Stick to Israel facts
The recent dialogue subject at the Commonwealth Club — the “boundaries of dissent within the American Jewish community around the Arab-Israeli conflict” — bothered me (“Civility in Mideast debate crumbles as audience pipes in,” Sept. 2).
We are wasting much effort passionately debating how we feel about the conflict, rather than talking about facts that will help our community be strong advocates for Israel in a local sea of Palestinian supporters.
We should be talking about the many offers Israel has made for peace; the 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands; the reasons behind Israel’s security decisions; Arab incitement; the history of illegal immigration of Arabs to Jewish Mandate Palestine under the British; and why an Arab who arrived in Palestine as late as April 30, 1948, lost a job and went home to a neighboring country is even considered a Palestinian refugee.
If you are opposed to a Jewish state in principle, then start by picking on Muslim states. There are 56 of them. If we care about retaining our miraculous Jewish state — the world’s only Jewish state, the size of New Jersey — then we need to educate ourselves to advocate. The Palestinians have enough friends throughout the world; we must learn to support Israel in this conflict.
Sheree Roth | Palo Alto
‘Refreshing’ support from rabbis
It was timely and refreshing to see the short about the delegation of rabbis who are joining with the men and women of the hotel and restaurant workers (“Rabbis march for hotel workers’ rights,” Sept. 2) to protest the working conditions in the Hyatt hotels of San Francisco.
The Hyatt chain remains an outlier while other San Francisco hotels have signed contracts with the union and the workers.
The workers in the hotel union are particularly aligned with the Judaic ideals of social justice. Within the labor movement, many people of Jewish heritage support and join in the demonstrations. It lends strength to the effort of everyone concerned with social justice when organized Jewish leaders step up and join with workers on Labor Day.
Dennis Kelly | San Francisco
Israel doesn’t need U.S. aid
No one should worry about ads that decry U.S. aid to Israel (“New ads at local transit sites decry U.S. aid to Israel,” Aug. 26). The aid came with strings attached, which have been devastating for Israel.
The Oslo agreements and the withdrawal from Gaza and Sinai are good examples. Israel exchanged land for terror and war, which cost Israel thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars — with no end in sight.
The aid is not worth it.
Israel can deal with other countries. After all, the Soviet Union was Israel’s primary source of weapons in 1948 and France helped Israel develop nuclear weapons some time later. Furthermore, Israel knows a lot about U.S. weapons. So if President Barack Obama abandons Israel, there will be plenty of countries who would pay dearly for that information.
Neal Wohlmuth | San Francisco
‘Shame on Turkey’
I rarely find myself surprised by the behavior of Israel’s wacky neighbors, but the gall of Turkey’s leaders knows no bounds in breaking diplomatic relations with Israel over the deaths of nine Turkish belligerents in May 2010.
Israel’s navy admitted mistakes and internalized lessons from that incident. No similar flotilla seizures have resulted in deaths. Though the U.N. upheld Israel’s legitimate blockade against the terrorist leadership in Gaza it also criticized Israel’s use of force. I wonder had Israel actually used overwhelming force — and subdued those spoiling for a fight by using non-lethal means — would we even be having this discussion?
Turkey’s baying for an apology is contemptible, even though Israel already has issued statements of regret and has quietly offered to compensate the victims’ families. Should Israel apologize once again? One wonders if Israel’s realpolitik interests might be served by doing so?
Does the Jewish value of Teshuvah come into play here? Galling as the prospect seems, I really don’t know if it might be better to attempt an apology once again.
Turkey seems hell-bent on stirring up an international kangaroo court against Israel, and for what? To score brownie points with its internal Islamic radicals? If so, shame on Turkey!
Steve Lipman | Foster City
Give the boot to Chanel
The revelation of Coco Chanel’s active lifestyle (“New book claims Coco Chanel was Nazi spy,” Aug. 26) of being a Nazi spy — as unveiled in the new book “Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War” — suggests Chanel not only had a wartime undercover affair with a German aristocrat and spy, but that she herself was also an agent of Germany’s Abwehr military intelligence organization and a rabid anti-Semite.
We need to act now — better later than never.
Well, ladies, please clean out your walk-in closets and donate your Chanel shoes and all the Chanel-designed paraphernalia (including the best-selling of all times Chanel No. 5 perfume) as fundraising auction items for Jewish nonprofit organizations of your choice.
That would make Chanel shudder with rage and run for the covers, for sure. From now on let your Manolo Blahniks do the walking.
Lina Broydo | Los Altos Hills