‘Apartheid libel’ shows ignorance of history
I was appalled to read the letter from Nancy Polin and ever more so by the letter from Llyanna Landes (Letters, Aug. 22). Both letters are replete with fallacies about Israel, ignoring realities of Israel’s democracy. The “apartheid” libel has been peddled by anti-Israel activists and has been discredited by many South Africans, who are pained by the usurpation and the misuse of their history. The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, South African Parliament member, wrote in the San Francisco Examiner: “As a black South African who lived under apartheid, this system was implemented in South Africa to subjugate people of color and deny them a variety of their rights. In my view, Israel cannot be compared to apartheid in South Africa. Those who make the accusation expose their ignorance of what apartheid really is.”
Landes’ letter goes even further, quoting the well-known anti-Israel extremist Noam Chomsky and accusing Israel of trying to commit genocide against Palestinians. Not only is this a blatant lie, not supported by facts, but to have a Jewish person subscribe to this anti-Semitic libel is just shameful. These extremist fringe voices perpetuate this lie, using their supposed Jewishness as a fig leaf. The reality is the reverse of what they are saying. The Hamas covenant seeks genocide against not just all Israelis, but against all Jews. Presumably, they would include even the shameless Hamas apologists like Chomsky and his ilk.
Vlad Gorsky | San Francisco
Columnist’s troubling defense
Amy Neustein’s column troubled me (“Why Elie Wiesel’s full-page ad troubles me,” Aug. 22). Her defense of Gaza parents did not mention that Hamas was elected by them. Hamas does use their children as shields. Foreign journalists reported this as soon as they left Gaza. Gaza parents publicly state they are proud of their children when they become suicide bombers.
Ms. Neustein said nothing about the rockets raining down on Israel, which forces Israel to defend itself. She made no mention of the terror Israeli children feel as they run for shelters, or the funerals of Israeli soldiers and civilians murdered by Hamas. Nor does she mention what would have happened had the tunnels not been destroyed.
Elie Wiesel has seen the worst the world can do to Jews. He is far wiser than Ms. Neustein.
Jill Maleson | Fremont
Courageous critique of Wiesel’s ad
I was heartened to read Amy Neustein’s critique of Elie Wiesel’s ad. I was doubly heartened to see a Jewish paper show the courage to publish this piece. The op-ed reminded me that in the middle of a heated conflict, one must still have compassion. The little vignette about the Israeli bomb victim made me realize there was once a time when two warring sides could set aside differences in the interest of aspiring to reach higher levels of humanity. Can we rekindle the best in all humanity to end the suffering of everyone caught up in the war?
Susan Daglian | New York City
Stop blaming victims of child abuse
Because I’ve just published a book on child abuse cover-ups in Orthodox Jewish communities, Amy Neustein’s column about Elie Wiesel’s comments caught my eye.
It’s crucial to recognize that whenever we rationalize violence against children, as Wiesel’s comments implicitly did, we trivialize abuse of all children. And if committed Jews don’t speak out when children fall victim to the violence of the “Jewish state,” who will?
I’m afraid it is no accident that the same rabbis who condone violence against Palestinians all too often minimize the problem of child abuse among Jews, since acknowledging it would similarly interfere with the leadership’s priorities and power. Amy Neustein’s equation of the value of all children’s lives is, therefore, right on target. Blaming the child victims for their abuse is one of the oldest, and most cynical, tactics of those who want to whitewash a society in which children are expendable. Such a society should be anathema to Jews, regardless of who leads it or who condones it.
Michael Lesher | Passaic, N.J.
Criticizing Israel’s policy is not anti-Semitism
This is in response to Gill Shapira’s criticism of our film “In the Image,” which he has not seen but dubs a “so-called documentary” (Letters, Aug. 8).
Our documentary is about Palestinian women living under occupation in the West Bank. These women have many interactions with IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers, many of which are negative and even abusive, as documented in the videos they have taken. Videotaping is one of the few forms of nonviolent activism available to them.
Our purpose was to introduce actual Palestinians whose stories are rarely told, so they can be seen as intelligent, decent human beings with the same hopes and dreams as we have, and the wonderful alliance between them and their ally against the occupation, B’Tselem.
Criticism of Israeli policy should not be equated with anti-Semitism. Like many Israelis and American Jews, we want Israel to live up to the ideals set forth in their Declaration of Independence that promises equality for all. The occupation makes this impossible and also does great harm to the young men and women who must carry out the orders.
We hope the documentary will be seen by many and open up a healthy dialogue about Israeli policies and what they mean for Israel’s future.
Judith Montell and Emmy Scharlatt | Berkeley
Co-producers, Co-directors, “In the Image: Palestinian Women Capture the Occupation”
U.N. agency complicit in rocket attacks
On Friday, Aug. 22, a 4-year-old Israeli boy, Daniel Tragerman, was killed as he played in his living room. He was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, who fired a mortar into Israel.
It bears emphasis that the deadly projectile was fired from the grounds of a United Nations-run school. This should come as no surprise.
Throughout the Gaza war, UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, has repeatedly discovered Hamas rockets stored at its schools, inspiring the quip that UNRWA really stands for “United Nations Rocket Warehousing Agency.” Although UNRWA has condemned each such incident, it has then proceeded, every time, to turn the rockets over to Hamas. Images captured by a few brave journalists have also confirmed that Hamas terrorists are firing rockets and mortars at Israeli population centers from launchers adjacent to UNRWA-run schools and shelters.
Given UNRWA’s complicity in allowing Hamas to carry out the double war crime of deliberately targeting Israeli civilians while intentionally placing Palestinian civilians in the line of fire should Israel dare to defend itself, perhaps it is time that Israel investigated the United Nations for war crimes.
Stephen A. Silver | San Francisco
Ending ‘occupation’ won’t end terror
As is so often the case, J., like much of the media, was replete with Jews denouncing Israel for the Gaza bloodshed. Any loss of life is indeed tragic, but what about the other side? Any significant Arab apology for the Hamas charter calling for the killing of all Jews, any regrets from the so-called moderate Fatah that has never changed its charter calling for the elimination of Israel? Any apology for starting the 1948 war (with wholesale massacres of Jewish settlements) that led to the refugee problem? Any Arab regrets for forcing the 1967 war that led to the “occupation,” any self-recrimination for 66 years of daily terror against innocent Israel civilians? What about the suicide bombers? Any Arab support for the two-state solution (an oxymoron, given the Arab rejection six times), or do they apologize for shouting “from the river to the sea,” meaning the elimination of Israel?
Apologists for Arab intransigence glibly shout “End the Occupation” without explaining how that will end terrorism and bring peace. Jews must be the only people on the planet that castigate themselves for what any other nation would see as its God-given right: the right to fight back and defend themselves
Marvin Engel | Piedmont
Conflicts are not always black and white
I am in the throes of a deep and painful conundrum.
I am a proud and educated Jew who loves and supports Israel. Yet I cannot support those on the far right who brand all whose opinions differ from theirs as anti-Semites. Of course Israel must defend itself from Hamas’ barrage of missiles and tunnels that burrow into Israel for the purpose of terrorizing and murdering its citizens. Yes, Hamas is a wholly terrorist organization that was unfortunately democratically elected to power. But this horror is not a black and white “our side is all good vs. their side is all bad” situation.
Please remember the prophets, Amos and others, who saw the injustice of the state and sought to demand change. Those remarkable men were not anti-Semites, they were the ethical harbingers of God’s words, the ones we remember today as the voices of social justice who were not afraid to openly and loudly state Israel’s transgressions. Should we, in our love and support of Israel, turn against what is ethical, moral and just, we will not be able to stand up before the world and truly defend the means she chooses to maintain her very existence. We must all become prophets and demand the moral and ethical path.
Susan J. Hirschfield | Santa Rosa
Memories of Hong Kong Jewish oasis
I enjoyed reading the article about the Jewish community in Hong Kong (“Hong Kong congregation welcomes worshippers, travelers,” Aug. 22). How times have changed!
My family lived in Hong Kong from 1980 to 1982. There was no Jewish day school, no ordained rabbi, no Conservative shul and no Chabad presence. Ohel Leah was the only show in town. There was no mohel. Our son’s brit was performed by a Jewish chaplain and a physician. We did not fly the closest mohel into Hong Kong from Australia.
There was no kosher meat, but we kept a kosher home. How did we accomplish this feat? We periodically faxed a meat order to Oakland Kosher, which delivered the meat to the Port of Oakland (my husband worked for a shipping company) and shipped it to Hong Kong, where a taxi driver would escort the “cargo” to our flat.
The synagogue and the attached Jewish Recreation Club provided our Jewish connection while we lived in Hong Kong those two years. Our daughters danced the hora and celebrated Jewish holidays, learned Hebrew and Jewish history, and our newborn son was raised for two years in the Jewish community of Hong Kong. Ohel Leah was our Jewish oasis.
Susan Agron | Walnut Creek