The letter from Johanna Militano of Brewster [33] shows us the extent to which apparent logic and perversion of history can be used to demonize the Jewish people and Zionism, our movement of national liberation. In spite of the number of times that our people were conquered and dispersed, there remained a constant Jewish presence in Israel. Jerusalem, or Zion, holds a central place in our cultural, religious and educational center.

Ms. Militano need make no assumptions about the condition of the land of Israel before the miraculous ingathering of her people. The land was mostly barren, swamp and malaria-ridden, with parasitic absentee landlords and nomadic tribes. Jews reclaimed the land from the abuse and neglect of colonial powers. To verify this statement, one need only compare the standard of living of Israelis (Jews, Muslims, and Christians) with that of the citizens of any non-oil producing Arab country. If the Arabs had been tolerant and less fanatical, all could have lived happily in one country without Arab violence.

All countries exist for their national groups. Israel's purpose has been repeatedly demonstrated to the world: the saving of the Jewish remnant from Europe; the welcoming of Jews from Arab countries who left everything and had to start over; rescuing of Soviet Jews from the threats of Pamyat; life-saving flights into Iran during the revolution; and, most recently, the massive airlift of the Ethiopians.

Does Ms. Militano feel that the United States should have denied aid to post-war Europe because Italy, Ireland and France are Catholic countries, England is Anglican, and Germany Lutheran?

Judaism is not merely a religion; we are a nation. It is the goal of Jew-haters to make Zionism a dirty word, and to create a wedge between American and Israeli Jews. They love misquoting our leaders in order to justify bigotry.

Betty Berenson, Scarsdale

June 26, 1997

It is gratifying to note that Betty Berenson from Scarsdale [45] sees a logic albeit "apparent" in Ms. Militano's letter [33] because hers lacks any logic. She made in one letter two contradictory statements. While she has not broken any record, this shortcoming shows how Zionists have some trouble presenting an incoherent Zionist ideology.

On the one hand she says, "All countries exist for their national groups," and on the other she says, "Judaism is not merely a religion; we are a nation." The first statement means that France, for instance, exists for its national group, the French, just as America exist for Americans. This is true for all countries on earth except for Israel which, according to Ben-Gurion (and Ms. Berenson's second statement), "is not a state for its citizens alone, but for the whole Jewish people." This is not just an opinion. The first paragraph of Israel's Status Law reads: "The state of Israel regards itself as the creation of the entire Jewish people." In other words, Israel devised a system of extra-territorial nationality by claiming to be the sovereign state of the Jewish people wherever they are, a concept that is completely inconsistent with international law; a position that runs counter to the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885 in which a group of reform rabbis stated that "we consider ourselves no longer a nation but a religious community"; and a notion rejected in a letter dated April 20, 1964, from Assistant Secretary of State Phillips Talbot to Rabbi Elmer Berger in which it is said that the State Department "does not recognize a legal-political relationship based upon religious identification of American citizens ... it should be clear that the Department of State does not regard the Jewish people concept as a concept of international law."

July 9, 1990

It is refreshing to note that Steven Waldbaum (February 1 letter) [89] recognizes that "the PLO is a valid expression of the desire for self-determination of the Palestinian people." I would like, however, to take him to task for the way he defines Israel.

He said that Israel is "the expression of an ethnic-national will (like France)." This is quite incorrect. France is the country of the French people, i.e. of only those who have French nationality. Israel, however, is not just the country of the Israeli people. Israel, according to its 1952 Status Law, "regards itself as the creation of the entire Jewish people," regardless of their nationality, be it French, American or whatever. This extraterritorial concept on the basis of which Israel claims to be the country of people of other nationalities is unique and inconsistent with international law.

Since nationality cannot be a valid criterion for belonging to the Jewish people, what about ethnicity, which is also suggested by Mr. Waldbaum? It can't be, either. Russian and Ethiopian Jews cannot possibly be ethnically similar. And both are ethnically different from the 55 Indians from Peru who converted to Judaism and immigrated to Israel (Ha'aretz, March 2, 1990). The criterion then is a religion. On religious grounds derived from the Bible, Zionist leaders justify their territorial claim to Palestine, calling it the land of Israel. Also, the very notion of the Jewish people in the Bible is a religious one. They form a religious community that is supposed to follow God's command. To say, as Mr. Waldbaum did, that "Ben-Gurion was an atheist" and that "most Israelis are secular" (and I believe he is right on both) brings about an equation so contradictory and incoherent that even Einstein could not have solved.

February 24, 1993

In a rebuttal to Aly Abul Kheir's letter of February 24 [90] regarding the Jewish makeup of Israel: The reason for this makeup is very simple, and surely does not take an "Einstein" to solve it.

Israel was re-established as a haven and homeland for the Jewish people, those who are practicing and non-practicing Jews.

It was established so that "never again" would Jewish lives and culture be snuffed out as the world watches and turns its head.

Can Jews live without harassment in Arab lands? No.

Could Jews be allowed to live at all, regardless if they were practicing Jews or not, in the Europe of the 1930s and 1940s? No. They were butchered.

Could Jews live as Jews in the former Soviet Union or Ethiopia? No. They fled when possible.

Mr. Abul Kheir is using the old smokescreen of Arab governments that say it is unjust that Israel is a Jewish state. (The real reason is that they feel it is unfair that Israel exists at all.)

Meanwhile in Israel, Muslims and Christians prosper more certainly that anywhere else in the Middle East as far as basic human rights.

Can Jews prosper, and build synagogues and communities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Pakistan?

It is a disgrace that so many Palestinians live in the squalor of refugee camps. Their "brother Arabs," however, have kept them there for political and propaganda purposes.

Why, after 40 years, haven't they helped them settle in the Palestinian homeland that does exist and is primarily populated with the Palestinian people: that homeland is Jordan.

Sheldon Linden, Larchmont

March 5, 1993

Sheldon Linden's rebuttal (March 5) [91] of Mr. Abul Kheir's letter of February 24 [90], proves that he didn't understand the letter. If, as he said, "Israel was re-established as a haven and homeland for the Jewish people ... so that 'never again' would Jewish lives and culture be snuffed out," why then, instead of Argentina which, according to Herzl, "is one of the most fertile countries in the world, extends over a vast area, has a sparse population and a mild climate," atheist Zionists from Eastern Europe preferred to steal Palestine and cleanse it of its inhabitants to form a "Jewish state"? The reason is that Argentina will not arouse the interest of any Jew "practicing and non-practicing" alike. That is why Herzl had to go with Palestine in order "to form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism." Judaism was reduced to no more than a tool in the hands of Zionists to help them implement their plan.

In a penetrating essay, Israel a Colonial-Settler State? which should be read in its entirety, the French Jewish philosopher, Maxime Rodinson, demonstrated that Zionism is a form of Western colonialism and the Arab opposition to it is in fact an opposition to alien colonizers. His conclusion was that, "The settling of a new population of European origin in a Palestine inhabited by Arabs was the product of a European ideological movement ... It achieved its ultimate goal--domination of the territory settled by the immigrants--thanks to a British political act, the Balfour Declaration, which was given the force of international law by the victory of the allies over the Ottoman Empire ... thanks also to the protection provided by the British mandate ... and finally, thanks to a war directed first against a Great Britain become reticent, and then against the Palestinian Arabs supported by their fellow Arabs."

No one could have said it any better.

March 25, 1993