Clarifying Hitler’s vile assertions
A letter in last week’s j. referred to Hitler’s rambling prison memoir “Mein Kampf,” wherein he makes repugnant claims about race and which is featured in one of ADL’s many educational monographs. We appreciate the concern for accuracy and the opportunity to clarify Hitler’s vile assertions of racial hierarchy.
While Hitler wrote that Aryans are “not the smartest people,” in context he adds that the Aryan has a “willingness to put all his abilities in the service of the community,” a skill that “has reached the noblest form.” In other words, despite the imperfection, Aryans remain superior overall; a formulation he repeats in his screed.
In Volume 1, Chapter 11 of “Mein Kampf,” Hitler indeed claims the superiority of the Aryan race, what he calls the “higher race.” He talks about the “purity” of Aryan blood and forbids the mixing of Aryans with “lower races.” He also states that “All human culture” including “art, science, and technology” is “almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan.” The notion of superiority is a key component of Nazism’s murderous ideology, which frighteningly persists within extremist individuals and movements today.
For 100 years the Anti-Defamation League has been teaching about anti-Semitism as part of our mission to combat all forms of bias and bigotry. Understanding the Holocaust and its racist ideology is critically important. To learn more, visit www.adl.org.
Seth Brysk | San Francisco
ADL Central Pacific Regional Director
End ties with U.C.
The UC campuses who have voted for BDS are making a decision based on bias with an undertone that suggests that Israel does not have the right to exist. So what is there to discuss?
I suggest that Jewish parents and alumni stop supporting the U.C. system. Do not send your children to their schools and stop giving them money.
P.D. | Santa Cruz
‘Us vs. them’ is deserved
Roi Bachmutsky (“Trips to Israel can breed ‘us vs. them’ racism among youth,” June 7) is wrong that trips to Israel can breed racism.
If there is “us against them” against some Palestinians, it is because their extremists launched terrible terrorism against Israeli civilians: suicide bombers, snipers, rockets from Gaza, and other murders and injuries. They killed the Foley family while they were asleep in their home. They kidnapped Gilad Shalit and kept him imprisoned without visitors for five years. Their cruelty deserves condemnation. Israel must defend itself, which is not racism.
My wife and I recently visited Israel, and we confirmed that Israel is a sovereign democratic Jewish state, which is miraculous, and whose innovations have benefited people everywhere. People should visit Israel, and do so often in order to witness their newest accomplishments.
Norman Licht | San Carlos
Keep focus on a two-state solution
Letters to j. the past two weeks in response to the op-ed by Simone Zimmerman (“Hillel needs to be welcoming to various views on Israel,” May 31) focus on the evils of the BDS movement rather than on the pro-Israel position of J Street U and the dire consequences for Israel and our youth if there are no opportunities for open discussion and controversy.
As American Jews, our focus needs to be on community-wide support of Secretary of State John Kerry’s plea for us to stand firm and strong for a two-state solution.
The pro-Israel community is at a crossroads, as is Israel. Will we support U.S. efforts to preserve the Zionist dream for an Israel that is a beacon of social justice, in which future generations can take pride and solace, or will we stand by and witness the loss our Jewish democratic homeland?
Molly Freeman | Berkeley
Obama’s shaky U.N. choice
The June 14 j. article “Pro-Israel set loves Samantha Power’s interventionism — to a point” revealed a nauseating cowardice among mainstream American Jewish groups and leaders.
The real views of Power — President Obama’s nominee as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — were displayed in a sickening 2002 interview (available on YouTube). In that chat, she accused Israel of “gross human rights violations” and theorized that a future American invasion of Israel might be necessary to prevent Israelis from committing a genocide against the Palestinians — even if doing so would mean “alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial support.”
Later, she condemned the New York Times (no friend of Israel’s ) for reporting that the “Jenin massacre” was completely fabricated (it was clear Ms. Humanitarian was disappointed that this particular blood libel had lost its mojo).
Finally, in 2008, Powers exclaimed “why is the question always ‘is it good for the Jews?’ ” And the ADL’s Abraham Foxman and other “Jewish leaders” support her? Shamefully, this is par for the course.
Tod Zuckerman | Daly City
Wary of U.C. nominee
Sadia Saifuddin, a major BDS supporter at U.C. Berkeley, has been nominated to be a student regent for the 2014-15 academic year. If approved by the U.C. Board of Regents, she will begin a one-year term as a student-regent designate, able to participate in all discussions but without voting rights until July 2014, after which she will become a voting member of the board.
We must prevent this. She has and will say all the right things, e.g. my religion teaches tolerance, love and respect for all. Her intentions are plain.
Mike Levine | Moraga