Letters to the Editor: L.A. Times, why wasn’t the Texas synagogue standoff front-page news?

To the editor: Just two weeks into 2022, American Jews are once again under attack, and many of us are increasingly concerned about antisemitism in our country — a hatred that is increasingly open and violent.

This hatred and its violence is very important and scary to many people, both to Jews and non-Jews. However, in the Jan. 16 print edition, you buried an Associated Press article about the previous day’s Texas synagogue hostage standoff on Page A-14.

Shame on you for not giving this the front-page coverage it deserved.

Janice Tarr, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: I am deeply disappointed that The Times pushed down the synagogue hostage situation in Texas. This is national news of great importance.

In Los Angeles alone last year, anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for 88% of all religious hate crimes. Yet, Jews are an ethnic-religious group and not “solely” a religion, as regularly reported. Nationally, the numbers are spiking from both extremes, the right and left, as the Texas standoff clearly demonstrates.

Anti-Jewish hate and discrimination are a long ignored crisis that has ramifications for our democracy and other forms of hate. Jews are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. When will these attacks stop?

Ida Kelley, Tustin