A misrepresentation of my words

Letters

Editor: I have to object to the changing of the title of my letter, published on July 19, which seems to insinuate that I am against free speech, which is not the case.

The heading should have been "Don't give heretics a platform" (and not "Don't give heretics a voice").

My objection is to your helping people who discredit and defame Israel by giving them such extensive headline coverage, adding to their sin of propagating hatred and falsehoods against the Jewish state, Israel. History, as recently as that of the Holocaust, has proven the tragic consequences of having Jews joining forces with the enemy. We do not need a Jewish paper to help such misguided and ignorant Jews spread hate and falsehoods. What happened in Toronto recently is one of the consequences which results from such actions.

In last week's Jewish Bulletin, you again gave almost four pages of headline coverage to the hate messages and falsehoods spread by the Palestinians who have been leading the "leftists" by the nose by having their wives and children benefiting from the "sisterhood" programs created by well-meaning (but misguided) Israelis and Jews, while their husbands, brothers and fathers were busy carrying out murderous activities against Israelis. It is time these "ultra leftists" woke up to reality.

It was shocking to see that the anti-Israel articles were given front-page coverage while the Tel-Aviv suicide bombings of the same week were relegated to page 16 with a coverage of less than a third or quarter of a page. I hope that the Bulletin will show more empathy towards Israeli victims and their families. The Israeli government provides names, photos and personal history of victims. These people and their families deserve more coverage and attention than what Palestinian women and Jewish heretics have to say.

Also, shame on the Canadian Jews who co-signed the Palestinian petition to the Canadian government. To these, as well as all other leftists who act in ignorance, I would suggest spending their time and effort studying historical facts and background. They can begin with an unadulterated version of the Bible (Old Testament of course). If they reject the Bible, they should buy or borrow from the library the following: Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz; Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Atlas of Jewish History by Sir Martin Gilbert; My People, History of the Jews by Abba Eban; and Self-Portrait of a Hero: the Letters of Yoni, by the late Jonathan Netanyahu, hero of Israel's Operation Entebbe, which saved the hostages of the Air France hijacking right on Ugandan soil.

In the letters Netanyahu wrote to his family, one can read the realities and continuous aggressions by Arabs and Palestinian groups to kill Israelis and destroy the state of Israel. What he wrote immediately following the Yom Kippur War regarding the blindness of the "leftists" still applies today:

"The war has finally brought a change of mind to a large section of the public and this shift in thinking is all to the good. How far it has spread to the nation at large is hard to say, but we'll soon know – elections at the end of December. In any case, I see with sorrow and great anger how a part of the people still clings to hopes of reaching a peaceful settlement with the Arabs. Common sense tells them, too, that the Arabs haven't abandoned their basic aim of destroying the state; but the self-delusion and self-deception that have always plagued the Jews are at work again. It's our misfortune. They want to believe, so they believe. They want not to see, so they shut their eyes. They want not to learn from thousands of years of history, so they distort it. They want to bring about a sacrifice and they do indeed. It would be comic, if it wasn't so tragic."

People who do not know enough about Jewish history can also pick up Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel by Usque (regarding the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions, which also covers persecution throughout Europe) and The Avengers by Rich Cohen, based on real life stories and interviews of people existing even today, about the Second World War and the Jewish Resistance. It also includes the misguided thoughts and beliefs of the Kapos who co-operated with the enemy, sending their brethren to death.

I hope the Jewish Bulletin will exercise more judgment in its choice of coverage and not repeat in print the falsehoods of Arab and Palestinian propaganda, even if uttered and organized by misguided Jews such as Rabbi Mivasair. A rabbi should deal with Judaism and not politics, especially not against his people.

Claire
Vancouver

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