Holocaust comparison inappropriate
I have just read the opinion article in the Dec. 8 issue of The Chronicle titled “In the spirit of never again.”
Once again, the progressive left with the help of Ellen Murphy is using the Holocaust to bash President-elect Trump and his proposed administration. President-elect Trump is not Hitler and his appointees are not the Gestapo. By using the Holocaust as a rallying cry, it diminishes the meaning of 6 million people that were murdered by the Third Reich. Mrs. Murphy and the progressive left accuse the Trump administration of using propaganda. In fact, it is the progressive left that is using the Holocaust as propaganda. Whether you agree with President-elect Trump’s ideology or not, it is for each person to decide for themselves, but what must stop is the use of the Holocaust to promote a political agenda.
It is also important that The Chronicle take a fair and balanced approach to the election of President-elect Trump. It is easy to see that the anti-Trump articles in The Chronicle far out way the pro-Trump news.
Sam M. Devinki
Leawood, Kansas
A vote for Democrats is not a vote against Israel
I am greatly offended by Abraham H. Miller’s editorial (Dec. 15, “Keith Ellison should be DNC chair because of his views on Israel”) implying that because I am not a one-issue voter (for Israel) that I am somehow a bad Jew and by his implication that a vote for Democratic candidates is a vote against Israel.
First, he apparently expects us to ignore the fact that the Republicans have given us a president who used anti-Semitic images in his campaign and whose closest adviser has strong ties to anti-Semitic and White-supremacist organizations. He also assumes that support for Israel means support for the most extreme right-wing elements of Israeli society. Some of us support the Democratic candidates because we see the hardline stance of the Republicans as destabilizing.
Second, he ignores the fact that many Jews do believe that in choosing political leaders we have a duty to choose people who will be good for America, based in the concept of tikkun olam, a term that he ridicules. Thus we do not want to support a party whose primary goals appear to be cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans while leaving the rest of us to suffer; denying health care to millions of Americans; and stopping abortion, when Jewish Law allows it in certain cases.
Third, unlike Republicans, most Jews are well educated and believe in science, so when the vast majority of experts tell us that pollution is destroying our planet, we tend to believe them.
One more point about climate change. When sea levels rise, Israel, with its long coastline, will face a threat that the IDF will be powerless to combat.
Stu Lewis
Prairie Village, Kansas