Editor’s reply was irresponsible

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To the Editor

The Riverdale Press really let its readers down in its sloppy response to Dr. Lesser’s very kind letter (‘Skeptical of editorial’s claims’, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014) asking whether The Press has fallen prey to equating criticism of the Israeli government’s actions with anti-Semitism. Dr. Lesser asks for examples of any “official action or statement by one or more of these government (in Scandinavia) that are truly anti-Semitic.”

The Editor replies that “…a Google search… reveals a nearly endless list of articles.”  “Nearly endless” is in itself telling in terms of trying to bolster a weak argument, but the examples given are poor, incorrect and do not respond to Dr. Lesser’s question about government anti-Semitism. First, The Press cites Danish and Swedish medical associations that recommend a ban on circumcision (for wholly medical and non-religious reasons. Apparently, parts of California are trying to do the same and The Press hasn’t called that anti-Semitic). But, more important, these associations are private and not part of government.

Then, The Press mentions death threats against a rabbi… horrible, but hardly government-inspired, surely possible in any country and likely the work of a lunatic rather than official anti-Semitism.

Lastly, The Press mentions The Jerusalem Post’s report of the Israeli speaker of the Knesset telling Scandinavian parliamentarians to “stop targeting Israel.”  Clearly that may be an Israeli government opinion (whose knee-jerk reaction seems to always equate criticism with anti-Semitism), but it is certainly not “proof” of anything anti-Semitic in Scandinavia. 

The fact that The Press staff can so carelessly equate these examples with anti-Semitism indicates that The Press itself is falling into an unreflective position that any criticism or even questioning of Israel or of anything related to Judaism is anti-Semitic. To look at the absurdity of this, if a Scandinavian newspaper criticizes India’s irresponsible environment policies (as The New York Times has) is it anti-Hindu or is any criticism of a South African government policy necessarily racist?

Providing these specious examples in your “editor’s reply” makes me think that The Press owes Dr. Lesser and all its readers an apology for implying that this represent a Scandinavian government policy and that a Google search is the way for a well-respected newspaper to do research. My high school kids know better than that.  

Gay Rosenblum-Kumar

Scandinavia, Israel, anti-Semitism, Gay Rosenblum-Kumar

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