Once again, Jews are being made the culprits for the increase in antisemitism (“UK lawmaker: Antisemitism on the rise because Jews won’t criticize Israel,” February 6).
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)
Complete poppycockOnce again, Jews are being made the culprits for the increase in antisemitism (“UK lawmaker: Antisemitism on the rise because Jews won’t criticize Israel,” February 6).Jenny Tonge, a member of the Liberal Democrats, claims that many people in England have suddenly discovered their hatred of Jews because of the Israeli government’s actions and political decisions.If this were the case, then other situations around the world should lead to similar developments.According to Ms. Tonge’s logic, there is good reason to hate Syrians because of what Bashar Assad has done over the past several years. Also, due to the threat posed by Pyongyang, with its ever-growing arsenal of nuclear weapons, there must be people queuing up to register their hatred of North Koreans. Then there is Russia annexing the Crimea. Now, with US President Donald Trump making one controversial decision after another, surely half of Britain must have succumbed to the instantaneous vilification of anyone from across the big pond.There is often good reason to criticize the politics of any given government, but that the actions of politicians in foreign countries should lead to hatred of individuals in one’s own country is complete poppycock.Ms. Tonge, as many others around the world, has no understanding of the word “liberal.” It means openness and tolerance.The sooner her party ships her off to a comfortable care home, the better. That just leaves Britain with the Labour Party – a hotbed of Jew hatred, and also in desperate need of reform.ROBERT HICKINBOTHAM Tel AvivHateful aspIn “Sir Anish Kapoor wins 2017 Genesis Prize” (February 6), you note Kapoor’s generous donation of the $1 million prize to Syrian refugees.This is indeed commendable.Indeed, we in Israel have been very forthcoming in bringing the wounded to our hospitals and rendering humanitarian aid to refugees.It is especially commendable when we consider that Syrians are indoctrinated by their government with hatred and revulsion against Jews, and particularly against Israelis.I myself was witness to such indoctrination 60 years ago when, as a young dental student in Edinburgh, I treated an Egyptian doctor.After a while, we struck up a friendship.It was only later that he discovered I was Jewish, and he literally could not believe that such a nice Jewish lad could treat him with such kindness. This, from the higher echelons of Egyptian society.It is not surprising that we cannot easily bring such a hateful asp to our breast!EDWIN HOFFENBERG HaifaSara’s travelsI am disturbed that Sara Netanyahu constantly travels with her husband (“PM arrives in London with Iran on his mind,” February 6).I am sure that there is considerable expense involved. The money would be much better spent on helping to feed the impoverished in our country.Is Ms. Netanyahu afraid to stay home alone? Perhaps she does not trust her husband on his own.MIRIAM STEIN JerusalemTally of victimsWith regard to “Remember the 11 million? – Inflated victims tally irks Holocaust historians” (February 5), there might have been as many as 11 million people who died in the Shoah. However, only the Jewish children and babies were singled out for annihilation. They were hunted down in hiding places and wherever they could be found.Yes, it was only the Jewish children, close to one and half million of them.JOYCE KAHN Petah TikvaJust do it Your February 3 front page offers the sage advice of US President Donald Trump (“Trump warns Israel: Stop announcing new settlements”). He seems to be implying that Israel should just do it.Please, President Trump, take your own advice: Stop announcing the move of your embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Just do it.LEONARD KAHN Zichron Ya’acovMaking amendsYes, the world should react and not remain silent when a murderer snatches away the lives of unsuspecting human beings (“Quebec City: The mosque murders that have shocked the world,” Comment & Features, February 1).Was the world shocked when unsuspecting Jewish men praying in a synagogue in a Jerusalem neighborhood were hacked to death by two young men who worked in a local grocery store? Or was it silent, except to make excuses rationalizing the killings because of a nonexistent “occupation”? Was the world shocked when, during the Holocaust, Canada turned away the MS St. Louis, A German ship carrying Jewish refugees? How about the anonymous Canadian immigration official who declared about admitting Jewish refugees that “None is too many”? (See None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948, by the Canadian historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper, published in 1983.) It seems that the world is determined to make amends for its lack of humanity toward Jews seeking refuge during the Holocaust by showing concern for the fair treatment of Muslim immigrants.However, is the situation of Muslim immigrants the same as the plight of the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s? While it is good that Jews are sensitive to the plight of other refugee groups, it does not constitute making amends or, better yet, the Jewish practice of tikkun olam (repairing the world). For the rest of the world, if people really wanted to make amends to the Jewish people, they would refute the BDS Movement and recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, with Jerusalem as its capital.ELISHEVA BORENSON JerusalemLiberal US JewsThough I live in a suburb of Los Angeles, I believe that Israel is the beating heart of Judaism, which might not have survived the Holocaust if Israel hadn’t miraculously risen from the ashes to rally the Jewish spirit. Even today, thousands of threatened Jews from Europe are making aliya.So I am appalled that the Democratic Party in the United States is increasingly hostile to Israel – and worse, that many Jewish Democrats are putting party loyalty above support for Israel.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is just a front for the Muslim Brotherhood and an apologist for anti-Israel terrorism.(Members are reported to have served in the Obama administration.) Students for Justice in Palestine bullies Jewish college students, shouts down pro-Israel speakers and calls for Israel’s destruction.Yet Jewish liberals still support these and similar groups. Even as antisemitism rises in Europe with Muslim immigration, American Jewish liberals join demonstrations supporting more Muslim immigration here. Many of your columnists, like the great Caroline B.Glick, are warning world Jewry about this, but I believe, sadly, that many Jewish liberals are no longer really Jews; their “religion” has become leftism.Though I fear the result of a dangerous gullibility among Diaspora Jews, I also feel sorry for them.Their children will resent them, cease to be Jews or, worst of all, become antisemites.The radical Left that they seek to be a part of is increasingly antisemitic.How long can they continue to associate with it before this starts to seep in?RUEBEN GORDON Calabasas, CaliforniaRefreshing cartoonsWith all the depressing stories coming out of the media, it’s refreshing to pick up your newspaper and be entertained by the clever, funny, sometimes tongue-incheek cartoons of Donny Gordon.Hope he’ll have a long run with you.YAACOV PETERSEIL Jerusalem
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