Ax ‘Jewish’ from all agencies!
Let’s all learn from the board of The Kehillah School (“Kehillah high school in Palo Alto drops ‘Jewish’ from its name, sparking backlash from alumni and others.”).
Jewish Family and Children’s Services should become Family and Children’s Services. The JCC should become the CC.
And, of course, the Jewish Community Relations Council should become the Community Relations Council.
Michael Gilfix
Palo Alto
Letter libeled AJC
J. recently published a letter about the American Jewish Committee’s antisemitism training in the San Francisco Unified School District. The letter libels AJC and is riddled with alternative facts.
The writer claims that AJC is “leading an attack on ethnic studies and…freedom of speech.” In fact, AJC supports the teaching of ethnic studies by encouraging an inclusive curriculum so long as it follows the law and education code by not discriminating against Jews or Israelis. AJC has a robust, proud history in defense of free expression. It is those who sought to prevent AJC from presenting a training on antisemitism who deny a truthful representation of ethnic studies by rejecting a full Jewish identity and ironically seek to silence the speech with which they disagree.
The writer claims AJC does not speak for the Bay Area Jewish community. On the relevant issues of Israel as an aspect of Jewish identity, studies by Pew, AJC, and JCRC consistently demonstrate that AJC reflects the views of at least more than 80% of Jews nationally and in the Bay Area. In addition, it was a group of Jewish parents and students who invited AJC to present to SFUSD on antisemitism on their behalf.
The letter bizarrely asserts that AJC training “encourages staff to overlook the destruction of the Palestinian people.” In fact, the conflict in Gaza was not referenced. The training focused on who the Jews are, what antisemitism is, and strategies to prevent or confront antisemitism.
Moreover, AJC has a longstanding policy supporting a two-state solution. Indeed, our recent statement on the matter concludes, “AJC continues to imagine, and strive for, a more hopeful future in which Israelis’ security requirements and Palestinians’ political aspirations can be fulfilled.”
Individuals have a right to their own opinions, but not their own version of the facts. Moreover, their personal views, no matter how fervently held, do not substitute for an accurate representation of Jewish identity or the Jewish community.
Seth Brysk
Regional Director, AJC
Blue Angels’ roar of terror
I am writing in response to Lea Loeb’s beautiful op-ed on the contradictions of observing Yom Kippur during Fleet Week, San Francisco’s annual celebration of military force (“As S.F. Fleet Week meets Yom Kippur, the call of the shofar clashes with the roar of fighter jets”).
For an entire year, we have watched in horror through our phone screens as U.S.-built military aircraft operated by Israeli pilots have rained destruction on a captive, defenseless civilian population. I can hardly remember a time when a casual scroll through social media on my commute did not bring me face to face with grief-stricken Palestinian parents and the broken bodies of murdered children. Now the terror is spreading to Lebanon and Syria.
As I hear the sounds of the Blue Angels overhead, I can only think of the terror the roar of aircraft engines must inflict on Palestinian families sheltering in tents and makeshift shelters. Thank you, Ms. Loeb, for calling on our community to take accountability for our role in funding and enabling this destruction.
Alice Robinson
Redwood City
‘Hoorah for Fleet Week’
Lea Loeb claims Fleet Week sends a negative “message about military power” (“As S.F. Fleet Week meets Yom Kippur, the call of the shofar clashes with the roar of fighter jets”).
The sounds of Fleet Week are of patriotism, not war. Loeb uses her family’s veteran status (past not present) while admitting she “has always lived on safe soil.” She does not know what war sounds like. Go to Israel and hear the real sounds of war — air-raid sirens, mourning, falling shrapnel …
On the contrary, it glorifies the might that deters war, and the creative and technological advancement benefiting society. The parade by Iran’s proxies did glorify war: waving flags for killers and a naked, raped, murdered woman in a truck.
We are a nation without mandatory conscription. This shift created generations who believe anything related to military operations is synonymous with killing. Read the Sailor’s Creed: defend (not attack) and uphold the Constitution.
A whole life is indeed a world. Fleet Week showcases the machines that protect each life, the people who build Gazan food-distribution piers, intercept missiles instead of firing, and protect the cables in the ocean and global shipping routes.
Loeb’s complaints about cost and noise are naive. Businesses have costs. The military’s business costs reflect its essential mission of security to people and commerce. I am glad jet fighters practice where I can see and celebrate them. Though my quiet is disturbed, I’m reminded that my usual peace was won through military might. A little noise is perhaps necessary to get the attention of an American public that no longer sees the real mission of the U.S. military.
When I watch the Fleet’s parade of ships, I do not feel “intrusion” on my holiday but a rare comfort sorely needed in a world fixed on my genocide. Who will protect us? Thank you U.S. military, and hoorah for Fleet Week 2024.
Sarah Tunik
Castro Valley
I hated that U.S.-Israeli flag
The cover for the Oct. 4 issue of J. made me wince — and not just because it’s been one very painful year since the horrendous Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
It’s the flag. The one with the Stars and Stripes dissolving into the Israeli flag.
I get that it’s supposed to convey … solidarity? Partnership?
But there are rules against changing the design of the national flag in the United States.This franken-flag certainly contravenes U.S. rules, and possibly Israel’s.
And then there’s the fact that Israel and the United States, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary, are two separate countries. However, this flag will only feed the conspiracy theories.
Yes, we’re talking about symbolism, when lives have been lost. But symbols matter, too. They set a tone, and they can unfortunately do great harm. I hope those who fly this flag will reconsider.
Katherine Falk
Oakland
Disgraceful ‘both-sides-ism’
Thank you for your comprehensive coverage of the Oct. 7 anniversary and your clear-eyed focus on its impact in the Bay Area.
This morning, I watched with growing disgust two reports on “CBS News Sunday Morning” that featured a degree of both-sides-ism (including a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel slant) that was a disgrace to the victims and hostages and the ongoing suffering of their families — as well as an insult to democracy, Jews, the State of Israel, and, in fact, the U.S.
We truly have no reliable allies in the broader media, and need to support Jewish voices and Jewish journalism — now more than ever, alas.
Dan Leemon
Atherton