Kudos to Linda McGrath for her My Turn (Monitor, 3/2) responding to those calling Israel an apartheid state. For years we have heard that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. She correctly points out the double standard that much of the world applies to Israel, while those countries with the cruelest human rights violations are barely noticed. She correctly notes that, while there are scores of majority Christian and Muslim nations, it is only the one Jewish State that attracts all the scrutiny. And she is certainly correct that being anti-Israel is the new anti-Semitism.
While I expect that the four thousand year history of hatred and persecution of Jews will continue unabated, it saddens me that there are some Jews who have been convinced that Israel is guilty of monstrous behavior toward others. It is especially upsetting that progressives, of which I consider myself to be, generally take up the anti-Israel banner. It is ironic that the only progressive country in the Middle East is the object of their ire. Please take time to learn the real facts of the conflict, especially that Israel’s enemies’ goals are to “push the Zionists into the sea.” I wonder what other nations have a spotless record of dealing with those that want to annihilate them.
Michael Friedman
New London