Readers React: It isn’t anti-Semitic to speak out against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians

To the editor: Rabbis Marvin Heir and Abraham Cooper put most of the blame for resurgent anti-Semitism worldwide on the far right, but they also suggest there are millions of anti-Semites on the left who “believe Israel is treating Palestinians the way the Nazis treated Jews.”

This is a mischaracterization of people who are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians.

I disagree vehemently with anyone who says the Israelis are treating the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews. But there are many Israeli Jews who oppose the way the Israeli government is conducting the ongoing “war” between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This does not make Israeli Jews anti-Semitic.

Heir and Cooper diminish their effectiveness in calling out anti-Semitism when they criticize anyone who disagrees with Israeli government policy. To that extent, I as a Jew have been and continue to be called anti-Semitic. This only creates more hatred.

Benny Wasserman, La Palma

..

To the editor: Hier and Cooper ask us to call out hate when we see it.

I and many others begged Hier not to participate in the inauguration of a man who openly called for registering and discriminating against people based solely on their religion. In their op-ed article on the rise of anti-Semitism around the world, Hier and Cooper never mention the march by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., nor the man who said it included some “very fine people.”

It is long past time for Hier to admit his mistake in adding legitimacy to the bigot in the White House.

I. Nelson Rose, Encino

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