Letters to the editor
Readers respond
Trump’s Rosh Hashanah message was ‘beyond the pale’
In an excellent letter to the editor in the Sept. 22 edition of the Chronicle, Stephen M. Flatow of New York City calls for consequences to be imposed on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his latest antisemitic and inaccurate utterances in which he seeks to rewrite history — falsely asserting justification for the Holocaust (“There must be consequences for Abbas’ antisemitic rhetoric”).
I wonder what consequences there will be, if any, for the latest antisemitic statements of former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
With his usual bombast, bluster, condescension, arrogance and chutzpah, Trump recently delivered a fake Rosh Hashanah message, wishing a happy new year to “liberal Jews who voted to destroy America and Israel,” referencing our community’s decisive vote for Joe Biden for president in 2020. Trump continued: “Let’s hope you learned from your mistakes and make better choices moving forward.”(“Donald Trump wishes happy Rosh Hashanah to ‘liberal Jews who voted to destroy America and Israel,’” Sept. 22).
It is beyond the pale to level a broadside attack against millions of individuals who voted their conscience in electing Joe Biden as president, votes which included a desire for the preservation of our democratic system of governance, which Trump is intent on destroying in favor of an autocracy. With Donald Trump, of course, nothing is beyond the pale: When you perceive yourself to be king, you say whatever you please, let the chips fall where they may and, if anyone is offended, tough.
I would call to mind foreign policy expert and esteemed syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman’s Aug. 16, 2019, New York Times essay titled, “If you think Trump is Helping
Israel, You’re a Fool.” Trump is, in fact, a menace to our community and to our country and its system of governance. He is a “leader” the Founding Fathers would have considered an abomination.
Oren Spiegler
Peters Township
Memories of Elliott Oshry
I read about the passing of Elliott Oshry (“Lifelong fundraiser, symphony supporter, Elliott Oshry has died,” Sept. 22) and I have to say I feel a sense of happiness having known and worked with him on the Hillel Jewish University Center’s successful capital campaign to build the student center in Oakland more than 20 years ago. He and I linked arms as
professionals and got it done.
What struck me about Elliott, besides the unusual spelling of his first name, was how genuine he was. He knew everybody in Pittsburgh, when I knew almost nobody because I was new in the ’Burgh. That time is a nice legacy for all of the Pittsburghers who were involved and contributed.
My condolences to his family and many friends.
Daniel Wiseman
Cranford, New Jersey
Abbas has not prepared Palestinians for peaceful co-existence with Israel
By what right does Mahmoud Abbas demand a Palestinian state on land that Israel liberated from illegal Jordanian occupation while defending Israel’s people from intended genocide (“No peace in Mideast without Palestinian state, Abbas tells UN,” Sept. 22, online)? What steps has he taken to build the infrastructure needed by a viable state? What effort has he made to prepare the people living under his administration for peaceful co-existence with the nation-state of the Jews?
The answer is that he has been doing the complete opposite of what he should have been doing. He has grown rich by embezzling monies donated for his people’s benefit, diverted humanitarian aid to efforts to delegitimize Israel and refused to negotiate with Israel on setting secure and mutually acceptable borders as required by the Oslo Accords. Until he accepts the fact that any Palestinian state that might come into existence will have to be the Jewish state’s good neighbor (and not its replacement), there will never be a real Palestinian state.
Toby F. Block
Atlanta, Georgia
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