10 August 22 • 2019
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Readers had a lot to say about our Aug.
12th online story “US House Majority and
Minority Leaders, in Jerusalem, say Tlaib
and Omar Should be Allowed to Visit.”
Diane Blossey: Any country can refuse
them.
Bernard Antin: Understandably, as lead-
ers of the Congress, they would stand up
for their colleagues out of respect for the
office they hold. However, Israel should
stand up and stridently say NO; it would be
insane to host a proclaimed enemy.
Chava Docks: Who cares what they say?
Abe Kadushin: Why aren’
t they on the
current trip with all the others?
Darwin Jiles Jr.: Israel passed a law
reserving the right to deny entry to advo-
cates of Israel boycotts. Omar and Tlaib
both back the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement against Israel, or
BDS. That’
s why Tlaib & Omar should NOT
be allowed entry! However, Israel is SO
MERCIFUL to “their enemies” I am sure an
exception will be made.
Louise Silverman Abrams: Why? I hope
if they have the honor of going, they land
in jail.
Jane Lori: Why should we say who Israel
should allow into their country?
See related story on page 12.
Readers also responded to the essay
by Holocaust survivor Michael Weiss,
“Concentration Camps and Detention
Centers: There’
s a Big Difference,” that
appeared in the Aug. 8 issue and on our
digital platforms.
Nomi Nancy Joyrich: There are many
survivors and children of survivors who
feel exactly the opposite from this author.
(Including me!) And for those of you who
are under the illusion that prisoners in the
detention camps are all receiving med-
ical treatment and recreation, please do
some fact checking! It’
s also important to
remember that many of those detained
have not violated any laws as they entered
to seek asylum, which is not illegal. And
even if they did violate the law, it is a
misdemeanor to cross the border illegally
— not a crime worthy of prison or being
separated from your family.
Micki Grossman: I know and love Mickey
Weiss; however, the camps in Poland
and Germany began as work camps and
detention centers before turning into death
camps. No one knows what #45 is plan-
ning next. He is talking about deportation.
So did Hitler before he got to the “final
solution.” Inhumanity is wrong right from
the start.
Richard Weinstein: It’
s about time to read
an article with some common sense!
Yevgeniya Tzeporah Gazman:
Forgiveness is closer to the heart.
Monica Lewis Patrick: Looks the same
to me!
Irene Onickel Petts: It didn’
t start with
death camps.
Steven Podvoll: In fairness, conditions
in these detention centers are inhumane.
These poor folks are refugees. And we
are supposed to welcome the stranger.
Imagine how many lives could have been
saved had we welcomed refugees circa
1937. But anyone suggesting these deten-
tion centers represent a slippery slope
toward genocide is engaging in hyperbole
and false equivalence. They are no such
thing.
Kevin Todd Clepps: Detention centers for
illegal immigrants are not concentration
camps. People in concentration camps
were mass murdered; people in detention
centers get medical care and food.
Carly Sugar: No one is making light
of what happened in Nazi Europe.
Comparisons drawn are meant to highlight
what could happen if state-led human
rights violations are left unchecked.
Will we, as Jews, turn our heads at eth-
nically motivated, state-mandated, violent
separation of children from their parents
and despicable conditions in detainment
camps?
Folks in the comments here are focused
on the WRONG POINT. Don’
t let this be an
argument of semantics!
I’
m sure if asked, we’
d all stand for fair-
ness, justice, humane treatment of all
humans despite nationality, citizenship,
ethnicity, race … at least I hope we would.
The JN welcomes comments online at
thejewishnews.com or on its Facebook
page. Letters can be sent to letters@
renmedia.us.
online comments
letters from page 2
agree with using this terminology, the
bigger issue for me is that many are so
vehement about their position on what
to call these places, that it seems they
have dismissed the effect the words
“concentration camps,
” have on so
many whose lives have been personally
touched by the Holocaust.
It appears the need to be so fervent-
ly adamant about this being the only
name that truly describes these centers
is mainly for shock value rather than for
accuracy. The need to control the name
in order to gain attention has given rise
to yet another argument amidst this
raging crisis and is causing the existing
political chasm to widen further. Do we
really need another reason to argue? I
truly hope not.
In the middle of all of this, what is
entirely apparent to me is what has
been lost in the shuffle: sensitivity and
kindness toward those for whom this
moniker isn’
t simply inaccurate, it is also
viscerally disturbing. Residing within
our local Jewish community are so many
Holocaust survivors and their families.
Did it ever occur to those who are loudly
expressing their firm stance on what to
call these places the effect it is having on
this particular population? Did it even
cross anyone’
s mind as to the psycholog-
ical and emotional impact these words,
posters and photos are having on those
who actually lived the true horrors of
Nazi Germany?
I am sure this letter won’
t alter the
stance of people who are hung up on
debating this issue (and that debate
is not my intent in writing this) but,
instead, it is my hope that the idea of
compassion and sensitivity for those
of us who are gut-wrenched by seeing
and hearing these words will be given
thoughtful consideration rather than
being met by more anger. We can agree
to disagree about terminology but, when
it comes to matters of kindness, there
should be no argument.
— Dina Kawer
Huntington Woods
Another Opinion on
Detention Centers
Detention centers may be equated with
what happened in the Holocaust.
What happened in Germany evolved
from the early ’
30s and built up to the
Holocaust.
The squalid conditions, cruel family
separations, coupled with President
Trump’
s racist taunts, all lead to dehu-
manizing the people in the “cages.
”
Group think sees these people as not
“our kind of humans.
” Much can then be
done to them without conscience.
Sound familiar? Sound like the 1930s
and the lead-up to the Holocaust?
Little by little, and incrementally, the
public is desensitized to the plight of
those involved. “They are not like us.
”
What is going on in this country may,
by all means, be analogous to what took
place in Europe. It is a similar pattern at
work.
We would like to think it cannot hap-
pen here. We have a Constitution, a sep-
aration of powers, checks and balances.
We also have a president who ignores all
of this on an almost daily basis.
He follows no rules and gets away
with most of it.
It can happen here.
— Diane Pomish
West Bloomfield
No Comparison
I was happy you printed a less-biased
commentary written by Jonathon Tobin
(“What Real Incitement to Murder Looks
Like,
” Aug. 15, page 10). However, the
opinion written by Raman Singh, et al
from the Interfaith Leadership Council of
Metropolitan Detroit on page 6 blamed
President Trump for being a cheerleader
for racism and anti-Semitism.
The article contained an irrelevant
quote from the German Lutheran Pastor
Martin Niemoller, who said first they
came for the Socialists and I said noth-
ing, and so on. There is no comparison
today with what happened in Nazi
Germany. Calling President Trump a
cheerleader for racism and anti-Semi-
tism is a lie and defames the office of the
president.
— Robert Moretsky
West Bloomfield