Thank you Gov. Ayotte
Thank you Gov. Ayotte for naming April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day.” Thank you Liz Gabert for bringing this date to the attention to the Monitor readers. However, not all readers agreed with you.
A letter in the Monitor on April 20 criticized the Day, saying “antisemitism is exploding across the globe mainly because of Israel.” The writer notes 72,000 dead in Gaza because of Israel, failing to identify these statistics come from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under Hamas control. He also fails to state over 22,000 of this number are Hamas terrorists.
Antisemitism is defined as hostile actions against Jews as a religious or ethnic group goes back many centuries. There is pre-Christian anti-Judaism in ancient Greece and Rome. Christian antisemitism in the Middle Ages. Muslim antisemitism and Nazism. There are many other forms of antisemitism that has nothing to do with Israel. Therefore, to blame Israel for the present level of Jew hatred, whether in Concord, New York City, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Canada, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, on the campus of U of Michigan or through the podcasts of Tucker Carlson is absurd.