Letters to the editor July 9

Letters to the editor July 9

‘We are family’ lauded
I would like to thank you and your staff for the wonderful stories of Pittsburgh families (“We are family,” June 2009).
I am a member of the Farber family and the publication came out the weekend of our 23rd family reunion in Mt. Laural, N.J.
My husband and I have lived in Jacksonville, Fla., for the past 18 years, but I keep my subscription to The Jewish Chronicle every year because it is a connection that I would not want to be without.
It was so wonderful reading all the stories in the “We are family” as my husband and I knew about 75 percent of the people who wrote the stories. Loved it, thanks again.
 
Leon and Ann Stone
Jacksonville, Fla.

Web site must be read
As a result of covering T.J. Leyden’s lecture at the University of Pittsburgh for The Jewish Chronicle in April, I received an education about the rising neo-Nazi movement.
Just days after Leyden warned a group of Hillel students that white separatists are planning to come back from the overseas military and take down American cops in urban combat, Richard Poplawski allegedly shot and killed three of Pittsburgh’s finest in Stanton Heights.
White supremacist James Von Brunn allegedly shot and killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
I have interviewed people at Simon Wiesenthal Center and Anti-Defamation League. They say Jews must educate themselves by reading the Stormfront Web site for an eye-opening education of what the rapidly growing neo-Nazi movement is about.
The Stormfront is disturbing — definitely not for children — and is full of adult content.
It has gotten tremendous traffic and many comments — much of it from members of Stormfront. They have accused me of propaganda. I have simply given readers links to their own “propaganda.”
They have also posted a discussion thread about my article in which they call me, among other things, a Jew. I am proud of being a Jew, and have posted the link to their discussion thread as an update to my article.
As much as Leyden, ADL and the Wiesenthal Center would like all Jews to be aware of what the neo-Nazis are up to, I feel that many Jews would be too disgusted to look at that Web site and read what is there.
Yet I’m not sure how we learn about what our enemies are up to and defend ourselves without getting disgusted at what we may read. The alternative is even more disgusting.
Make some noise and let your opinions be heard. They do.

Dev Meyers
Squirrel Hill

(The author is a freelance writer who lives in Squirrel Hill.)

Shalit deserves equal treatment
On Sunday, July, 12, the Knesset, in conjunction with the Legislative Committee, is expected to approve new legislation called “the law of Gilad Shalit” put forward by MK Danny Danon. The law demands that Shalit be treated in the same manner as prisoners of war held in Israel in that he is permitted visits from both a lawyer and the Red Cross as long as he is in captivity.  
The law is set forth with the intention of correcting a situation that has gotten out of hand; Hamas is holding Israeli citizens as bargaining chips rather than on a legitimate foundation.
The Hamas captors have blatantly ignored the demands of the international community and are in severe violation of basic human rights. Members of terrorist organizations that are being held in Israeli captivity are allowed such rights and in this law, demand the same treatment in return.

Shai Grizim,
Israel

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