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AddReply(171143,"Powerful and painfully true-but Berg is not alone among the Jewish sla","Shalom Freedman","Jerusalem Israel","11/24/03","This is a powerfully written piece.Its climax is in the indictment of Avraham Burg. But Burg is not alone. \nDavid Hornik knows Israeli reality. I suppose then he shares my dismay at how not alone Avraham Burg is. I do not just mean the members of extreme left political groups, I mean the greatest share of the columnists in Haaretz Israel\'s leading paper, I mean the most prestigious writers in Israel (Grossman and Amos Elon are particularly vicious here) I mean the great share of those who teach and write about Israeli society( in sociology and anthropology departments of the universities) I mean the \' intellectul elite\' of Israel. From Baruch Kimmerling to Meron Benevenisti, Zeev Sternhall etc. these people write with hatred toward the Jews of Israel. \nAs I say this piece is powerful, but I long for the day when someone will take the time, do the research and show just how corrupt and self- defeating a good part of the \' elite\' in Israel is. \n");
AddReply(171142,"Words of Terror","D. Ignatius","Ottawa, Canada","11/24/03","Sir,\nAnti-Semitism, like other kinds of hate, is a terrible thing. You are right that everyone must oppose it. Acts of terror against innocent people are a dastardly crime whether it is directed against Jews or anyone else.\n \nBut please recognize that not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism as you seem to suggest. If Avraham is wrong about what is going on in Israel today that disprove him by citing the facts or otherwise rather than seek to silence and discredit him by calling him an anti-Semite. The dictionary defines anti-Semitism as\n\"hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.\" Can you apply that label to a Jew who happens to disagree with Israel?\n\nAnd if criticism of Israel is your measure of anti-Semitism, then why haven\'t you included the former chiefs of Israel\'s intelligence service, the present chief of staff of Israel\'s army and all the Israeli airforce pilots who refused to bomb Palestinian cities? Surely they must all be anti-Semitic as well.\n\nThe dictionary also defines the word \"Semite\" as \"a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs; a descendant of these peoples.\" That means that hate and violence against Palestinians should also be condemned as anti-semitism! \n\nAnd don\'t overlook the fact that Israel has done many horrible things to the Plaestinian people too. You cite the names of many of the victims of the recent bombings in Turkey; I am sure that the Palestinian people can cite the names of many victims of Israeli attacks as well. All these victims should be mourned for because life, whether Jew or Arab, is precious.\n\nAs I see it the only way to put an end to this endless circle of violence and recrimination is for both sides to come out from behind the sterotypes and find a way to make peace, a just peace. The Jewish people have a right to their own state and to live in peace and security. The Palestinian people have the same right.\n\nTrue, that will not be the end of anti-Semitism for there will always be those who will hate the Jews for one reason or another but at least they will not be able to hide behind the issue of Palestine. ");
AddReply(171141,"They come up from below","yvonne pennink","cary, nc","11/23/03","The answer to this article is in the comment cited: the leaders come up from below, from the wells of anger and hatred. They do not come from Hashem, but from the Enemy and it may well be the enemy within the hater. Arafat has billions available which, when put into the Palestinian economy, and with multiplier effects, could do some good. That effort and example would also increase help from elsewhere. There has already been a division of territory, into Jordan and Israel, before all the mayhem began. If the haters put their effort into their own cause in a productive way, and into Jordan or other Arab lands, rather than into destruction of self and others and even their own cause, they would be wealthy beyond measure. The anger and hatred occur, no matter what the jew does or does not do, no matter what the jew is or is not. Anger and hatred are personal emotions which reside within an individual. The individual owns these emotions. No one can change another person, or his emotions. One can only change oneself. As for hatred against the jew, Aish Ha Torah (website) has a statement on this. If there is a real issue there are other means available outside of anger and hatred, outside of terrorism and murder, legal means, reasoning, discussion and above all reason. A person in a state of anger and hatred, which is a highly unbalanced and blinding state of mind, has a psychological or psychiatric problem which must first be addressed. If a person who has been cheated on by his/her spouse, has anger and hatred, we can understand that, but when he/she runs over the unfaithful spouse with a car and kills this spouse, we do not condone that. Similarly, when such a person would in his/her blind rage use his/her car as a torpedo to kill innocent bystanders, no one would condone that either. We would not have any problem with such an issue. Why does the world have a problem with exactly the same issue when it involves jews and progroms or terrorism or a holocaust? And even when there is no proof of abuse, unfaithfulness, breach of contract, or any other illegal deed? Any one of us goes through life with emotional setbacks, economic setbacks, dislocation and many other problems. No one accepts that we cease to control ourselves then and act out our rage in the public arena and blindly.");

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