To the Editor:
No, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is far from doing anything to alienate Israel from any of Israel’s friends. It is the quality of the friendships with Israel that is most in doubt.
What friend asks a nation to constantly give up its land, and particularly half of its capital, to an enemy people or party that refuses to even recognize Israel’s right to exist and already has other Palestinean nations to call their own, namely Syria and Jordan. Israel has made numerous sacrifices in the hopes of peace over the last 60 years but to no avail.
How does a friend blame a friend for building homes in their capital? Not only does that reek of bigotry, but it denies Israel her only ancestral and religious home.
Furthermore J Street, the new kid on the block, is not representative of either the Jewish nor the pro-Israel Zionist community; it is an Arab front organization. According to Federal Election Commission filings, dozens of Arab and Muslim Americans and Iranian advocacy organizations donated tens of thousands of dollars to J Street, representing "a small fraction" of the group’s fund-raising.
Donors included Lebanese-American businessman Richard Abdoo, a board member of Amideast and a former board member of the Arab American Institute, and Genevieve Lynch, a member of the National Iranian American Council board.
Ask not what Netanyahu or Israel has done for peace, ask what efforts have Hamas, Hezbollah and Fatah made toward living in peace with Israel?
Tana Markoe
Miami Beach, Fla.
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