Letters: JCRC doesn’t speak | Downplaying opposition | Furthering pain | States’ right
East Bay Times Letters to the Editor for March 6, 2024
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Exclusion from unity
march furthers pain
Re: “Thousands rally against intensifying antisemitism” (Page A1, March 4).
I’m Jewish. A fellow Jew called me a Nazi at a “Unity March.”
As a proud Jew, I attended Sunday’s “Unity March against Antisemitism” bringing a message that we are all safer when Palestinian life is sanctified and urging a cease-fire.
As soon as we entered, we were swarmed by fellow Jews wrapped in Israeli flags who yelled and cursed at us, called us “Nazis,” and chanted “shame” until our group was guided away from the march by police for our safety. At the rally, we were cordoned off across the street and labeled as “counter-protestors.” Jewish counter-protestors at a “Unity March against Antisemitism”?
As a proud Jew for Palestinian freedom, being excluded from a rally against antisemitism was painful. The right to criticize Israel for its actions is democratic, and not an antisemitic act. This false conflation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism cheapens real acts of antisemitism that harm us all.
Laura Einhorn
San Leandro
Coverage of marches
downplays opposition
Re: “Thousands rally against intensifying antisemitism” (Page A1, March 4).
There are two major problems with this headline and article. One is the prominence it gets — front page with picture — and “thousands” in the headline as opposed to the almost complete lack of coverage of much more massive demonstrations day in and day out against the genocidal actions of Israel fully supported by our tax dollars. Over 30,000 killed, mostly children.
The second is the ongoing conflation of “anti-Semitism” with being anti-Israeli policy and action. As one of the thousands of Jews throughout the country who are well aware and appalled by true anti-Semitism, like that displayed recently by neo-Nazi advocates spewing anti-Jewish hate speech at the Walnut Creek City Council, the protests of both Jews and thousands of others against Israeli genocide is the opposite of anti-Semitism. These protests and advocacy for peace and equality for Palestinians represent the best of Jewish values which say “never again” for everyone.
David Weintraub
Oakland
Supreme Court ruling
tramples states’ rights
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision keeping Trump on the Colorado ballot is so wrong. As Congress does not amend the Constitution, Congress should not be charged with enforcing amendments. Our Congress proposes amendments which are then sent to the states for ratification. It is the states that amend the Constitution.
The 10th Amendment states that any powers not specifically given to the federal government nor withheld from the states are reserved to those respective states or to the people at large. Congress has the power to regulate elections, set times, dates and to ensure people are not unlawfully excluded from voting. Congress does not have the power to rewrite the 14th Amendment and tell the states who can be on the ballot.
Our Constitution recognizes states’ rights, this Supreme Court has just ruled that it can take away any states’ rights that it deems necessary to further its agenda.
Frank Murray
Fremont
JCRC doesn’t
speak for all
Re: “Thousands rally against intensifying antisemitism” (Page A1, March 4).
I am among the 50 Jews of conscience who were forced out of a march against antisemitism on March 3 in San Francisco.The march’s sponsors, including the Jewish Community Relations Council and Anti-Defamation League, oppose the view of Americans and Jews of conscience who call on the United States to stop funding Israel and to enact an immediate lasting cease-fire.
I am compelled to say, the JCRC and ADL do not speak for me.
Emily Katz
Berkeley