This is my latest e-mail to Ray Hanania. Here I am responding to a request of his to comment on a pro-Israel readers' irate and personal attack on him based on what he had written in his column, also posted below:

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Here are my thoughts as you have requested:

First of all, even if this person had a good point, there is no room in civilized discourse to say things like, "As any educated person would know..." and claiming that your words incited anti-semitic acts. That's just not right. Now, I'll try and get into the mind of this person and explain what made him so irate.

When I read your article and saw that you said "Zionism...declares that Israel must be exclusively Jewish" that got my dander up too. In fact, I would say it was that one line that sparked this whole conversation we're having. Let's say that I and the other writer disagree with your statement...why does it upset us so, instead of just making us shake our heads? Your statement brings to mind, unintentionally I'm sure, the litany of prejudices about Jews setting themselves apart from everyone else because they feel they're better than non-Jews. This is often a false impression that is given by religious Jews who refuse to eat other's food because it's not kosher, or promote marriage within the religion. (I can't claim that there aren't Jews who feel they are better than others, but what society, race or religion doesn't have such people?)

It hurts us (moderate to liberal Jews in particular) deeply to hear that people think that we're exclusivists when one of our principal laws teach us to "love thy neighbor". Our patriarch Abraham is famous for inviting strangers into his tent - and they sure weren't Jews because there weren't any others! The Jewish trend to want to live together in tight-knit communities is primarily due to the desire for a more comfortable life such as being close to kosher food sources and within walking distance of synagogues since travel is prohibited on the Sabbath and other holidays - not because we think of others as inferiors who we don't want to mix with. In Israel in particular, there is the additive desire to live together as a defensive stance in front of the outside world which I have described in prior e-mails. It is indeed this misunderstanding of Jew's desire to "hang together" that many of us believe allow people to begin down the slippery slope of hate - "those Jew bastards don't think we're good enough for them...we don't need 'em here" - therefore the harsh, angry reaction to your words.

(As an aside, remember that just as radical Muslim militants distort the world's views of the Muslim community at large, so the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community presents a false impression of the mainstream Jewish community, 90% of which are not Orthodox, but are Conservative, Reform or otherwise affiliated.) I am Conservative (not too religious, not too secular) myself although I did choose to live in an area that is more Jewish than most based on the general reasons cited above.

As to some of the reader's other comments, he seems to want you to apologize for everything that people claim is wrong in Palestinian society. I don't think you should have to do that every time you write a column criticizing a particular policy or action. I don't remember where I read it, but I did see an interesting comment somewhere that an Arab that condemns Arab actions must also include a condemnation of Israel somewhere in the article lest they be perceived of as an "Uncle Tom" of sorts. Similarly, any Jew who criticizes Israeli policy has to include a comment about those policies not justifying Palestinian militancy.

I'm sure you won't mind if I comment that it seems that even you succumbed somewhat to this standard by stating that the government of Israel has murderous ways. Assuming that's a correct and fair statement, what does that have to do with the suicide bombings, unless you're saying that one leads to the other and is therefore understandable? If it's understandable, it's a natural reaction - and how can we possibly condemn Hamas' natural reaction to Israeli murders? Suicide bombing is either a good tactic or a bad one, a moral use of force or an immoral use of force, wholly independent of what caused that person to want to engage in that activity in the first place.

Here's what may be a bad analogy (which my friends know I have a tendency to dream up). If a vigilante kills someone to exact his revenge outside the court of law, it doesn't matter whether that revenge was for stealing a bottle of milk or for having had his wife raped and murdered. It's just wrong. What led the vigilante to murder another human being has no justification. End of story. I believe that's what you wanted to say about suicide bombings, but the criticism of Israel lessened the argument you were making, just as calling the robber or rapist a criminal above would have weakened the argument that what the vigilante did was 100% wrong.

Now it's time for me to go to bed! Forgive me if the late hour has made me slacken my attempts at impartiality.

Respectfully,
Howard