Letters to the editor
Readers respond
Our president can and should be a Zionist
Dan Perry is living in an alternate reality. His opinion column in the July 26 edition of the Chronicle, “Joe Biden was a remarkable president for Israel — and very likely the last of his kind,” depicted an alarmingly dystopic version of our country. Unbeknown to many of us, the United States is apparently a one-party political system in which the presidency is passed from one Democrat president to the next Democrat president.
To wit, Mr. Perry’s article presumes rather matter-of-factly that Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States. After all, in his dystopic world, Donald Trump (or any other Republican for that matter) must not be allowed to be president. The dystopia only worsens when Mr. Perry reluctantly acknowledges that Kamala Harris is not a Zionist and concludes with the lamentation that our president (by default a Democrat) may never be a Zionist again.
Not to fear, however, because Kamala Harris and the ascendant Democrat progressive class to which she belongs are not radical in any way, shape or form. Quite to the contrary. She and any other progressive Democrat presidents that follow her are pragmatists who understand that pandering to the pro-Israel will of the American people is only done out of expediency regardless of any personal disdain they hold for Jews and Israel.
And therein lies the horror of Mr. Perry’s dystopic worldview. Members of the controlling party in a one-party system maintain their power by fiat and have no use for principles. They say one thing and do another without regard for the predominant pro-Israel will of
the American people.
Joe Biden has modeled this behavior already by claiming to love Israel while putting the squeeze on the Jewish state to accept a reordering of the geopolitical balance of power in the Middle East to the detriment of Israel’s near-term security and long-term viability.
And when Kamala Harris becomes our next president as ordained in Mr. Perry’s dystopic world, the ethos of supporting Israel unconditionally based on Zionist ideals will be forever replaced by the feckless notion that Israel has a right to defend herself, but only within the context of the impact that defense has on the suffering of the Palestinian people. If you don’t believe me, just watch the statement Kamala Harris gave after meeting with Netanyahu last week.
That, my friends, is not a world I wish to live in, and neither should you. Instead, we must reject Mr. Perry’s dystopian worldview that Americans (especially Jewish Americans) have only one choice for president — a Democrat. We do not live in a one-party system, and we are not obligated to vote for a candidate who is not a Zionist and who has demonstrated her willingness to shamelessly pander to antisemitic anti-Zionists.
We have a choice to vote in a manner that is consistent with the belief that our president can and should be a Zionist. What choice will you make?
Yosef Hashimi
Squirrel Hill
Israel depends on the service of its soldiers
Every year, Jews celebrate Chanukah by eating latkes and jelly donuts, a strange but delicious way of remembering the miracle of a small amount of oil burning for eight days. The oil was used to cleanse the Temple after the defeat of the Greeks. It’s safe to assume by the fact of this religious ritual that all the Jews who fought the Greeks were observant, the Haredim of their day. Imagine if those Jews said, “I can’t join the army, I’m dedicated to my studies.” If that happened, we wouldn’t be celebrating with jelly donuts. The Greeks would have won.
Josh Feldman points out that Haredim and others endanger Israel by avoiding serving in the army (“Haredim aren’t Israel’s only draft dodgers,” July 26). I served in the IDF with Haredim. We were short on manpower. The Haredim played an important part in our mission (and still had plenty of time for prayers and study). Serving in the IDF is hard and often dangerous but the state of Israel wouldn’t exist if not for its soldiers who fought for it over past generations.
Mitchell Nyer
Pittsburgh
Headine about Haredi misses the mark
The headline “Haredim aren’t Israel’s only draft dodgers” (July 26) is (basically) demonstrating ignorance on the part of its writer and editor.
“Draft dodger” is a pejorative term commonly understood to mean avoiding military service through illegal means. I’m far from an expert on Israeli law but as I understand its obligation to serve, true Haredi were not obligated to serve and still are not obligated to serve until regulations under the newly passed law are promulgated. As the article reported, there have been many “draft dodgers” in Israel but it neither implies nor states that true Haredi are/were among them.
I am a Jewish U.S. Marine with no love for draft dodgers (to put it mildly) and I leave it to the Israelis to sort out this matter. I am not ultra-Orthodox, not even Orthodox, but I know poor journalism when I see it. It was a good article by a seemingly knowledgeable author, but the headline is appalling.
Jack Mennis
Allison Park
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