Mr. Joffe’s 5 July letter to the ADN saying Kenneth Baitsholts was wrong to accuse Israel of being racist was full of so many untruths and misconceptions that it could give Donald Trump’s debate performance a run for his money.
Israel has never in any honesty supported a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who favored the dubious Oslo Accords, was assassinated for his effort by an ultra-right Israeli “settler” who was imprisoned but is to this day considered a hero by many in Israel.
Hamas came to power in a brutal power struggle with Fatah and was never elected by a majority in Gaza. Israeli “settlers” were removed from Gaza, but merely relocated in the West Bank. Hamas may be racist, and much of Palestine has been driven into a deep hatred of Israel by Israel’s pitiless occupation, but ignoring Israel’s systematic and callous racism is a dangerous and cruel hypocrisy.
Israel claims to target specific suspects with precision drones and missiles while simultaneously obliterating schools, hospitals, designated “safe” areas and entire blocks of residential housing, and then uses the “it was a mistake” option when killing journalists, aid workers and starving people seeking food.
It is one thing to want to believe in Israel without knowing the history. It is another thing to believe in Israel while not wanting to know. Belief in Israel needs to be based on knowledge.
— Ken Green
Cooper Landing
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