The Aug. 1 opinion piece entitled “Israel’s Critics” totally ignores centuries of Jewish leadership speaking truth to power. From the ancient prophets calling out kings and priests to modern day rabbis and journalists, our tradition has encouraged those moved by Torah teachings to call out those who would use their power to advance their own idolatrous agenda. To mention politicians who represent their districts, Jewishly commited journalists or IfNotNow in the same piece as an avowed anti-Semite such as Louis Farrakhan seeks to deny people who care about the heart and soul of the State of Israel their right to criticize the country they love.
When Jewish leaders declare that to criticize Israel is to be anti-Israel it often results in Jews becoming apathetic toward Israel and/or disenchanted with Jewish institutions.
It would be better for us to put our energy into teaching the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that members of our community can come to their own conclusions and respond accordingly. To limit or discourage criticism out of love is to deny an age-old Jewish tradition and, possibly, one more reason to disengage with Judaism and the Jewish people.
Alan S. Edelman
Leawood, Kansas
