Using murder as a tactic sets Palestinians apart
Thanks for the recent op-eds on “intersectionality” (“Is intersectionality just a tool of the BDS movement?” Jan. 22, and “LGBT community must make room for pro-Israel voices,” Jan. 29). Those of us of a certain age remember something very similar during the Vietnam War — if you didn’t agree with me 100 percent about the war, I didn’t want you on my bowling team or to associate with you in any way. A good way to make sure differences are never bridged.
But with regard to intersectionality, the idea that all the instances of oppression in the world must be regarded as a single issue and fought, together, by all those particularly interested in one issue, I would like to raise a point.
Though police have committed unjustified killings of black people, Black Lives Matter does not attempt to stab police. Likewise, LGBT does not attempt to stab straight people, or even those opposed to LGBT rights. Women, underpaid, don’t attempt to stab male co-workers or the bosses who continue to underpay them, or the legislators who pass laws restricting women’s access to health care.
Palestinians, however, do attempt to stab innocent Israelis — not even the military or West Bank settlers, just ordinary Israelis. And regardless of one’s views on the status of Palestinians as oppressed people, I believe this sets them apart and requires those who want to fight for oppressed groups to consider carefully how support for the Palestinians should be expressed. Specifically, they should consider whether BDS is an appropriate vehicle to be used in support of people, oppressed as they may or may not be, who use murder as a tactic.
Merlin Dorfman | San Jose
The real issue: What is in Israel’s best interest?
Letters to J. in the Jan. 29 issue criticized those who see the occupation and settlement expansion as strategic threats to Israel. The letters testify to the fault lines in our community that make sense to acknowledge, and to features of our discourse that we would do well to refine.
As a J Street leader, I do not for a moment think I will change the perspective of those who want Israel to encompass all of Judea and Samaria and who do not see the occupation as the most significant threat to Israel’s well-being as a democracy and to the engagement of American Jews over time. I do envision, however, a time when those who write letters to J., and who engage in public (private, too) discourse about matters Israel, will recognize that the disagreement with J Street and a spectrum of other organizations is not about support for Israel, but in what we define to be in the best interests and character of the state.
That some Jews believe there should be no Israel, let them also be explicit about their rationale. In this way we can move beyond labeling and misrepresenting one another.
Molly Freeman | Berkeley
Co-chair, J Street S.F. Bay Area chapter
A collective anguish over random killings
There is an uneasy feeling that Jews have as we watch the tragic events unfolding in Israel. History seems to be repeating itself.
During the years 1936 to 1939, 591 Jews, mostly civilians, were murdered in random killings in what Jews called the “disturbances” and the Arabs called “the uprising.” The great Israeli national poet Uri Zvi Greenberg captured the feeling of the Jews of those days when he wrote “every day, another funeral.”
Those words reflect our collective anguish in these days. Even as we overcame that tragic turn of events eight decades ago, we know that despite the continuing horrific violence, we are united with the people of Israel and affirm our belief, with perfect faith, that together we shall overcome.
John F. Rothmann | San Francisco
J. is destroying Jews, etc.
Why oh why would any Jew, especially a Jewish parent, even think of going to a Christian theme park? (“One Jew’s Orlando dilemma,” Jan. 29 online).
It’s horrible but not surprising that J. would even [post] a story on this instead of teaching what is and why be Jewish.
There is nothing “Jewish” about J. except maybe the candlelighting time for Shabbat. Your paper is destroying Jews spiritually and increasing intermarriage rates and promoting the gay agenda as something to be proud of in Jewish life.
Judaism is based on Torah. We Jews must love and respect each other, including each person’s right to choose or practice what they wish. But do not promote anti-Torah and anti-Jewish ideologies, whether it’s intermarriage, homosexuality, not keeping Shabbat or kosher, etc.
Aaron Seruya | San Francisco
‘Displacement’ in Israel a distorted narrative
So Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman wishes to have us learn the Palestinian narrative as a means of understanding the conflict in the Middle East (“Why Jewish educators need to teach the Palestinian perspective,” Jan. 15). Unfortunately, she omits the fact that the Palestinian narrative is often demonstratively false and fabricated.
Such tenets as the Jews displacing multitudes of local Arabs who lived in palatial homes (“I carry the keys to my grandfather’s beautiful mansion” — a frequent Palestinian refrain) are easily refuted by British census figures and period photos of the true desolation that characterized the land at the time of early Jewish settlement. Arabs began pouring in when they recognized the economic potential that Zionist settlements brought with them. The “displacement” was, in reality, pitching a new tent about 15 miles away from where the family tent used to be.
I wish J. would devote as much column space to educating the Jewish community about the actual displacement of more than 800,000 Jews from Arab lands after the establishment of Israel — a population that actually did leave behind significant treasure.
Dr. David L. Levine | San Francisco
Interfaith coalition doing good works on Peninsula
Regarding your editorial about the joint observance of MLK Day by the Jewish community in conjunction with the African American community (“Celebrating the ties between blacks and Jews,” Jan. 15), for the past four years the Peninsula Interfaith Coalition, consisting of 18 houses of faith — including Temple Sinai, Peninsula Temple Sholom, Peninsula Temple Beth El, Congregation Beth Jacob and the JCRC — has observed MLK Day with a day of service to the community.
Our participants work at refurbishing schools and their gardens, paint, collect clothes and distribute them, cook meals for the homeless and those in shelter networks, even have a choral group go and put on concerts at old age homes. This year we had 500 volunteers of all faiths and creeds and ethnic diversity and of color working together to make our community a better place. We also got to know and work with our neighbors.
The consortium has representatives from Catholic churches, most Protestant denominations, a mosque, a Hindu temple as well as the Buddhist community. We are all volunteers and work and meet during the year to plan and find projects, as well as share the stories of our faiths.
This is one of the ways Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory was honored on the Peninsula.
Jon S. Levinson | San Carlos