Monumental destruction

Thank you for publishing Walter Bingham’s chillingly brilliant article “A Taste of the American New Deal” (June 21), analyzing the unprecedented societal upheaval taking place in America.

Regarding the destruction of statues in the US, he points out that the so-called “anti-fascist” radical anarchist monument destroyers are akin to the Nazis, who also classified art that did not suit them as “degenerate art” and summarily destroyed it.

He further notes that the Antifa movement (short, ironically, for anti-fascist) is actually acting as a fascist group in their philosophy and their wanton destruction of history and culture.

He wisely asks if book burning comes next.

Yes, it does.

And may I ask us to further consider what comes after the book burning?

Let’s hear more from the venerable nonagenarian Mr. Bingham. He has understands the situation very clearly. ELLEN KRAFT JAFFE

Jerusalem

Regarding “Statues, history and community memory” (June 18), mobs in America are tearing down statues of Christopher Columbus, president US Grant, Francis Scott Key, etc. Dictionaries are changing definitions of words – like “racism.” Libraries are pulling classic works, such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn, off the shelves, and media groups are pulling the plug on cop shows, movies like Gone with the Wind and more.

These anarchists in the US may well have been inspired by the successes in the Mideast of groups like ISIS, which blew up major antiquity sites in Palmyra; the Jordanians, who destroyed hundreds of graves on the Mount of Olives and dozens of synagogues in the Old City; and the PA, which carried out massive illegal operations to erase Jewish history on the Temple Mount, burnt Joseph’s Tomb and so much more.

Are tolerance and mutual respect dead? It is never okay to destroy the world’s cultural and historical heritage to advance one’s own narrative and agenda, no matter how good violence and wanton destruction may make you feel at any given moment. Criminals who do so should be arrested and prosecuted.

GLENN LEWIS Rehovot