Peace will only come when Palestinians accept state of Israel

April 12 − To the Editor:

The recent letter by Pastor Grimshaw-Jones (April 12) is appalling on many levels. His opposition to SB 439 is based in large part on vicious slurs aimed at Israel and its people. He alleges that Israel practices “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” and is a “blatantly racist system.” These claims are utterly false. It is certainly true that Jews have been ethnically cleansed from most Arab nations. However, Israel is a racially and ethnically diverse nation with a large Arab minority. All of its citizens have the same civil rights whether they are secular or observant Jews, Muslims, Druze, or Christians. To compare Israeli society to that of South Africa is preposterous, and Grimshaw-Jones should know that.

The reverend would have us believe that the BDS movement is a peaceful movement that simply tries to stop the flow of weaponry to Israel. That claim is false. BDS activists frequently disrupt activities on US campuses, sometimes violently. The targets of these activists include Israeli academics trying to deliver scholarly lectures and Israeli dancers and musicians in the midst of performances.

In October, Jewish students at Cooper Union College had to be locked in the school library to protect them from a mob of BDS advocates.

Perhaps Grimshaw-Jones should consult the definition of antisemitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. This definition has been adopted or endorsed by several dozen national governments and several dozen US states. One example of antisemitism offered by the IHRA is “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” I hope that Grimshaw-Jones can open his heart and acknowledge that Israel is a tiny country with a Jewish majority that deserves to live in peace. Peace will come, however, only if the Palestinians and their BDS supporters accept the permanent existence of the State of Israel.

Richard England

Durham