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Dear editor:
It warmed my heart to see that Bruce Ticker admits that “Woke” Democrats’ actions are bad for America, for American Jews, and for Israel. (“Column: Graham Platner is Hardly the Only Israel-Basher Who is Vulnerable,” BJN July 9, 2026) I do wonder, however, if he will actually vote for Republicans in the midterm elections.
Ticker accepts the Democrats’ criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu. I agree that anyone in public office must accept criticism of his country’s actions. However, Israel is in the unusual situation of being criticized for what it is (the Nation-State of the Jews), rather than for what it does. Israel should not be criticized for reacting “too harshly” when missiles are launched at Israeli population centers or for working to see that Iran will not be able to acquire nuclear weapons with which to make good on Iran’s open threat to destroy Israel with a single bomb.
Many people criticize Israel for the suffering of the Palestinians. But generations of Palestine refugees have been trapped in limbo, under UNRWA aegis, because Arab nations denied citizenship to Arabs who left, or were displaced from, Palestine during the 1940’s. Surely, if Israel managed to take in 800,000 Mizrachi Jews, driven from their homes in the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa by rulers ashamed that their armies had failed to prevent the establishment of the modern State of Israel, Arab countries, having vast land holdings and oil riches (in some Arab countries) should have easily absorbed 400,000-700,000 Palestinians.
We Jews should be proud of Israel. Despite being frequently under attack by Muslim countries, Israel has tried to be a good neighbor. In 2015, when Arabs were desperately seeking to escape their leaders’ tyranny by crossing into Europe by sea, Israel was the only supporting country which had Arabic speakers among crews sent to aid the would-be immigrants.
Toby F. Block
Atlanta, GA
