CSP fights militant Islam, but not all Islam
Concerning Ron Kampeas’s article about Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy (“Jewish groups urge Israel’s U.S. envoy to reject award from ‘anti-Muslim’ think tank,” Nov. 10), I strongly object to the position taken by ADL, J Street, New Israel fund and no doubt by CARE and the Muslim Brotherhood that CSP is an anti-Muslim hate group.
Ron Dermer is right when he said that the enemy is militant Islam — not all of Islam. CSP has been fighting against militant Islam, not all of Islam, by illuminating their destructive tactics.
CSP deserves a medal from the American public in general and from the Jewish community in particular.
LOUIS STEINBERG
Silver Spring
Kahane not a Jewish version of Farrakhan
Permit me to disagree with Jason Hoffman (“Making sense of an historic election,” Voices, Nov. 17).
There is absolutely, unequivocally no moral correspondence or equivalency between Louis Farrakhan and Meir Kahane.
Kahane got people killed (“involved in bombing attacks”) and did little good for anyone but himself. On the other hand, however evil Farrakhan might be, he does teach a clean living form of Islam and, most important, has not killed anyone. This is not ideological. Last I checked, lo tirtzach is still in both the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions of the Ten Commandments.
SAUL EDELMAN
Reisterstown
Alt-right agenda unsettling
Many American Jews are blithely turning a blind eye to the anti-Semitism that pervades at least some quarters of the Trump revolution because of the greater good they perceive in the incoming administration’s professed support for Israel. Are these Jews being played by an alt-right that sees as its ultimate agenda a United States that is Judenfrei?
After all, what better way to advance the goal of a white, Christian America than to turn the heat up on American Jewry while at the same time doing whatever it takes to ensure that Israel has the capacity to absorb millions of NorthAmerican Jews seeking sanctuary (“American Jews dismayed with Trump should come home to Israel,” Voices, David Benkof, Nov. 17).
Is this scenario too calculated and diabolical to be real? Perhaps. But I’m not so sure.
SOL GLASNER
Chevy Chase
Respect lost for Trump’s daughter and son-in-law
President-elect Donald Trump has stated that his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner and Jewish daughter Ivanka Trump Kushner are his go-to top advisers. How could they allow their father to appoint Stephen Bannon, a renowned racist and anti-Semite, to be appointed as Trump’s chief strategist (“5 things Jews need to know about Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist,” Nov. 17)?
I have lost all respect for his daughter and son-in-law.
SUSAN S. WEISS
Silver Spring
It’s not political to call out intolerance, misogyny
A recent email from rabbis at a local synagogue (that I occasionally attend, but don’t belong to) referenced the angst over the past election cycle and its outcome, and invited congregants to participate in the congregation’s Shabbat services for discussion and dialogue. So far so good. But in some ways it was a defining moment and an opportunity lost in terms of what wasn’t said. In this instance, silence wasn’t golden.
I can understand the clergy’s concern in being balanced and not political. But calling out intolerance, misogyny, xenophobia, nativism and ignorance is not political. The recent threat/promise to immediately deport between 2 million and 3 million individuals — illegal immigrants? — should conjure up visions of Gestapo/SS officers going from door to door to ferret out Jews.
The appointment of an individual tied to white supremacy and anti-Semitic rhetoric should do more than just raise eyebrows (“5 things Jews need to know about Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist,” Nov. 17).
Rabbis must articulate moral and ethical clarity.
DR. RAYMOND COLEMAN
Potomac
