Blue and White – and yellow

Regarding “Right dismayed over Blue and White ad” (February 3), if a right-wing party had an ad campaign suggesting, let’s say, that Israeli Arabs somehow sully the blue-and-white flag, imagine the outrage! The indignant editorials, the threatened lawsuits, the international condemnations….

But when the Blue and White Party suggests that the ultra-Orthodox Zionists – Israelis who work and pay taxes, who are helping build the land, whose sons are overrepresented in combat units in the IDF and whose daughters give a year or two to national service – somehow turn the pure flag yellow and sully its purity, it’s seen merely as an example of negative campaigning.

Where are the editorials suggesting that the only thing that sullies the beauty of our blue-and-white flag is the hatred of Jews slightly different than they are that Blue-and-White is encouraging? Where is the outrage? DR. EMMY LEAH ZITTER

Beit Shemesh

While on a “good day” the political world does not always bring out the best in its politicians, election campaigns have historically exhibited the worst in what political expression and behavior has to offer.

Still, I was shocked to see Blue and White’s political dissent expressed through a mustard-soiled Israeli flag. There are ways to respectfully disagree with your political foes; this is disgracefully unacceptable.

Our flag stands for many things, but first and foremost it is the proud symbol of our country and our Jewish identity, a symbol of who and what we are. Sadly, I have seen our enemies soil our flag countless times, but witnessing members of a party running for the leadership of our country publicly soiling our flag is inexcusable!

AMIEL BENDER Montreal, Canada