Knee-Jerk Liberals Are Confused Left-Wingers
A recent op-ed explains the internal conflict felt by “knee-jerk liberals” (“Confessions of a Liberal Zionist,” Sept. 20). These people have confused liberal positions, like freedom and liberty, with left-wing positions, in which the Jewish state is looked upon as a malignant oppressor of Arabs.
In the view of these left-wing persons, Jews are not a true people deserving of a state of their own. This is a most illiberal position, yet it is key to understanding their viewpoint. In the so-called knee-jerk liberal view, Israel went from David to Goliath after the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, meaning from underdog to oppressor.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Such liberals are either confused and misinformed (at best) or vehemently anti-Semitic (at worst). These folks simply choose to ignore history and facts, and instead accept Arab propaganda as their truth.
The failure of knee-jerk liberals, or today’s left-wingers, is actually a self-inflicted blindness to see the historical truths of the Middle East. Liberals have difficulty seeing that Israel continues to exist in a dangerous neighborhood and continues to be threatened (today the main bullies are Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria).
While the bad actors of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s have changed from certain states to other states and terrorist military organizations, the stated goal of Israel’s elimination is the same. The fact that the Israel Defense Forces have protected her and remained a strong deterrent is due to the old adage ein breirah (no other choice).
Ira R. Sharp | Huntingdon Valley
We Need to Call Jews in the Trump Administration to Task
Congratulations to Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels for calling out Steven Miller, even if in the eyes of Editor-in-Chief Joshua Runyan there was some egocentrism involved (“A True Jewish Hero,” Sept. 20).
Let us remember that among other things Miller’s policy had mothers being told that their children would be brought back to them, only to have the children end up in cages. This ought to make every Jew with even the most rudimentary knowledge of the Holocaust shudder.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room.
Why is Miller and every other Jewish official in this administration not called out for working for and propping up a president who is totally comfortable with anti-Semites like Stephen Bannon, David Duke and the ugly mob marching through Charlottesville, Va., chanting, “Jews will not replace us”?
If we as a people and a community want to keep the world’s remembrance of the Holocaust on the front burner, then we must come to the world stage with clean hands. That is impossible while prominent members of our community work to prop up President Donald Trump.
Richard Saunders | Chincoteague, Va.
