Letters to the editor
Feb. 15, 2008

Articles have political bias

I had the great misfortune to read articles penned by Ms. Beth Young and Mr. Ron Kampeas in your last issue.

Both of these individuals made misleading statements regarding the percentage of Jewish votes that are presumed to favor the Democrat Party and Mrs. Clinton specifically. There are other reputable sources that clearly indicate that there is a fairly even split among party membership and voting habits among Jewish Americans under the age of 45.

Additionally, one doesn't need to be a forensic expert to be cognizant of the preponderance of stories, and favorable and often fawning language and tone that have been used to highlight the left-leaning candidates and Mrs. Clinton particularly throughout the last several issues of your otherwise fine publication.

I am certain that your readers would appreciate greater political and intellectual diversity in your articles than simply predictably promoting the "talking-points" of the Democrat Party. The free and open expression of ideas should be the goal, not merely permitting a biased, agenda-driven writer to mask his or her prejudices as "journalism." Such dishonesty is a discredit to your paper and your readers.

Dr. Brett J. Prince
Howell

Help Israel: Go green

Not far from my house is a church that has solar panels on its roof. It may not have been their intention, but the parishioners are doing a great service to Israel and the Jewish community.

Most of the oil producing countries are anti-Israel. Many use their oil wealth to promote terrorism and to buy weapons to be used against Israel. Many are blatantly anti-Semitic.

It should be obvious that one of the highest priorities of the Jewish community is to reduce and eliminate the need for oil. We should be actively involved in promoting solar, wind and other alternative energy. Every synagogue and Jewish building should have solar panels or wind turbines on its roof. Everyone is jumping on the environment bandwagon, and we shouldn't be sitting on our hands.

Let's commit ourselves to destroying OPEC.

Joe Zeloof
Hamilton

Taxes support Holocaust denier

On Feb. 4, an Israeli woman was murdered and 48 people were injured by Palestinian suicide bombers in the southern Israeli town of Dimona. Press reported that Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades held a news conference in Gaza to claim responsibility for the attack and disclose that the two killers came from Gaza and entered Israel through Sinai.

We should note that the al-Aqsa Brigades is an arm of Fatah. Its operations are financed out of the Fatah budget. (The Israelis report that Fatah was responsible for 40 percent of the daily missile attacks emanating from Gaza in 2006.)

BBC News provided a historical wrap-up of Fatah. It tells us things we seem to have forgotten about Israel's "peace partner" Abbas. Reading it, reminds us that Fatah was founded in the late 1950s by Yasser Arafat; adopted as its logo grenades and crossed rifles suspended over a map of Israel; developed the idea that the war against the Jews include both armed struggle and diplomacy; orchestrated the Munich massacre; murdered U.S. State Department officials in Khartoum; gave us Entebbe and a constant reign of terror for over 50 years.

The BBC points out that under Arafat's leadership, Fatah "evolved into the dominant faction of the PLO" and is now "led by another of its founders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."

It is still led by the Holocaust denier Abbas, still financed by his strongest supporters -- the U.S. Government -- with our taxpayer dollars.

I, for one, feel sick that my taxes support those who kill Jews because they are Jews, and outrage that my fellow Jews, who have a history of being in the vanguard of fighting for justice for everyone else, are mute when it comes to fighting for the survival of their own people.

I guess nothing much has changed since the Holocaust, the American Jewish community was silent then, it is silent now.

After the carnage many asked, "Where was God?" Knowing what we know now, can we avoid asking, "Where is man?"

Hadassah Linfield
Monroe Township