I am the grandmother of Emily Weisberg, whom you recently dubbed the “enemy,” (“Letter to the enemy,” Dec. 24) I am appalled you believe that someone who protests Israeli policy must be anti-Israel, brainwashed or an “apostate.” Since when is critical thinking and compassion for the other un-Jewish?
I stand with Emily. I am committed to Israel and support its legitimacy and security. I made aliyah in 1948, and was one of the founding members of Kibbutz SASA in the Galilee. I believe in a two-state solution that insures a just peace for the two peoples who have legitimate claims to the land.
The occupation and the expansion of settlements has brought Israel to the brink of an apartheid society, reviled and isolated in the world. It has corrupted a generation of young Israelis who must enforce cruel and often illegal actions. Jews should be, (and many of us are), in the forefront of protest, in Israel and in the U.S. Jews should ask our government to take a strong stand against Israel’s policy, not against Israel. Jews, who understand suffering and homelessness and oppression so well, must be the last to inflict this on others.
I am pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace. To oppose the injustice and cruelty of the occupation, to oppose harassment of peace activists, is to save Israel — to fulfill our dream of a democratic, just society.
The young people who support the protest movement are the best and brightest of our children. They are committed to their Jewishness, proud of their history. They remember the Holocaust. They are committed to justice just as we taught them to be. I am proud that my granddaughter is among them. They are our best hope for the future of Israel and peace.