The best defense

I write in support of Adam Milstein (“Antisemites seek to destroy us,” November 4). The murderous attack in Pittsburgh had nothing to do with US President Donald Trump or the current climate of opinion, it had to do with enemies of the Jews who are always there, waiting for the moment to crawl out from under a stone and do us injury.

People forget that Zionism was not only an ideology about establishing a Jewish State, it was also about building a new Jew, prepared to defend himself, throwing off the passivity and dependency of past generations.

When I lived near Washington DC, Jewish demonstrations and marches were constantly being harassed by the Neo-Nazis who had their headquarters in Arlington VA. We organized a group of Jewish college youth from the area and when we learned that a group was coming to disrupt one of our marches, we prepared for them.

We watched where they parked and when they left, we slashed their tires. When they approached our march, we were prepared and we attacked them. The police were unable to intervene until the Neo-Nazis actually caused physical harm to us; we were not prepared to wait for that, so we responded in self-defense. So unexpected was our prepared defense that they were routed and then had to walk all the way home. They never came back.

Our survival is in our own hands. JACK COHEN Beersheba