Letters to the Editor: August 2, 2019

Letter to the editor:

Regarding the article “Will Resolution 496 Bolster BDS Effort?” The answer to this question is an unequivocal yes. Given that two of the three co-sponsors are pro-BDS congresswomen, I see this resolution as a backdoor way to upend all anti-BDS legislation by state and local governments. What is more insulting is invoking the Holocaust, something both [Reps. Rashida] Tlaib and [Ilhan] Omar like to do, into this resolution as an example of boycott the U.S. was supposedly involved in from March 1933 to October 1941. However, the U.S. did not boycott Nazi Germany during this time period because of the dehumanization of the Jewish people, as this resolution states. Maybe Tlaib and Omar need to read up on their history before making such claims. Additionally disheartening is that our own Rep. John Lewis co-sponsored this resolution. I was a member of the Black-Jewish Coalition in the 1990s and I am disgusted with how Lewis has treated the Jewish community, first by voting for the Iran deal, and second, co-sponsoring this bill that will make a loophole for allowing the BDS movement to thrive in this country. He has stabbed us in the back. I feel Sherry Frank is either naïve to his motives or is complicit in them. The best thing that the 5th District Jewish community can do is vote Representative Lewis out of office. It is time for him to retire.

Toni Brown, East Cobb

Letter to the editor:

While some boycotts have been instrumental in righting wrongs, the original Arab boycott of Israel was driven by pure anti-Semitism, as is today’s BDS movement.

In 1945 the Arab League banned its members from dealing with the Jewish community in Palestine, later extending the ban to Israel and threatening to stop trading with nations doing business with Israel. Anti-boycott legislation, adopted during the Carter administration, sought to prevent American businesses from being used to implement such policies of foreign governments.

The BDS movement was started ostensibly to protest the building of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, liberated from illegal Jordanian occupation as Israel defended her people from the genocidal intentions of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. What really irks BDS proponents is that Palestinians and Israelis work side-by-side, serving both Israeli and Palestinian consumers. This threatens the Palestinian narrative of Israeli oppression. Thus, leaders, who will not negotiate on Israeli peace proposals, fear that their people will get to know Israelis personally and perhaps will be harder to incite to violence. True supporters of the Palestinian people should be urging the leaders to prioritize building a future for their people over efforts to destroy the nation-state of the Jews.

Toby F. Block, Atlanta

Letter to the editor:

Manipulative and/or ill-informed pronouncements from Ilhan Omar are not unusual. Last March Rep. Omar stated, “CAIR was founded after 9/11” because “all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” In fact, CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] was incorporated in 1994. And although CAIR claims to be the nation’s preeminent Muslim civil rights group, in 2017 CAIR claimed that it was a religious organization and therefore exempt from the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board rejected that argument.

Rep. Omar, comparing Obama to Trump, stated, “One is human, the other is not,” yet she seems untroubled that some CAIR leaders have been convicted of criminal activity. Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR-Texas, was convicted for making illegal computer shipments to Libya and Syria and conspiring to send money to Mousa Abu Marzook, an admitted Hamas leader. Randall (Ismail) Royer, once a communications specialist for CAIR, pled guilty to weapons and explosives charges. Bassem Khafagi pled guilty to bank and visa fraud charges; at the time of his arrest, he was community affairs director of the CAIR.

Ms. Omar stated last year, in response to a question about Jihadi terrorism, “I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country, and so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.” The United States is about 75 percent white, so it should surprise no one that whites are responsible for the largest percentage of violent crime.

Rep. Omar was not legally married to the father of her children when they filed taxes jointly, which is a violation of Minnesota law. She also misused and had to repay campaign funds.

A politician who manipulates and does not tell the whole truth is a danger to this country, and Rep. Omar has a history of engaging in deceptive practices while claiming to be a victim.

Julia Lutch, California