem should remain the united capital of Israel. Eighty-eight percent believe that a prerequisite for Palestinian statehood is their recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

I guess they didn’t find a lot of Deborah Kaufmans and Alan Snitows to include in the poll. The leadership of the Jewish Film Festival does not want to give voices such as Stand With Us and S.F. Voice for Israel any airtime. It does not speak for us.

Betsy Shapiro  |  Santa Rosa

Anti-boycott law is OK

Despite the hysterical reaction of extreme leftist groups like Peace Now, Israel’s new anti-boycott law is actually very mild compared to similar laws in other countries, including the U.S. (“Heavy backlash against Israel’s new anti-boycott law,” July 15).

In most countries you can sue someone who causes you damage by making false accusations against you. That’s exactly what the leftists do when they accuse the settlers of occupying stolen Arab land. This land is part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and no other nation has earned the right to claim it.

Peace Now poses as a champion of democracy and free speech. If that were so, why didn’t they express outrage at the recent arrest of Rabbi Dov Lior, a highly respected Torah scholar who was treated like a common criminal simply because he wrote a letter expressing approval of a book written by another rabbi?

It seems that the far left groups support free speech only for themselves, but oppose it for those they deem their ideological enemies, namely those Jews who believe in God, the Torah and the Covenant, and refuse to abandon the heritage of their forefathers for the sake of the false idols so eagerly embraced by the left.

Martin Wasserman  |  Sunnyvale

Flotilla op-ed was biased

Lois Pearlman stated that her friends found the people of Gaza to be “warm, welcoming and normal.” (“Singing klezmer and dancing a pro-flotilla jig,” July 15).

They could have talked with some Gaza Christians, if there are still any alive in Gaza. (There are no Jews at all in Gaza.) They could have been even-handed and talked with Israelis who survived suicide bombings, and talked with the surviving daughter whose father, mother and three siblings were stabbed to death at night in their sleep, in their home.

And she could have mentioned a Palestinian motto: “Itbah al Yehud” (slaughter the Jews).

Lawrence M. Weiswasser  |  Vacaville