To the editor:
Reading the article "Talk in Synagogue of Israel and Gaza Goes From Debate to Wrath to Rage," I wonder how hard Laurie Goodstein had to search for her anomalous examples.
My personal experience indicates the recent Hamas war brought to the Jewish community a level of unity I haven't seen for decades. Except for a relative handful of radicals on the extreme fringe, even Jews who had been critical of the Israeli government seem to have recognized that Israel had no choice but to take action to stop the thousands of rockets launched by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the other terror groups in Gaza. They know that, despite the biased reporting in the general media, including The New York Times, Hamas was doing everything it could to create civilian casualties and yet the proportion of civilian casualties in Gaza was still far below the norm in modern warfare and was even far below the levels in our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are rightly proud of the way Israel conducted itself.
Israel remains a litmus test for distinguishing true liberals from radical leftists falsely claiming to be liberals, since Israel is the one country in the Middle East which exemplifies liberal values. It deserves the support of liberals and retains the support of knowledgeable liberals, Jewish and Gentile.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein