As seemed inevitable, the Israel-Hamas war has spilled over into the United States, although in this country the battles have largely been fought with rhetoric. Not entirely, however, as a six-year-old Palestinian American boy was stabbed to death and his mother critically injured in Illinois and three Palestinian students were shot in Vermont, leaving one paralyzed from the chest down. There have been attacks on supporters of Israel as well, but mercifully none have been killed…yet.
As a person who remembers well the Munich debacle, with a dad whose close friend was the Israeli Ambassador to France, I have always been a supporter of Israel. I grew up in Paris, France in the 60s and 70s, and the Holocaust hung like a pall over the entire country. But being opposed to Netanyahu's rule, I have been attacked for being an anti-semite, which to me is the most egregious insult of all. I've been fighting to help Ukraine on Xitter for two years (one of my favorite people is the Rabbi of Ukraine, who travels to the front lines and helps EVERYONE equally). He even brought back water purifiers from Israel after the flooding of the Khakovka Dam. This Israel-Palestine conflict has now divided supporters of Ukraine in a terrible way. Palestinian supporters on Xitter have been using photos of Aleppo, claiming they are from Gaza; and supporters of Israel have been merciless in their disinformation campaign as well. This is a terrible time and no one seems able to counter the disinformation war on social media. I am at a loss.
There is nothing to do except keep trying to tell the truth as you see it, frustrating and seemingly hopeless as it may seem. I don't want to seem pollyannish, but the weight of truth is the only weapon against untruth. It may not work, but staying silent is a guarantee that the enemies of truth will win.
Bollinger was very hard on him, but it didn't seem to make a difference until that question. To the larger point, one of the reasons I started thinking about this was your post in which you described your non-post. There are no absolutes here, of course, but I will err on the side of letting people speak...and speaking out myself...rather than risk limits that are too stringent and ultimately self-defeating.
As a person who remembers well the Munich debacle, with a dad whose close friend was the Israeli Ambassador to France, I have always been a supporter of Israel. I grew up in Paris, France in the 60s and 70s, and the Holocaust hung like a pall over the entire country. But being opposed to Netanyahu's rule, I have been attacked for being an anti-semite, which to me is the most egregious insult of all. I've been fighting to help Ukraine on Xitter for two years (one of my favorite people is the Rabbi of Ukraine, who travels to the front lines and helps EVERYONE equally). He even brought back water purifiers from Israel after the flooding of the Khakovka Dam. This Israel-Palestine conflict has now divided supporters of Ukraine in a terrible way. Palestinian supporters on Xitter have been using photos of Aleppo, claiming they are from Gaza; and supporters of Israel have been merciless in their disinformation campaign as well. This is a terrible time and no one seems able to counter the disinformation war on social media. I am at a loss.
There is nothing to do except keep trying to tell the truth as you see it, frustrating and seemingly hopeless as it may seem. I don't want to seem pollyannish, but the weight of truth is the only weapon against untruth. It may not work, but staying silent is a guarantee that the enemies of truth will win.
Did not know about the Ahmadinejad incident. I'd have loved to be in the audience!
Bollinger was very hard on him, but it didn't seem to make a difference until that question. To the larger point, one of the reasons I started thinking about this was your post in which you described your non-post. There are no absolutes here, of course, but I will err on the side of letting people speak...and speaking out myself...rather than risk limits that are too stringent and ultimately self-defeating.
It's on YouTube, by the way.