Letters
In defense of Donald J. Trump
Unlike other Trump haters, opinion writer Jay Bernstein acknowledges the many positive accomplishments of the Trump presidency so far (“A balance sheet on Trump,” September 14). Then, because of political differences, not accusation of crimes, he says Trump must be impeached and removed. Removing a legitimately elected head of state who has committed no crime solely for political reasons constitutes a coup d’état. Ours is a country based on the rule of law. To even suggest a coup is unthinkable.
Hate Trump all you want. But the correct way to remove him is to defeat him in the next election. By the way, Bernstein says Trump should be removed “in any way possible.” Does this mean he is advocating the assassination of the president? To quote an earlier sentence in Bernstein’s article: It is anathema to basic American values and repulses me.
Alan Lewis
Fair Lawn
Gold and Simon at it again
Gold and Simon are at it again, holding Israel to unreal double standards, negating legitimate security concerns, and hiding their hard left ideology the entire time (“‘Cry, the Beloved Country,’ with apologies to Alan Paton,” September 14.) I cannot recall ever seeing an article from them that did not criticize Israel. Don’t they ever have anything nice to say about the miracle of the Jewish state from their comfortable chairs here in America?
First let us look where they are really coming from. Gold is a representative of a Meretz affiliate. Meretz is a microparty in Israel that is the ideological descendant of the Israeli communist party. You remember communism, that failed ideology that caused the deaths of millions of human beings and hundreds of thousands of Jews, right? Today this group of leftist agitators consistently votes with the Arab parties in their feeble attempt to dismantle the Jewish state. Look up the website of Meretz and also Simon’s Ameinu. See if you would invite those people and whom they associate with over to your house or your synagogue. I think not.
Gold and Simon then decry the legitimate acts of a sovereign nation in defending itself. Leftist NGOs in Israel get the bulk of their funding from anti-Israel countries and groups. They have been causing trouble in Israel for years as foreigners use Israel’s democratic processes to undermine the state. Shouldn’t the Israeli public know who is funding these lobbying groups? Progressives here are unhappy about Russia behind the scenes, so imagine how Israelis would feel if Iran or the Saudis are funding groups to destroy the Jewish state! What is wrong with transparency, I wonder?
Then they complain about the “Nation-State” bill which finally codified Israel as a Jewish state. Old news and big surprise! Perhaps they had not noticed the big Jewish star on the flag of Israel. The entire concept of peace in the region must rest on the respect of the Arabs for Jews as a legitimate national group with a state of their own. As such, this law codifies reality and sets the appropriate stage for proper negotiations. Nothing has changed. Arabs can still walk through Jewish neighborhoods unafraid while Jews would get maimed, burned or murdered if they went through Arab neighborhoods.
Simon and Gold’s biggest complaint is that hard-core leftist Jews are getting stopped at the Israeli border and correctly turned away. The state of Israel considers the BDS movement an existential threat. Therefore, the sovereign state of Israel has the right to bar entry to anyone who assists the enemy of the state. They have the right to interrogate anyone they see fit prior to arrival, Jewish or not. To do otherwise would be irresponsible. For years certain Jews have used their Jewishness to lambaste Israel and gained instant credibility just because they were born Jewish. Those days are now over. There are limits to behaviors now. If you are outside the boundaries of acceptability you do not get the privilege of going to Israel and aiding and abetting the enemies of the Jewish people. No other nation would tolerate this, but there we go again with the outrageous double standards. And since it is their country, the Israelis get to set the standards. Not Americans.
The majority of the Jews in the world live in Israel. The majority of the Jewish children in the world are born in Israel. The American Jewish community can no longer pontificate to the Israelis. It is their nation and their Jewish democracy, as they see fit. They have certain unique problems and we as Jews need to appreciate them. Obviously, Gold and Simon and their hard core leftist elite do not get that, but I am sure the Standard readers do!
Scott David Lippe, M.D.
Fair Lawn
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