News and views of US Jews

I want to commend Meara Razon Ashtivker for “Zionism should not come with a disclaimer” (June 10). She captures well the misinformed and mistaken perception of US Jewry about Israel’s disagreements with its “Palestinian” neighbors. Most US Jews have never visited Israel or have spent just two weeks here in the sun. They most probably have never been in an Israeli home or held an in-depth conversation with an informed resident. Their knowledge stems from the American news media, which evaluates Israeli policies from the perspective of Bernie Sanders, a self-hating Jew. Unless one experiences the trials and tribulations of life in Israel and lives and breathes day-to-day events for a considerable time, it is not possible to make a reasoned judgement on either Israel’s actions viz a viz her immediate neighbors, nor on the attitude of its citizens.

I have just one reservation. The writer quotes the IHRA, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s statement that “criticism of Israel, similar to that leveled against any other country, cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” That is effectively an excuse for the majority of antisemites who are using Israel as a cover for their anti-Jewish activities.

In any case, it is taken out of context because within the IHRA definition of antisemitism the quoted sentence begins with the words:

“Manifestations might include the targeting of the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity,” which throws a different light on the writer’s claim.

WALTER BINGHAM

Jerusalem

Regarding “Israel and Evangelicals – a complex relationship” June 13, who should speak for the Jewish people, the Jewish religion and the Jewish State?

Even more important, who should be listened to? There are people who aren’t Jewish yet feel a God-given obligation to support and devote their lives to the Jewish people and their homeland. There are Jews, on the other hand, who have no affinity for the Jewish religion, people and homeland, but are devoted, instead, to “social justice,” “Jewish values,” “democracy” and “pluralism,” which are subjectively defined and have no meaning other than through a Jewish context.

Matt Nosanchuk, president and co-founder of the progressive advocacy group New York Jewish Agenda (NYJA) and former Jewish outreach director in the Obama White House sees “a new perspective” and “reinterpreting” of what it means to live a Jewish life in America. Nosanchuk’s claim to fame was his arguing in the US Supreme Court on behalf of homosexuals for the Marriage Equality Act.

That is his progressive, new perspective, reinterpreting of what it means to live a Jewish life in America.

Unlike my cousin Matt, I was born to two Jewish parents (his mother was Catholic and he was raised as a Catholic), I was brought up in a Torah-observant and Jewish-educated home devoted to the Jewish people and homeland.

IRA NOSENCHUK

Jerusalem

A note to Chuck Schumer (and his Senate colleagues): A great deal of water has flowed over the Potomac – and the Jordan – since I, as a young Citibank officer, would come to your congressional office in Washington to give you detailed briefings on the New York City fiscal crisis.

I also came once bringing Prof. Hans Morgenthau, the pre-eminent expert on International Relations of the 20th century (and the teacher of Henry Kissinger). Morgenthau’s message was a very simple one: A Palestinian state would be inherently irredentist.”

That warning is even more timely today The war cry of “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” is the catchphrase of the pro-Palestinian movement. Their maps show not two states-but one: Palestine

Now that Iran is on its way to being a nuclear power and hews to an extremely anti-Israel line, the “twostate” solution would give Iran a convenient launching pad from which to annihilate the Jewish State. I don’t think either of us would want that result.

JAC FRIEDGUT

Jerusalem

Five months after the attack on the US Capitol, the Biden administration on Tuesday will unveil steps for federal and local officials and social media companies to battle national security threats posed by white supremacists and militia groups.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland will release a plan for increased information sharing, additional resources to identify and prosecute threats, and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups.

The administration conducted a sweeping assessment earlier this year of domestic terrorism that labeled white supremacists and militia groups as top national security threats. The issue took on new urgency after the January 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump who were trying to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.

The strategy stopped short of calling for new laws to fight domestic threats.

“We concluded that we didn’t have the evidentiary basis, yet, to decide whether we wanted to proceed in that direction or whether we have sufficient authority as it currently exists at the federal level,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.

In his budget proposal released last month, Biden, who succeeded Trump on January 20, is seeking $100 million in additional funding to train and hire analysts and prosecutors to disrupt and deter terrorist activity.

“The threat is elevated,” the administration official said. “Tackling it means ensuring that we do have the resources and personnel to address that elevated threat.”

The administration is also toughening the federal government’s screening methods to better identify employees who may pose insider threats. They are looking to share those techniques with private companies.

That effort includes an ongoing review by the US Department of Defense over how and when to remove military members who are found to be engaged in known domestic terrorist groups.

The Defense Department review is looking at, among other things, how to define extremists, the senior administration official said.

“They are doing this in a way they feel ratchets up the protection but also respects expression and association protections,” the official said. (Reuters)

hArd