Shooter went after Israel supporter
News reports reveal that two weeks before the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, ISIS sympathizer Syed Farook threatened a co-worker he presumed was Jewish. He told Nicholas Thalasinos — who was first identified as a religious Jew, but later was reported to be part of a Jewish Messianic congregation and who self-identified as a supporter of Israel and lover of Jews — “You will never see Israel.” Farook made good on his threat. Thalasinos was one of the 14 slaughtered.
How many of us in our synagogues, how many of our children in Jewish day schools, will become the next “soft targets”? How many of us will “never see Israel”?
Scott Abramson | San Mateo
‘Green Line’ is not a border
Zoe Goldblum and her organization, J Street U, have it wrong (“Jewish institutions must not ignore Green Line in maps, policies,” Dec. 4). The Green Line she refers to is nothing more than the armistice line that went into effect at the conclusion of the 1948 War of Independence. That armistice line was not and is not a “border.”
After three wars waged by the Arabs to destroy Israel and murder its citizens (1948, 1967 and 1973), after two intifadas (1987-1993 and 2000-2005) with hundreds of Israelis murdered, and now with Arab terrorists knifing 70-year-old Jewish women and 12-year-old Jewish children on the streets within Zoe Goldblum’s “Green Line” — the J Street mantra “can’t we all just get along here” is suicidal. And Israel is not suicidal.
David Mullens | Palo Alto
A gold star for good parenting
I wanted to let David Wilensky know how much I enjoyed his “Jew in the Pew” column (“Meeting an unexpected guest: Shabbat dinosaur,” Nov. 27). As an educator, I am reassured that what we do does make a difference, that our identity as a people is more assured because of the positive experience you had as a young child. I can only hope that more parents, however unaffiliated they might be, will seek to impart a sense of heritage to their children. We all need to feel rooted and to belong to something bigger than ourselves. Please commend your parents, on my behalf, for taking that parental mission to heart.
Roni Silverberg | San Francisco