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J Street should be commended

As a 72-year-old Jewish woman and lover of Israel, I recently visited Israel and the West Bank under the auspices of J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace group that has argued that Americans -- and President Obama -- should support a two-state solution more energetically.

We were gratified to learn that many top officials -- Israelis and Palestinians -- agree. Far from telling us to keep our opinions to ourselves, we were told time and again by politicians as well as human rights advocates that "everyone" knows what the outlines of a deal will be, but that they need help getting to "yes." In Ramallah, Prime Minister Fayyad stated to us that the first principle of a two-state deal will be unequivocal acceptance of each other's existence. Who can quarrel with this? J Street should be commended for reaching out to those who truly want both peace and justice.

Alicia Ostriker
Princeton

More than just Israel

While associating myself with Rabbi Weber's recent letter of support for Rep. Rush Holt regarding Israel, my own support for the congressman goes beyond only Israel -- and that includes basic constituent services.

For example, my wife had a slip and fall accident over three years ago, and we learned that Medicare has a first claim on any possible financial recovery we may receive so Medicare can recover the full amount they have expended on her behalf. Our lawyer tried to get an answer from Medicare as to the amount they had expended to no avail over an 18-month period. We decided to contact Rush Holt's offices in Washington and locally. We sent him all the necessary documentation and he replied within 10 days that he would get us what we needed as soon as he heard from Medicare.

Sure enough, a week later we received the necessary information from Medicare through his office. I first supported Rush Holt as a Monmouth County committeeman in Marlboro over 10 years ago in a tough primary, which he won in a close election. He has gained popularity ever since and I am delighted that he continues to be my representative in Monroe and I intend to support him again this year and urge all my neighbors to do that as well.

Hyman C. Grossman
Monroe

'Disgraceful document'

Rabbi Donald Weber's letter May 14 attempted to whitewash Rep. Rush Holt's shocking betrayal of Israel by oversimplifying and sanitizing the content of the letter Holt and 53 other Democratic congressmen sent to President Obama. Contrary to the rabbi's selective description, which only refers to the letter's request for additional aid to the residents of Gaza, the document contained libelous accusations against Israel that actually fueled the incitement and intransigence of its enemies.

The letter Holt signed stated: "The current blockade has severely impeded the ability of aid agencies to do their work to relieve suffering. ..." This is simply false. The Israeli action is not a blockade, but rather a set of targeted sanctions against the terrorist Hamas regime. There have been no restrictions on the passage of food, medicine, water, fuel, electricity, or humanitarian supplies. Additionally, the letter expressed no regard for Israel's current and future security concerns or its difficulty in fighting an enemy that purposefully exposes its own population to danger to capitalize on the propaganda value of their deaths and injuries. The letter also failed to call on Hamas or Arab governments to cease this conflict, further undermining its credibility as anything other than a biased screed against Israel.

Anyone who thinks Rush Holt might have signed this disgraceful document because he was having "an off day" or was signing so many papers that he didn't know what he was doing should view the video or read the transcript of his speech to the New America Foundation on March 5, 2009, made after he returned from a trip to Israel and Gaza with congressmen Keith Ellison (who defended the Goldstone Report) and Brian Baird (who said the U.S. should use its naval force to break the Israeli "blockade"). Holt essentially called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a liar, saying: "I talked to the prime minister of Israel who said 'There is no limitation on medical supplies' and yet at the same time, the U.N. refugee organization said 'We've had an X-ray machine sitting outside the border for a year now that we've been trying to get in!'"

Holt then proceeded to discount the security concerns expressed by Prime Minister Olmert and posit the irrational and naive doctrine that Hamas' hidden tunnel operations would cease if Israel would only allow materials to flow freely through its border with Gaza! Holt pontificated: "The ostensible reason, again, from the prime minister of Israel is: 'If we let them rebuild, the sacks of concrete and the rebar will only go to make bunkers and launching pads for rockets.' Well, in fact, as my colleagues here [Rep. Baird and Rep. Ellison] can attest, you can get bags of cement in Gaza right now and so if you wanted to use it to build a launch pad, you could. The problem is it's coming through the tunnels at greatly inflated prices where we are enriching outlaws rather than having normal crossing through safe inspection and security."

The problem is "inflated prices?" "Safe inspection and security?" Who does Rush Holt think Israel is dealing with in Gaza? He answered that in the same speech when describing his tour of the Hamas-controlled area: "I never feared for my safety. I only found friendly children. I only found people who were not looking for a fight, but looking to rebuild their lives and raise their kids." Perhaps most revealing about Rush Holt's perspective on Israel and Hamas was the chilling opening statement of his speech in which he says: "There's no question, as [Rep. Brian] Baird said, 'You can find wrongs on both sides. You can actually find much to love on both sides, too!" Not since Holt referred to the Israeli-Hamas war as a "cycle of violence" when speaking in the East Brunswick Jewish Center Jan. 12, 2009, has he come this close to portraying moral equivalence between Israel and its terrorist enemies.

In sum, Rush Holt's dogmatic adherence to the false and dangerous doctrine of "linkage" (linking Israel's treatment of Palestinians to all problems in the Middle East) can only sustain or worsen the status quo by scapegoating Israel and the Jewish people for problems they did not create and do not have the power to resolve. As we approach election season, the linkage doctrine toward Israel is only one of many Obama administration policies voters will judge in deciding whether to reelect Rush Holt this November, but for many Jewish voters, it will be the most personal one.

Daniel Coben
East Brunswick