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'Don't be fooled'

Israel is not the villain in this war. Please don't be fooled by the media.

Israeli forces have given up the element of surprise numerous times, and put their own soldiers' lives at risk by repeatedly warning residents in southern Lebanon, including Kana, to leave certain areas that were going to be targeted by Israel.

Hezbollah continues to deliberately hide its forces and its rockets in residential neighborhoods and villages in order to use the local residents as human shields. Hezbollah launched more than 150 rockets from Kana immediately prior to Israel's targeting of the area.

While Israel takes extraordinary precautions to prevent civilian casualties, Hezbollah has launched more than 4,000 unguided rockets at Israeli towns and villages, indiscriminately hitting homes, businesses and other civilian targets.

These rockets that Hezbollah is firing at Israeli civilians contain hundreds of metal ball bearings which serve no other purpose than to maximize the civilian casualties.

Hezbollah must be disarmed. Hezbollah must not be allowed to rebuild its military capabilities.

Israel will continue to exist in the Middle East. It is time that her neighbors realize it is much better to live in peace than in a constant state of war.

Solon Rosenblatt | Greenbrae




Cease-fire needed

Ehud Olmert is Israel's George W. Bush. In one mad, militaristic explosion, he's destroying Israel.

America will survive Bush's war and the hatred and fear it's engendered. Israel cannot survive what it is doing in Lebanon.

Israel can only survive with the acquiescence of its neighbors and the sympathy of the world. It loses these and emboldens its enemies by inflicting and continuing a brutal aerial war of choice on a helpless neighbor. Israel's massive attack in response to a border incident was the excuse Hezbollah needed to cause a rain of missiles on Israel, instantly legitimating it as a guardian of Lebanon.

There were diplomatic ways to slowly disarm Hezbollah. And if Hezbollah had initiated an unprovoked missile attack, Israel would have been the victim of aggression, not the aggressor.

Unlike the United States in Vietnam and Iraq, Israel cannot afford to spend even another week in Lebanon in order to salvage Olmert's pride. An immediate cease-fire by both sides, followed by negotiations for withdrawal and insertion of Lebanese and international troops in place of Israeli troops, is vital.

And only an end to the underlying cause, the occupation of the West Bank, can lead to a long-term peace.

Gerhard Stoll | San Francisco




No arms, no Israel

There is an old saying that well-describes the situation that Israel has faced for nearly 60 years as a state, and also in the days before it was a state, when it had not "conquered" a single dunam (quarter acre) of the land of our ancestors when Jews had bought every piece of property:

If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down their weapons today, there would be no Israel.

Rabbi Ari Cartun | Congregation Etz Chayim, Palo Alto




Hate-watch

Aug. 12, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and ANSWER coalition will sponsor an anti-Israel rally at the S.F. Civic Center. The ADL fears that, if past is prologue, rhetoric will turn into hate-mongering against Jews. 

The Muslim foundation was founded in 1992 by members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an organization with ties to Hamas, while ANSWER's national coordinator, Brian Becker, made his group's position clear when he claimed Hezbollah isn't a terrorist organization.

Regrettably, at recent anti-war demonstrations, protesters have held signs and chanted slogans that go beyond opposing war and promote anti-Jewish hatred. At S.F. rallies July 13 and 23, demonstrators chanted "Palestine is our homeland and the Jews are our dogs," gave Nazi "Seig Heil" salutes, and yelled "Jews smell like s—t." Signs held at other rallies played off the anti-Semitic canards of Jews controlling the government and media, like "Get Israel out of U.S. Congress," and "CNN=ZNN, Zionist News Network," and Jewish stars superimposed on American flags.

The ADL will pay attention to the messages at this demonstration, focusing on whether anti-Semitism creeps in. Assuming that happens, all of us will need to remain vigilant and voice our opposition to that hatred.

Jonathan Bernstein | regional director, Anti-Defamation League
Adam Cole | chair, ADL civil rights committee

Courage needed

Thank you for your July 28 editorial "Anti-Zionist Jews can't have it both ways." I was present to counter—demonstrate at the recent rally by Jews against Israel in front of the Israel Consulate. I saw the small group of young people with Palestinian flags in the center of the larger group, who in effect took over the rally.

I completely agree with your last three paragraphs. These anti-Semitic Jews have been getting away with this for too long, and I don't know of any organization or media that has confronted them prior to the j.

If only some of our Jewish community leaders had the courage that you have shown about this issue.

Norman Licht | San Carlos




Blaming the Jews

Mel Gibson gets busted for driving under the influence, and who receives the brunt of his anger? The Jews, of course.

Reporter Harvey Levin leaks the news of Gibson's bigoted rantings, and who do many non-Jews fault? Levin, of course.

Now it turns out that we Jews not only control the banks, big business, the media, Hollywood and the U.S. government. Upon his arrest, Gibson brought to light the even greater extent of our power.

Aside from starting World War II by having the nerve to be hauled off and systematically slaughtered by the Nazis, and the gall to fight back after being victims of unrelenting terrorism in the Middle East, it also turns out we are responsible for: the Crusades, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, the Russian Revolution, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraqi War, the fighting in India, Pakistan, Ireland, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Darfur — and the list goes on.

That's quite a bit of havoc wrought by a mere 0.22 percent of the world's population.

Shouldn't be long before the secret's out: UFOs are not from outer space; people are really being abducted by Jews.

Melissa Maroff | Los Angeles




'Who's a Jew' redux

I dispute the claim that the Israeli state is a secular state like the United States.

The fact is that under the Law of Return a person who has a Jewish mother but who professes a non-Jewish religion is not eligible for automatic entry into Israel and citizenship. While on the other hand a person who professes no religion but who has a Jewish mother qualifies.

As it stands, the present archbishop of Paris, who was born of Jewish parents, is not a Jew according to the so-called secular state of Israel. But people who reject the Jewish Bible as a collection of myths are classed as Jews.

If Jewishness is a nationality, then a person's religion should not matter. If it is a religion, then avowed atheists should not qualify.

Ronnie Farrelly | Dublin




She votes no-vote

I wholeheartedly support Rabbis Lavey Derby, Stacy Friedman and George Schlesinger (Aug. 4 letters) asking j. to no longer include synagogue programming in the Readers' Choice Awards.

I'll go much further and advise that, in general, categories that pit one institution against another in a "popularity contest," be it synagogues, JCCs, summer camps, volunteers organizations, etc., are not helpful to building a Bay Area-wide Jewish community.

Furthermore, as many readers who frequent the institutions featured in competition know, and as the professionals who run them would admit (in private), many of us campaign among our members and visitors to send in their vote in favor of our own institution. Thus, the results are often skewed towards institutions that serve the largest audiences, not those that are most innovative, resourceful, customer-friendly or compassionate.

As the regional director of the Bay Area's Progressive Jewish Alliance, the best "very small social justice organization recently established in the Bay Area and with the letters P, J and A in their title," I'd like to see the Readers' Choice Awards reserved for those competing in the market economy — flower shops, hairdressers, balloon artists, etc. — not vital Jewish institutions serving our multifaceted community.

Rachel Biale | Berkeley




'Unchosen' people

Anne Grimes wrote in her July 21 letter, "I am a Christian and consider Jews to be royalty. You are God's chosen people."

Aside from the obvious racism of this comment, Grimes left out some crucial information. Christians root for Israel for selfish reasons. They believe Jesus will not return to the Holy Land unless Jews control it, so they go to any lengths to support Israel.

More importantly, Jews who occupy the land when Jesus returns will have to convert to Christianity if they are to continue to be "Chosen." Only those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be allowed into Heaven, and no matter how ardently your writer "consider(s) Jews to be royalty," they will nevertheless join the rest of the condemned, in "a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where... you suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry, forever and ever, till the end of time." (George Carlin)

As for the racism, if there is a chosen people, then there is an "unchosen." There's no better description of a racist or supremacist dichotomy, unless one half of it be "Aryan."

Gil Gaudia | Eugene, Ore.