Letters to the editor
Feb. 29, 2008
I just read your "Point/Counterpoint" op-ed columns and couldn't believe my eyes. That Peter Trainor, a Jew, chooses to identify and be sympathetic to the Palestinians whose main goal in life is to wipe Israel from the face of the earth is sad and upsetting, but that's his prerogative and I accept it. However, what I was completely outraged at was your giving so much space to his anti-Israel venom. By his own admission "...maybe two or three out of the group of 40..." agreed with him. That's five to eight percent of the group.
If you wanted to be scrupulously fair and show both sides of the problem, you could have devoted about five to eight percent of the columns to the other side's viewpoint. However, what you actually devoted was 54 percent to his viewpoint and 46 percent to the majority view. (Yes, I actually measured the columns.) Israel gets enough bad press in this world without me having to open my local "Newspaper for Central New Jersey's Jewish Communities" and be subjected to more of the same. I would be tempted to ask Trainor how many of his Palestinian friends' newspapers in Ramallah or Hebron or Gaza give equal time to the Israeli point of view, but I think we both know what the answer to that would be.
It's ironic that in the same issue, you outline your new publication plan. I don't know how that will turn out as I don't expect to open your paper again. I can read better papers like the New York Times to get anti-Israel/anti-Jewish propaganda.
Dr. Max Wisotsky
Highland Park