Where are flags for Israel?
Your Nov. 27 editorial caught my attention (“Mourn for Paris, but keep Israel in your hearts”). As Eiffel Towers and French flags are raised in sympathy for the terrorist attacks, I have been asking myself: where are the Israeli flags and symbols? Why is it easier in San Francisco to say I am transgender (which I am not) than to say I support Israel? I say it anyway, and I have an Israeli flag in my window at all times.
Terrorism is terrorism.
Marjorie Fulbright | San Francisco
Where is shock over Jewish deaths?
J.’s Nov. 20 cover story screamed “Shock and outrage as terror hits Paris.” While the terror in Paris was indeed shocking and outrageous, somehow the terror that has been hitting Israel, with many Jewish people knifed and murdered in the streets by Palestinians, doesn’t cause “shock and outrage” at J. In fact, it doesn’t even exist at J., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California; the terror against Israelis is a deep secret. How sad.
Isaac Agam | Palo Alto
Don’t fund Israel’s enemies
Caroline Morganti wants the right to criticize Israel and its policies (“Jewish organizations should not try to control discourse by cutting funds” op-ed, Nov. 27). I know of no one who is trying to stop her from exercising her First Amendment rights. What she wants, though, is to do it on my dime. Any argument she had was lost when she included the Jewish Voice for Peace in her list of organizations that should be included in the discussion. The JVP makes no secret of its hostility to the Jewish state and it openly sides with Israel’s terrorist enemies.
However, JVP wants to be funded by mainstream Jewish organizations whose mission is to help Jews. It is bad enough that Morganti sides with people who want to kill us, but she wants us to help pay for the ammunition too.
Her pleas come at a critical time for Israel and the world. As ISIS is getting ever closer to Israel from Syria and the Sinai is threatened by ISIS as well, this is the time to close ranks behind Israel, not to attack it. Despite Israel’s faults, it is still the best place in the region for Jews and Arabs to live.
Gil Stein | Aptos
Refugee influx poses concerns
In your Nov. 20 editorial “ISIS is our enemy, not refugees,” you call those who disagree with accepting thousands of Muslim refugees into this country “disgusting” and “xenophobic.” This shames and silences those who have very legitimate concerns. It creates a thick fog of Jewish self-delusion.
Why do you think Jews are fleeing Europe? Is it because of a change in the tax rates? The problem is incitement in mosques, madrassas and prisons by Jew-hating, infidel-hating imams. Eventually with the acceptance of a critical demographic of sharia-believing Muslims, the same things will happen here.
In spite of what the president declares (and your editorial), the nation’s top security experts have stated repeatedly there is no way to properly discern what is in the heart of each refugee. They are from ungoverned states with no data available. You must know what Israel is dealing with and why the conflict cannot end: the ideology of hatred embedded in the belief system. You try to reassure us that the enemy is ISIS, not the refugees — but you really do not know. The situation is not comparable to Jews fleeing Nazis. That analogy confuses and shames those who do not agree with this massive push by HIAS and Jewish Family and Community Services.
Thyme S. Siegel | Walnut Creek