Doesn't like anti-Dinowitz rhetoric

(Re: “Anti-Muslim hate on rise,” Dec. 14)

To the Editor:

Last week’s Riverdale Press contained a rambling letter attacking “Dinowitz” with repeated false claims. Which Dinowitz the writer meant was not clear from the letter, but presumably he is talking about Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. Among other things, he defends the use of the phrase, “from the river to the sea.” By this phrase, Palestinians mean the destruction of Israel and an end to the Jewish state and its people.

Bliven misleads the public by claiming that “Dinowitz” claimed the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) did not condemn the Hamas attack on Israel. What Assemblyman Dinowitz said was that the DSA has never condemned Hamas. Why does the DSA find it impossible to denounce Hamas?

Bliven’s nonsense about “the mainstream, corporate Dems’ stance of more war and imperialism” is language from another era that has no real meaning. Calling “Dinowitz” war-mongering simply because the assemblyman has stood on the side of Israel, which suffered the largest attack on Israel and the largest loss of Jewish lives since the Holocaust, displays a clear position against Israel and in favor of Hamas. It’s easy to demand peace and love after killing over 1200 people, mostly Jewish but also non-Jewish.

Bliven also attacks “Dinowitz” for not mentioning anti-Muslim hate crimes. There is no doubt that anti-Muslim hate crimes have risen, and that is horrible, but anti-Jewish hate crimes have risen 400 percent in the last two months. Is it possible to condemn antisemitism, which has increased to once unimaginable levels since the evil attack by Hamas, and not have to apologize for not mentioning every other form of hate crime in the same breath?

Bliven is clearly more sympathetic to the Hamas dictatorship than he is to Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. The discovery of Hamas arsenals in hospitals, schools, and mosques speaks volumes about how little Hamas values Palestinian lives. How could anyone condone using children and the sick as a shield? If Bliven were to denounce the evil terrorist organization, Hamas, he might at least have a tiny bit of credibility.

Ira S. Bigeleisen

Vice President, Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club