Demand fair and honest reporting
My husband and I live in Jerusalem. The last few weeks have been very upsetting as the incidents of terrorism continue to rise. Many of the people reporting about things here are calling the murdering terrorists victims and ignoring the innocent civilians who are killed and injured.
It has hit close to home. An American friend of ours, Richard, who just happened to take a bus he never takes, is lying in ICU at Hadassah Ein Karem hospital having been shot and stabbed. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}Please say a prayer for him — Raphael ben Ethel.
Richard is an English teacher. Though officially retired, he continues to tutor kids in English from every religion and background in Jerusalem. He is a sweet, sensitive, caring man. We agree with his friends when we tell you that these terrorists were barbarians.
A close friend of Richard’s told us, “It is Richard’s wish that the news is spread about the reality here in Israel. For the world to understand what we deal with on a daily basis. Please be less quick to judge our actions, because people have no idea what it would be like to face what we face on a daily basis. Please become educated about the history of Israel and the actual happenings on the ground. Be vocal, we as Jews always said ‘never again,’ but the Diaspora voice is not as loud as we need it. Please educate those who do not know the true story, correct the misrepresentations in the local and international newspapers, and demand fair and honest reporting.”
If you want a truthful story, honestreporting.com is the best way for people in the United States to know what is happening here in Israel.
Sybil Kaplan
Jerusalem, Israel
Other issues deserve rebuke
The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council (Oct. 8 issue) condemned Dr. Ben Carson for the statement that he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” In the same interview, Carson had said “I don’t care what faith or religion someone belongs to if they are willing to subjugate that faith to the American way and to the Constitution.”
So Carson, a man of impeccable credentials and strong supporter of Israel, is speaking against a theocracy. Instead of accepting this clarification, the GKCIC chose to quote the statement out of context in a 459-word letter, with their leaders calling it “hurtful,” “anti-American,” “divisive,” and “hate speech.”
Really? How about some other incidents, such as:
• Rev. Al Sharpton, adviser to Obama and Democratic Party leader, led anti-Semitic riots in Crown Heights (Brooklyn), leading to the fatal stabbing of a rabbinical student.
• U.N. staffers are using the imprimatur of their official positions to incite Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli Jews, with one calling on Facebook to “stab Zionist dogs.”
• This year all over the Middle East, Islamists are abducting Christians and videotaping their beheadings.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei often calls for the “death of Israel.”
• 40 years of terrorist attacks against Israel and Jews, too numerous to list.
You might think that some of these actions are as “divisive” as Carson’s comment. But I have never seen letters from GKCIC or anything on their website about these things. But if you call attention to them, you are an “Islamaphobe.”
So why would an organization which claims to be non-partisan go to the trouble to contrive artificial outrage over a comment from a presidential candidate, but not “horrified” at any of this? The GKCIC must be extremely naïve and out of touch, or else it is a disingenuous partisan organization. Either way, such letters insult the intelligence of Jewish Chronicle readers and should be ignored.
Jeff Horen
Overland Park, Kansas{/mprestriction}