In “Threats To Israeli Democracy” (Opinion, March 11), Letty Cottin Pogrebin exhorts American Jews to decry measures by the Knesset, which is trying to get better control of scores of NGOs, who are trying to undermine Israel and aid its delegitimization from within. She brands these measures as McCarthyite. She also criticizes Israel’s wish to have a loyalty pledge of allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state. She believes that Israeli democracy is being destroyed by these and other measures.
How ironic. Actually, Pogrebin is herself diminishing Israeli democracy. How? By not accepting the fact that Israel has a democratically elected government and prime minister. Only the Israeli voters can decide if their elected government is handling the current situation correctly. She admits that the majority of Israelis support the current policies. If they don’t, it’s up to them to change their government.
Trying to recruit American Jews to campaign against Israel’s policies, especially when a majority of Israelis agree with their government, shows a profound lack of respect for Israel’s democracy. It also shows a lack of support, love and understanding for a besieged little country trying to survive in a terrible neighborhood. A country that has been trying to make peace for 62 years and has given up “land for peace” twice, with terrible results.
Floral Park, Queens
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