Ganging Up on Israel

To the Editor:

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts."

These words from the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan accurately depict the opinionated, not fact-filled letter from Larry Adams, Marty Goodman, et. al. in the Oct. 19th issue of The Chief.

This response cannot deal with all aspects of the vitriolic letter, as it would take many volumes of paper.

The letter states that ... "Apartheid Israel began with the Nakba of 1947-49 when Zionists systematically terrorized, dispossessed and ethnically cleansed the Palestinian majority ..." However, the letter conveniently ignores the fact that seven Arab League countries and the local Arab population went to war with the newly established state of Israel, which was sanctioned by the U.N. in 1947. The letter ignores the threat of the Arabs to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and drive all the 600,000 Jews to the sea. That Israel survived during this heroic war of independence was considered a miracle then and now.

The letter selectively ignores history that Israel has been besieged and surrounded by enemies to this day. Ignored are the events of the war in 1967 where Egyptian President Nasser in alliance with Syria and Jordan again threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, and the second miracle of the Six-Day War, culminating with the amazing Israeli victory.

The letter ignores the fact that the current rulers of Gaza, Hamas, vow also not to recognize the existence of Israel and in fact urge its destruction. The letter ignores the fact that the leaders of Iran deny the fact of the Holocaust and urge the elimination of Israel from the map.

In fact, Israel has been fighting for its existence since its rebirth on May 15, 1948 as the national homeland of the Jewish people so that "never again" can a holocaust be perpetrated while the world sits idly by.

Notwithstanding the threats to its existence, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East, and one of the few in the world.

Certainly, Israel is not perfect. Certainly, many Israelis themselves disagree with aspects of Israeli policies. But while Israel has been engaged in never-ending conflict since its inception, other nations that hardly stand out as paragons of virtue are uncriticized. In Darfur, hundreds of thousands of people - mostly all Muslim - have been slaughtered by the Muslim government of Sudan and its agents.

In Myanmar, in Tibet, in Zambia, in China and in countless other countries, populations have been slaughtered, imprisoned, beaten and starved to death.

It seems strange that the British trade unionists and the four letter writers ignore all the other countries on the planet but feel compelled to sever ties with Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.

Bravo to Comptroller Thompson for standing up for the right things - for the condemnation of singling out Israel as the sole perpetrator of heinous things.

STUART LEIBOWITZ, President, DC 37 Retirees Association