To the Editor:
When any letter to any newspaper has a suggestion that the world is united behind Israel (Letter to the Editor, “No denying atrocities in Gaza,” Feb. 1) after the massacres and kidnappings of Oct. 7, it should be no surprise that further anti-Israel untruths are sure to follow, along with the usual blame of Israel, ancient homeland of the Jewish people.
Rather than enumerate the pro-Hamas playlist of Israel’s “wrongdoings” so willingly and ignorantly adopted by many keyboard warriors on the liberal left who have no idea what they are saying, I’d like to tell a story which I’ve told before, but bears repeating.
When I was growing up in the 1950s in a small fishing town in New Jersey, we were the only Jewish family. Everyone else was Christian. It had been drummed into my head by my traumatized family that Jews should prepare for when the Nazis came back — not if they came back, but when. Like many Jewish families after the horrors of WWII, my family was still reeling, especially my father and grandmother, but I went about my ideal little life in my ideal little town. I dearly loved my childhood friends, but I had this odd guessing game I’d play inside my head. Who among my classmates would hide me when the Nazis came? Who would bring me food? And who would rat me out and tell the Nazis where I hid with my family?
I grew up, moved away, and mostly forgot my childhood fears.Then came Oct. 7 and the immediate explosion of worldwide Jew hatred, not just Israel hatred. It was then I discovered my childhood guessing game was not mine alone, but shared among many of us who were born soon after the Holocaust, but were still scarred by it.
The undeniable liberal left’s anti-Semitism of today works hard to pretend its stance is not based in hatred of Jews. You will hear what is “not expected” from the Jews fighting for their survival and the protection of their ancient homeland. You will never hear a call for Hamas to surrender and release all the hostages so horribly abused. You can frequently see the biased “expectations” and the anti-Israel outrage In ignorant letters, online posts, editorials, and in the streets, displaying exactly who anti-Semites really are, claiming, “No, no, it’s just Israel we hate for thinking they get to fight back harder than we think they should.”
And to my Jewish brothers and sisters who dismiss the reality of why Israel must continue to exist: As you try to make your Jewish selves more palatable to those supporting the “Palestinian” cause, are you aware what exactly that cause is? Who will protect you, a Jew, if it comes to that? To predict the future, look to the past. Arab leaders have never agreed to the offered two-state solution, even though there could have been an actual Palestine decades ago.
The anti-Semitism of the liberal left was waiting to explode. It just needed a reason. Hamas gave that reason into eager liberal hands on a bloodied silver platter.
Bring home the hostages. Call for Hamas’ surrender. May all innocents be spared.
Jacqueline Mendez-Diez
New York City; formerly Chilmark
