Letters
The far right is wrong
In his November 29th Opinion piece, Max Kleinman continues his long-standing pattern of attacking progressive Israel support organizations from the standpoint of Israel’s far right forces, as embodied these days by Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich.
Honest differences over how best to assure Israel’s long-term security are, of course, possible. But maligning those who think Israel must live up to its wartime responsibilities is no contribution to either peace and security or Jewish solidarity.
When the organizations constituting the Progressive Israel Network last week supported several Senate resolutions on future weapons delivery to Israel, they did so for the following reasons, and it should be noted that the senators who voted “yes” (including three Jewish senators who co-sponsored the resolutions) have long histories of supporting Israel and its defense:
• This vote in no way impacted Israel’s very real need to defend itself and did not involve missile defense systems such as Iron Dome.
• Netanyahu’s actions may be putting more Israeli lives in danger by pursuing a war with no endgame. Only diplomacy, not more war, can bring the hostages home. It is no longer speculation that Netanyahu is prolonging this war to cover for his failures leading up to the October massacres; thousands and thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest this abuse of the IDF.
• If we are, in fact, a law-abiding nation, we must adhere to U.S. law that explicitly states that we cannot supply aid or weapons to partners obstructing the delivery of aid to civilians and using starvation as a tool of war.
• The Netanyahu government, driven by Ben Gvir, Smotrich, and the positions advocated by its far-right agenda and the horrors it has done in Gaza are in deepest violation of Jewish values.
The November 20 resolutions send that message.
David Abraham
Monroe
Attacking J Street blinds us to the real problem
Max Kleinman’s recent opinion column (November 29) lists J Street first among several presumptive bad actors, including the International Criminal Court, Senator Bernie Sanders, and the Biden administration, whom he accuses of “betraying” Israel.
With regard to the Biden administration, Kleinman alleges, without any proof, that the Israeli government could have achieved total victory over Hamas quickly and rescued more of the hostages if our country hadn’t “handcuffed” Israel from entering Gaza and the densely populated city of Rafah.
But Kleinman’s attacks blind us to the fact that a just war of self-defense, which the Gaza war began as, must also be justly pursued. Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who for months has been saying that Israel’s legitimate military objectives in the Gaza war have already been met and it is long past time for a negotiated ceasefire that could save the lives of the still living hostages, confirms that endless warfare in the enclave is serving the prime minister’s personal political objectives with respect to his far-right allies, and not Israel’s.
The 19 U.S. senators, three of them Jewish Americans, who cast purely symbolic votes last month objecting to continuing a blank check policy toward the right-wing Netanyahu government’s method of prosecuting the Gaza war with U.S. weaponry, were motivated by Israel’s almost total lack of compliance with U.S. law — the Arms Export Control Act — that requires countries receiving our armaments to not block humanitarian aid to civilians in war zones.
In claiming that the Netanyahu government has not hindered humanitarian relief to Gaza civilians, Kleinman flies in the face of the well-documented facts.
In early November, eight leading global relief organizations, including CARE, Oxfam, and Save the Children, released a detailed joint report highlighting that the previous month had been the worst of the now more than year-long war for Israel’s facilitation of food and medical supplies into Gaza, with the result of near-famine conditions, especially in northern Gaza.
In fact, the relief organizations found that of 15 criteria for humanitarian aid specified by Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin in an October letter to Israeli counterparts, the Netanyahu government had reached a “red light” status — non-compliance, significant delays and backtracking — in all but two. New Jersey Senator George Helmy, who recently visited Jordan, reported that he found U.N. aid warehouses there stocked to the brim with no way to get shipments through to Gaza. The fact that criminal gangs have played a role in looting aid deliveries in the area of Israeli military control in no way absolves the government of Israel — the occupying power in Gaza — of its own responsibility.
Mr. Kleinman argues for no limits whatsoever on future offensive weaponry to the Israeli government despite U.S. law and, in a particularly inapt reference, cites our country’s response to the September 11 terror attacks as a positive example for the role of unlimited military offense. Would he have us forget all the lives lost and the treasure misspent in the U.S. invasion of Iraq that followed that attack and the 20-year-long misadventure in Afghanistan?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the Gaza war with no endgame may very well place more Israeli lives in danger just as it is adding to the Jewish state’s international isolation by causing extremely high civilian casualties, starvation and disease in Gaza. All that J Street has done is point out that the United States, as Israel’s most reliable ally, should not be endlessly accompanying Netanyahu down this troubling path.
Mark Lurinsky
Montclair
Mr. Lurinsky is a member of the steering committee of the New Jersey chapter of J Street.
Antisemitism doesn’t come from Trump supporters
I wish to thank the publishers of the Jewish Standard for printing the letter from Kalman A. Barson, “Hatred spawns more hatred,” (November 29) enlightening us on “the one national situation (and I would suggest to you that there is only one) that can explain this increase in hatred.” According to Mr. Barson, the increase started in 2016 with the rise of “Don the con” and his habit of spewing hatred, … not directly aimed at Jews, but you get the idea.” These thoughts are not unique to Mr. Barson but have been part of mainstream manifestations in the comments of politicians, media personalities, the media and ordinary Liberal individuals. They also took front stage during the current run up to the Presidential Elections.
People who one would have thought had more sense, have classified former and future President Donald J. Trump and through extension his supporters, as Nazis, hate mongers, supporters of undemocratic policies and autocratic agendas. When these “Liberals” are called out regarding their inaccuracies, false portrayals and the outright lies they spread, they become very indignant and at times cut off all relationships with long term “friends” who have disagreed with them.
Mr. Barson discounts some of this increase in antiSemitism as “due to the post-October 7th insanity”. AntiSemitism predates October 7. We can clarify it as insanity only through the eyes of the viewer. For some of us who view the antiSemitic actions negatively, we feel it is “insane”. If one views them through the eyes of the perpetrators, they are completely rational, deserved and logical. They are the actions of academics at all levels, politicians, members of Congress, religious leaders, congregations and ordinary citizens. According to them, the Israelis, Jews and Zionists brought it on themselves.
I wonder how Mr. Barson lays the causes of world wide open antiSemitic actions throughout the world at the feet of President Trump? The “terror yet to come” that he envisions, will not be coming from Trump supporters, but from the halls of academia at all levels, politicians and members of the justice departments who have sworn to uphold the law but refuse to do so, religious followers and the dishonest members of the media from owners on down.
We will be having a rebirth of our nation, internally and externally under Number 47 (if Biden doesn’t step down and he is Number 48). Hopefully the “Hatred” in the minds and actions of many Liberals will not come to pass.
Howard J. Cohn
New Milford
A Jew perpetuates stereotypes
I only read the title of the opinion column and was appalled. I could not and would not read the rest of the column! (November 29)
“A blind, deaf, dumb world!” What was he thinking? Where was the kindness to those who face the challenge of being blind and/or deaf? Did he ever have any blind or deaf congregants? Did he ever make the effort to make them feel welcome in his synagogue or his classes? Did he ever have a sign language interpreter use ASL to sign his lecture or sermon to someone who is deaf? Has he ever had a lecture or sermon read to a blind person using audio technology?
Dumb? If you ever watched a group of deaf people conversing with great animation, you would see they are quite engaged in the world. Close caption, video and audio technology have opened the doors of knowledge to the deaf and blind community. The Braille Library is filled with books, lectures, sermons, and opinion columns.
Rabbi Engelmayer would be quick to criticize those who stereotype Jews. His stereotyping of the deaf and blind community to make a point in his article is pathetic.
Miriam Sochor
Verona
It’s pretty bad out there
Touched by the recent editorial, “It’s pretty bad out there,” (November 15) I remembered Maya Angelou’s words, “Hate …it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but, it has not solved one yet!” We in our Jewish community all need to commit Joanne Palmer’s words to memory, that “Much as we might detest each other’s choices, we cannot detest each other. We’ve got the whole world ready to do that for us.”
Marjorie C. Feinstein
West Orange
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