Letters: Israel Justified; Election Confusion
Israel’s Precedents
A recent editorial titled “Full Disclosure” (Feb. 12) expresses discomfort with two recent Israeli actions. The first of these actions is the suspension of three Israeli Arab members of the Knesset who honored the families of terrorists who killed Jews. The second is new legislation that requires anti-Israel nongovernmental organizations to reveal the source of funding from European governments.
Actually, Israel is on solid ground with both actions, based on precedents on U.S. history.
During the Civil War, a small segment of Union Democrats opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s prosecution of the war and wanted to recognize the Confederacy. This faction was called the Copperheads and was led by an Ohio congressman, Clement Vallandigham. After Vallandigham was warned multiple times that his activities were treasonous, he was arrested, tried and convicted under military law, then was expelled to the Confederacy by order of Lincoln.
The treatment of the Arab members of the Knesset was mild compared with what the United States did under similar circumstances. In fact, these anti-Israel members of the Knesset were told to get out of Nazareth by its Arab mayor, who noted that their presence was bad for business.
The United States has strict regulations on lobbyists and requires those who receive foreign funding to disclose it. Israel would be on solid ground adopting similar legislation.
Finally, the major reason the AJT advises caution is because of how these actions might be perceived. Just as it is futile to ask sharks to become vegetarian, it is futile to think that haters of Israel will all of a sudden love Israel if it tries to please them. Abrogating self-respect never ends well.
— Jack L. Arbiser, Atlanta
Torn Between Trump, Sanders
While Donald Trump mainly rants like a dictator of old, Bernie Sanders stands for all that Jews and right-thinking people have fought for in this country since they first came, such as freedom of religion and freedom from religion, workers’ rights, education for all, advancement of science and medicine, and equal rights and justice for all.
Striving for those ideals should be the obligation anyone who represents us, but there is a higher calling for any president of these United States: the protection of all Americans from evil, both foreign and domestic.
This great country has derived its strength and growth from immigrants, who for the most part fled from oppression and insecurity in their homelands and came here seeking a land of freedom and opportunity, captivated by the values they had learned this land espoused. I for one support any and all in desperate situations yearning for safety and freedom, whatever their ethnicity.
However, today we are faced with an entirely new breed of immigrants yearning to come here. Never before have we been faced with a multitude of immigrants who have been indoctrinated and brainwashed for nearly a century, if not a millennium, not to love what we espouse, but to hate America, hate Jews, despise Christians, and seek the death and destruction of Israel and all its people.
Lessons of hate taught in their mosques, newspapers, schools and homes and on radio and TV now deluge them on the Internet. How exactly does one vet such people to determine that neither they nor their offspring will ever express those hatreds so deeply enmeshed in the fiber of their being?
I am sure there are many Muslims who seek to live here peacefully, but I doubt even they will ever vote for a politician who supports Israel and freedom from religion.
Already we have the children of Muslims denouncing Israel in our universities and depriving the rights of Jews to speak. Already we have children of so-called peace-loving Muslims committing terrorist acts and planning more and more.
Already we have Muslims sending money overseas to organizations committed to killing Jews and Americans. Already we have Muslims illegally exporting weapons and technology to terrorist groups.
And most of those already passed our vetting process — with flying colors.
— Barry Edelson, Hollywood, Fla.
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