Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The racist attacks by against the IDF


Sir, - James Adler of Cambridge, Mass. has apparently chosen to abandon his persistent simplistic mantra of solely blaming Israel (because of what he terms the "occupation") for all the ills of the Middle East. He now expands his virulent anti-Israel doctrine by descending into the slime of pernicious accusations of Israel's indifference to the spilling of innocent blood as well as racial bigotry relating to the war in Gaza.

If it is at all possible for Adler to cleanse his glasses from the accumulated muck, I would like to acquaint him with reality by means of a number of well-documented facts.

It is Hamas that has in its manifesto the call to annihilate the state of Israel, and periodically attempts to do so. The lengthy underground tunnels they have dug from Gaza that extend into several civilian communities in Israel have no purpose other than mass murder and kidnappings. The thousands of rockets fired into Israel were designed to cause massive civilian casualties, and would have if not for divine providence and brilliant defense technology. All this despite the fact that Gaza has not been occupied since 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew.

Israel's desire not to harm innocents has been well proven by the warnings of imminent attacks supplied to the civilians of Gaza, and the military orders to avoid civilian casualties even though doing so often places the lives of Israeli soldiers in jeopardy. The morality of the IDF is second to none!

IDF delegation to India, 2001
Adler's references to the "brown" color of the victims, and his less than subtle accusation that color is a factor in Israel's military conduct, is nothing less than a disgusting attempt at barely veiled anti-semitism. 

Would it please Adler to learn that a goodly proportion of Israel's fallen soldiers and officers were of Ethiopian, Yemenite, Iraqi and Moroccan origin, and that Israel is one of the few places that enjoys a true ingathering of the exiles from every region in the world?

Evidently, Cambridge is not completely free of bigots.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Israel Defense Forces]