Readers Write: Pro-Palestinian protests, sex offender program
Not all suffering seems to matter.
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It is fascinating how a single issue can become motivation for a major political movement. For leftist groups today that issue is the conflict in Gaza. Thousands march in the streets chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free.” However, it is sad that I have not heard similar protests against, say, the horrific Chinese treatment of its religious minorities, Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists; nothing is said at campus rallies discussing Russian murders in Ukraine; there are no protests about Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingyas; nothing regarding the brutal 2023 deaths of 12,000 civilians in Sudan; and North Korea seems to have a free pass regarding violence against its own citizens. And these are not “minor incidents.” For example, an estimated 1 million Uyghurs were moved by Chinese authorities into internment camps, the largest detention of an ethnic minority since World War II.
Being angry about the ongoing conflict in Gaza is understandable, but why stop there? Why single out this one particular humanitarian struggle but no other? For example, why is ethnic fighting wrong for Israel but totally overlooked when done by the Burmese or Syrians? Why is the seizure of Palestinian land by Israel condemned but not the Russian seizure of Ukrainian land? Why are there no campus protests at the homes of Chinese faculty? Why have I heard nothing at Yale University or the University of Michigan or Columbia University about the ongoing political conflict in Sudan, the world’s largest humanitarian disaster, with nearly 25 million Sudanese in desperate need of humanitarian assistance?
So I wonder what it is about Israeli actions in Gaza that elicits such deep-seated vitriol among campus activists but does not generate similar visible or vocal anger with regard to other genocides. I hate to suggest this, but could the answer be good old-fashioned antisemitism, a particularly virulent strain of ethnic bias that has festered for over 2,000 years? Criticizing Israeli foreign policy is, in my opinion, not antisemitism per se. However, criticizing only Israel, while turning a blind eye to similar horrific crimes by terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and countries like China, Russia, Syria, Sudan and Myanmar, does, in my opinion, rise to the level of antisemitic behavior.
G. Michael Schneider, St. Louis Park
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As Palestine solidarity encampments pop up across American universities, including at the University of Minnesota, police actions against peaceful protesters have repeatedly been justified with the claim that such actions make Jewish people unsafe on campus. These claims have been quoted in the Star Tribune and other papers of record. I can personally attest that this is not true. I am a Minnesota Jew and a proud member of our city’s vibrant and growing anti-Zionist Jewish community. On Tuesday and Wednesday, when I went to support the students, I clipped my yarmulke into my hair, making myself visibly and undeniably Jewish. I was met with nothing but handshakes, hugs and friendly conversation from kaffiyeh-wearing, Palestinian-flag-waving campers — and, of course, ran into many Jewish friends in their kippahs and Magen Davids who had also come to show support. I have marked myself as Jewish at numerous Palestine solidarity actions, and it is always the same. I challenge journalists to witness Jews like us in the Palestine movement, and I challenge other Jewish people to shed their fear and see that it’s not Jews whom advocates for Palestine oppose; it’s horrific and indiscriminate violence and the forced removal of a people from their ancestral land.
Nicholas Isaiah Salvato, Minneapolis
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I want to begin by thanking Naomi Breazeale for her cogent commentary on the nature of antisemitism in discussion of the Hamas war (”When is it antisemitism? Jewish people are in the best position to know,” Opinion Exchange, April 23).
It engendered a suite of letters that I think require response. Let’s understand what Hamas is doing.
- When Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, it made its goal clear: the elimination of Jews in the Levant. Genocide is the game it named.
- It has been repeatedly offered terms of cease-fire and repeatedly refused them.
- It has placed its civilians deliberately in harm’s way. At this point they are not even human shields but pawns in a game designed to draw the world’s ire through their deaths.
- It is succeeding in globalizing the intifada. The useful idiots on college campuses and in what used to be the American labor movement are taking up the charge, and Jews everywhere are feeling less safe than ever.
- I cannot even buy challah for the sabbath from the only kosher-certified bakery in St. Paul without experiencing harassment. Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh would be so proud.
So the answer to the question on everyone’s lips — “Is Israel committing genocide?” — is simply this: When the dealer calls “five-card stud” you don’t sit down at the table and play “Go Fish.”
Rich Furman, St. Paul
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What is the best kaffiyeh color for the mom who believes that we should all be pro-Palestinian and support independent statehood, yet who is now afraid to drop her kids off at Hebrew school each week? Where is the encampment for the dad who is critical of Israel’s prime minister and policies but believes the sovereign democratic nation (which is home to 2 million Palestinian citizens) has every right to exist? Where is the university that believes hateful intimidation and harassment should never be justified under the banner of free speech? What’s the best keffiyeh color for the daughter who believes strongly in coexistence, feminism and is proud of her Jewish heritage yet exhausted from being othered, shamed and invisible? Where’s the encampment for the grandparents and Holocaust survivors who recognize the dark consequences of misinformation and groupthink and shudder to witness the next generation blindly aligning themselves with a jihadi terrorist movement in the name of advocacy? Where are the remaining 133 hostages, and why are we not all outraged that it’s been 200 days and they are still being held by Hamas?
Where’s the encampment for these folks? Because I don’t see their tents, and I don’t quite know where we go at this moment. And I’m terrified.
Shira Frailich Goldman, Madison, Wis.
SEX OFFENDER PROGRAM
Reform must prevent future abuse
I read with interest the recent article “Study: Sex offender program is failing” (April 25). I don’t doubt for a minute this is true. And although Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center Director Eric Janus criticizes the length of incarceration and the cost, he is silent when it comes to how we prevent future abuse when abusers are released. Indeed, no effective solutions beyond incarceration are found anywhere in the article. I recently attended a fundraiser for the Zero Abuse Project and learned, to my horror, that 1 in 6 men in America were abused as children. I learned that one serial sex offender can abuse 200 to 300 children. I learned from a prosecutor who devotes significant energy and skill to the prosecution of such crimes that successful prosecution, through incarceration itself, prevents many crimes that otherwise would have occurred. Unlike many — perhaps most — crimes, sexual abusers keep abusing at staggering rates.
These are crimes of compulsion. Tell me how you rid the abuser of this compulsion and I will listen. I am still waiting.
Richard J. Thomas, St. Paul
