Views
6 | DECEMBER 12 • 2019
continued on page 10
Levin Gets it Wrong
There he goes, again. Freshman
Democrat Congressman Andy
Levin displays his ignorance
and anti-Israel bias by drafting
a letter — co-signed by
100 Democrat members of
Congress (including our own
Brenda Lawrence and several
other members of Michigan’
s
delegation) — complaining
about Secretary of State
Pompeo’
s recent statement that
Israel’
s settlements in the West
Bank are not inconsistent with
international law (Views, Dec. 5
issue).
Had Levin bothered to read
the work by human rights and
international law expert Jacques
Gauthier (Ph.D., University
of Geneva, Graduate Institute
of International Studies), he’
d
learn Israeli sovereignty over
Jerusalem and West Bank
territories captured in 1967
is based on long-recognized
legal principles. Gauthier, who
studied the issue for more than
30 years, demonstrates exactly
why Israel, despite the denials of
others, is legally entitled to rule
there.
It is long past time to cut the
histrionics and recognize facts.
Settlements are not standing
in the way of peace. It’
s simply
a fiction perpetuated by the
few for political and financial
reasons, regardless of the
tremendous real costs in human
terms for doing so.
— Kerry Greenhut
West Bloomfield
Hate Not Only from White
Supremacists
The Nov. 21 JN issue’
s coverage
of the ADL anti-Semitism event
(“Hate on the Rise,
” page 12),
and the event itself, focused
only on the danger of white
supremacists. These groups are
small and mainly hide in the
shadows and chat rooms. The
ADL appears to be hiding its
own research. In its 2017 global
study, it found that, worldwide,
49 percent of Muslims hate Jews.
In the United States, 34 percent
of Muslims and 14 percent of
non-Muslims are anti-Semites.
The ADL 2019 study update
for Europe found Muslim
acceptance of anti-Semitic
stereotypes was on average
almost three times higher than
that of the overall population.
U.S. black anti-Semitism is
rising. Data from 2016 measured
it at 23 percent compared to
14 percent for the rest of the
population. Louis Farrakhan’
s
Nation of Islam is a major threat,
letters
I
t’
s been the habit of our
local Jewish community
to engage in outreach with
other communities. And this
is a good thing.
We should be
good neighbors,
and it should
be part of being
an American to
interact with all
other Americans.
Yes, we have our
differences, but those differences
can and should be put aside.
We should be able to interact
with every other community as
equals. And for the most part
we have been able to.
Not everyone accepts Jews
as equals though. Some groups
expect us to conform to their
rules, thereby putting Jews at the
bottom of a hierarchy that has
no place in a free society.
That was expressed recently
when a group of prominent
Arab-American organizations
and community members held
a press conference in which
they complained that their
community was not consulted
on Michigan Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer’
s recent visit to Israel.
Whitmer had no need of their
“consultation.
” They should not
be allowed to hold the advance-
ment of Michigan and Michigan
businesses hostage based on
their irrational hatred of Jewish
self-determination in Israel.
They would not have asked to
be consulted about an official
visit to any other country in the
world.
One community member
“was stunned by Whitmer’
s
decision to visit Israel after the
Muslim community supported
Whitmer in 2018.
”
What’
s stunning is some-
one thinking that the Muslim
community’
s support should
be based on hating Israel.
Pandering to anti-Semitism has
no place in American society.
The Dearborn-based
American Human Rights
Council (AHRC), in their state-
ment on Whitmer’
s Israel visit,
complained that American poli-
ticians’
visits to Israel reflect “the
power of the pro-Israel lobby
in America.
” Not only does this
statement reek of anti-Semitism,
but it is also completely wrong.
Michigan businesses connect
with Israel in order to create
opportunities for Americans.
Israel is the only Middle Eastern
country not mired in dysfunc-
tion and hatred that actually
builds products and technolo-
gies that can benefit Michigan.
Rather than helping to bring
these benefits to Michigan, these
organizations and their leaders
wallow in the same hatred that
has kept the rest of the Middle
East poor and corrupt.
Echoing interviews in Osama
Siblani’
s Arab American News,
the AHRC makes the usual
“occupation,
” “human rights
violations” and “apartheid”
charges,while ignoring the real
human rights violations and
apartheid in the nations sur-
rounding Israel.
While Jewish organizations
should continue their outreach,
that outreach should not be
based on lowering ourselves to
meet the demands of people
who continue to hate us. There
should be no apologizing for
Jewish success anywhere in the
world, nor should any of us
excuse their hatred because we
agree on “some things.
”
When and if the people pro-
testing Whitmer’
s Israel visit
decide to put aside their self-
destructive hatred, then it will
be time to greet them and work
together as Americans.
Harry Onickel is a freelance writer and
reading tutor. He is currently writing a
history of anti-Semitism for high school
students.
Harry Onickel
commentary
Whitmer Owes No Apologies