My Published Comment in the NYT on the Op-Ed by Ronald Lauder "Israel: This is Not Who We Are"

Many of you may have already read the op-ed in the NYT by Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, "Israel: This is Not Who We Are". In many ways, this is an unusually strong criticism from someone who heads a very influential global organization strongly supportive of Israel. Here is the op-ed and my comment that was approved and published online.

I have also printed my comment below 

Ron Fox

I am a Jewish 79 year old who has opposed Israel’s oppression of Palestinians for 46 years.


Mr. Lauder’s concern seems to be that the threat to democracy and equal rights in Israel began this summer. For example, he says, “Zeev Jabotinsky .. always emphasized the need to combine Jewish nationalism with universal humanism.”


In a 2007 blog post I refer to an article, Jabotinsky’s Ghost, in the Boston Sunday Globe Idea Section about Vladmir Jabotinksy’s (1880-1940) views expressed in the 1920’s. “He admonished the Jews to stand up straight .. and to tell the goyim to go to hell… it made no difference whether the colonists behave decently or not.… Zionists must be ready to use physical force.”


Mr. Lauder’s concern should have started 51 years ago when Israel: began its illegal occupation now the longest in the world; allowed illegal settlements so there are now 123; committed thousands of violations of the international human rights of Palestinians; 10 years ago established an inhumane blockade around nearly 2 million Gaza so that women, children and men are now protesting their intolerable living conditions in an area soon to be considered uninhabitable?


Mr. Lauder says, “These events are creating the impression that the democratic and egalitarian dimensions of the Jewish democratic state are being tested.”


His warnings may be too little too later. May not the democratic state already be dead, the survivor being a theocratic/apartheid regime?