Letter writer wrong on CFA
Sonja Trauss’ letter misrepresents both the California Faculty Association questionnaire and the concerns raised by the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area. (“JCRC Bay Area is causing trouble,” Oct. 31)
The CFA’s questionnaire did not merely list AIPAC and the Jewish Public Affairs Committee alongside the oil, tobacco and police lobbies. It explicitly grouped them as examples of entities that “harm working people.” AIPAC and JPAC are mainstream Jewish civic organizations that represent broad segments of the Jewish community.
Equating them with industries known for exploitation or public harm is not neutral political speech. It reflects a long pattern of antisemitic scapegoating that portrays Jewish influence as corrupt or harmful to society.
Antisemitism today often emerges through the demonization of Jewish communal organizations, especially those connected to Israel. The question is not intent but impact. Singling out Jewish groups in this way sends a message that Jewish civic participation is suspect. If a Muslim, Black, or Latino advocacy group were included in such a list, the bias would be obvious.
Far from “crying wolf,” as Trauss put it, the JCRC fulfilled its responsibility to identify when political rhetoric crosses the line from legitimate critique into collective blame. Calling out antisemitic language, even when framed in the language of social justice, protects the integrity of all communities. That is not alarmism; it is moral consistency.
Joshua Simmons | San Francisco
I quit CFA over this very issue
Sonja Trauss’ letter is naive, disingenuous and misleading. I belonged to, and was active in, the California Faculty Association as a San Francisco State University faculty member, continued as a retiree member, and am a strong supporter of unions. But I quit over this issue, which is only the latest manifestation of CFA’s anti-Israel (and increasingly antisemitic) stance, which has been building for decades.
For CFA to say that organizations such as AIPAC and JPAC “harm working people” is to assume that any group which supports Jewish rights is against working people. Somehow, Trauss thinks “the real text” says something other than what it plainly says.
Dan Fendel | Piedmont