Letters: Criticizing Israeli policy isn’t antisemitism

Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor Opposition to Israeli initiative isn t antisemitism Re California must make schools safer for Jews Page A Sept While I don t deny the level of antisemitism in American society as a Jew who has family in Israel as well as having lost family in the Holocaust I respectfully offer a different perspective than Daniel Klein the author of the op-ed Related Articles Letters AB would stifle speech in classrooms Letters New drop in PG E bills doesn t put a dent in increases Letters Alameda County wants to put more money into politics Letters Gov Newsom contradicts himself with Prop Letters Was op-ed s intent to dissuade voters on Prop If AB only dealt with anti-Jewish actions and language I would backing it But conflating opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu s policies and the belief that Palestinians deserve to live in their own state with antisemitism is a reach I can oppose the policies of Donald Trump and still be a patriotic American so why can t I oppose Israeli policies Jonathan Karpf San Jose Bill aims to erase uncomfortable speech Re California must make schools safer for Jews Page A Sept The Trump administration is seeking to erase interpretive exhibits at our national parks that highlight historical events that might make specific white Americans feel bad such as exhibits on our shameful history of internment of Japanese Americans Certain Democrats seek a similar sort of historical erasure with AB which weaponizes a notion of Jewish safety to stifle any criticism of Israel or Zionism or teaching about the history of Palestine from classrooms lest their children feel uncomfortable The ADL defines instances of criticism of Israel or Zionist ideology as antisemitic grossly inflating their statistics on hatred toward Jews That AB proponents insist on writing a similar definition into law instead of using the widely accepted Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism reveals their true agenda of censorship at a time when Israel is committing a genocide Our children deserve better than to give Zionist fragility any quarter no on AB Margaret Okuzumi Sunnyvale Don t shield students from challenging ideas Re California must make schools safer for Jews Page A Sept Daniel Klein says AB in the California Senate is aimed squarely at getting hate out of schools It is not The only aim is to prevent students learning facts and history critical of his beloved state of Israel criticism he calls Jew-hatred and racist ideology Klein says AB would keep Jewish students safer If he means safe from hearing challenging ideas or information he may be right If development s goal were to keep students from learning about the world AB would be a good thing The California Teachers Association CTA doesn t want to protect Jewish students or anyone else from learning Only Israel-advocates like Klein want to censor teaching about what is happening in Palestine Tell your senator vote no on AB David Spero San Francisco Letter misses the big picture on immigration Re ICE keeps focus off hardened criminals Page A Sept In his letter Mark Grzan uses an anecdotal occurrence of the deportation of a law-abiding trainee to justify alleges of excessive deportations along with intimation of Donald Trump s cruelty deception and self-promotion The last is valid My sympathy extends to individual targets but not to million of them While the bulk illegals are hardworking and law-abiding they facilitate drug imports and coyotes as well as straining welfare and instruction systems in confines states Illegals are endangering the viability of Medicaid in California Repatriation of dollars out of the country while lawful contributes significantly to the negative balance of payments that Trump is working so hard to reverse Reagan s amnesty was the wrong decision and kicking the can down the road has exacerbated the current predicament Certainly hardened criminals should be prioritized for deportation but the number of other illegals cannot be sustained Fred Gutmann Cupertino When will we learn to believe casualties Concerning the Epstein issue and young girls being victimized one very central and relevant issue has not been addressed I recall the response when co-eds on college campuses of Stanford University UC Berkeley and San Jose State University released they had been raped on campus They were made to feel like they were on trial Their own credibility was questioned Since it was a female learner reporting they were either ignored or inquired to prove it happened and their personal integrity was questioned It was suggested that the victim was consenting or was a prostitute How mortifying for a rape victim I believe the casualties of this terrible crime are owed an apology from university staff and the local police Women should be treated with respect and trusted to description the truth Myra Orta Los Altos Enmity toward Sikhs a sign of our sad times Re Sikh truckers see spike in anti-immigrant vitriol Page B Sept It saddens me to read about the unwarranted uptick in cultural stereotyping directed at the Sikh population As a small business owner I have uncovered them to be very warm and approachable in our interactions I suppose this latest wave of hostility is yet another sign of the times we currently live in Marion Baldwin San Jose