Letter to the editor: Israel not apartheid government

I find it necessary to correct false statements in the letter “Trump and antisemitism” (Jan. 19, TribLIVE) responding to my letter “The real antisemitism” (Dec. 17, TribLIVE) regarding the antisemitic statement of Rep. Rashida Tlaib accusing Israel of being an apartheid government. The writer incorrectly defined Israel as an apartheid government based on “ultra-right cabinet members who want nothing to do with Palestinian rights.”

The Jewish state of Israel is not an apartheid state. It is a democracy in which its citizens are free to express their political views in the public forum. According to the writer’s own definition of apartheid as “separate and apart,” he ignores the fact that Israeli Arabs are allowed to run for public office. Ten Israeli Arabs currently serve in the Knesset. There is no legal separation between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

Calling Israel an apartheid government is a type of antisemitic propaganda that has been spoken in Congress, the pulpits of religious leaders like Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright, as well as the Muslim student associations on many college campuses. Antisemitic propaganda has been used throughout history to defame the Jewish people such as Hitler’s Mein Kamph, or as far back as the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt falsely depicting the Israelites as enemies (see Exodus, chapter 1, verse 10).

Propaganda only serves to enflame hatred and misunderstanding while advancing an errant political narrative.

Dr. Joel I. Last

Greensburg