Furor Over Farrakhan

A short time ago, local and national groups (in particular, those in the Jewish community) were outraged and outspoken about the message that Farrakhan was putting forth. His statements and assertions about the Jewish community were portrayed as being abhorrent, and wide media coverage and debate ensued.

Now, locally, we are presented with the Rabbi Kahane who is preaching a message in regard to Israeli Arabs that is equally abhorrent. Where is the wide media coverage, denouncement and debate?

How can members of the Jewish community jam-pack an auditorium to listen to the rabbi, when they protested the large numbers who went to the minister’s presentation? Why not the equally loud clamor prior to Kahane’s arrival as there was for Farrakhan?

Where on earth, in the U.S. of A. or Israel or anyplace in between, is there any difference in the basic message of hate, bigotry and destruction that we’ve heard from these two men? How can we ever expect a world living in peace, harmony and brotherly love, when human respect and dignity are demanded only for one’s own kind (whether that is determined by sex, creed or color)--at the expense of “lesser” beings?

Why worry about nuclear bombs when we have such human bombs in our midst? It all leads down the same path.

DIANE BECKER-REILLY

San Gabriel