Careful with Israel rhetoric

Two news stories and a political cartoon on April 29 showed interesting connections. The Northwest section reported anti-Jewish graffiti on the Community Building in downtown Spokane. Clay Bennett’s cartoon on the French presidential election depicted a station with two trains, a modern train (heading into the future?) carrying the name of one candidate and a Nazi-era cattle car (headed back to the past?) bearing graffiti of the other candidate’s name. Hate directed against Jews still exists in this world, even here in Spokane.

In the main section, a Beirut-based U..N. agency’s report labeled Israel an apartheid regime. As the story explains, such incendiary language inhibits progress toward peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict.

The connections? People who sympathize with Palestinians facing difficult lives may fall into the trap of using inflammatory language that heaps all the blame on Israel. This gives aid and comfort to truly anti-Jewish groups that seek destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Well-intentioned people expressing views on the Arab-Israel conflict need to have a clear picture of what peace will look like and how their words and actions may help or impede realizing that goal. Words matter.

Howard Glass

Spokane