Public Comment

This is a response to Ralph Stone's essay of November 5, that appears in the Planet: "Blame for War in the Holy Land." 

I am not in favor of any war in the modern world. ("Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." --Isaac Asimov.) And I take issue with Mr. Stone's one-sided opinion piece as well as some misuse of language. Ralph seems to believe that antisemitism is justified. "Anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism are growing about Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate response..." 

Antisemitism is bigotry, and it is no better than racism, classism, homophobia, or any other ignorant form of hate. You can't say antisemitism is okay because Israel seemingly committed a crime. I am impacted by antisemitism in the U.S., and it is not a comforting feeling. 

"War in the holy land" 

War is war and land is land. Why are you calling it "Holy Land"? This adds extra baggage to the issue. Any war is deplorable, whether it is on land that people consider holy, whether it is at sea, or in the sky, or on the Moon. 

Mr. Stone, it seems that you are placing the "blame" for this on Israel. Try to remember that there are two sides to this, or more. 

The "Holy Land" is claimed by a number of religions. Israel is situated in a particularly bad location, and this can't be changed. Israel can't be expected to move to Antarctica. 

The U.S. is militarily strong for several reasons, and one of them is geographic. We have oceans to the east and west, and we have allies to the north and south. This makes the U.S. a bit harder to attack. 

However, Israel is crammed in among hostile nations, and this is not an enviable or strategically good thing. If Israel gave land to the Palestinians, they could put in an airstrip and a port, and bring in as many foreign troops and weapons as they wanted, and that would be to the quick deaths of 7 million Israeli Jews.  

"Violence was inevitable, considering that five million Palestinians live under occupation with no civil rights; no freedom of mobility; and no say in their lives." 

Mr. Stone, violence should never be seen as inevitable. The human species urgently needs to have alternatives to getting violent. If people could use their brains, they would not resort to violence. That applies to anyone, Arab, Israeli, or other.