An honest assessment of antisemitism

As a person whose family has suffered enormously from genocidal antisemitism, I am very concerned about hatred of Jews and very eager to prevent it from happening. The main difficulty is identifying who the principal antisemitic culprits might be. An honest assessment of who these are may be surprising.

An essential indicator of antisemitism is activities that make ordinary people despise or even hate Jews. By this indicator, the state of Israel is by far the world’s greatest purveyor of antisemitism. Israel’s destruction of Gaza and its ruthless murder of the human beings living there, Israel’s century long oppression of the Palestinian people (see Rashid Khalidi, “The Hundred Years War on Palestine”), and Israel’s (absurd) claim to represent all Jews combine to make many people all over the world detest Jews.

By comparison to Israel, the Boulder City Council is an extremely minor purveyor of antisemitism. Nevertheless, the recent actions of the City Council do indeed foment dislike of Jews. By refusing to pass a resolution calling for an end to the Gaza genocide while almost simultaneously issuing an (ineffectual) condemnation of antisemitism, the Council gives the faulty impression that Jews care only about themselves and not about what horrors they may inflict on other people.

The real ways to combat antisemitism are these: (1) condemn all genocides regardless of who the perpetrators and who the victims might be, (2) work for equality and justice for all people, and (3) give special attention to the most exploited and oppressed human populations. By these standards, those of us who condemn the settler colonialist and genocidal state of Israel, and who simultaneously reprimand the recent actions of the Boulder City Council, are actually in forefront of the struggle against antisemitism.

— Tom Mayer, Boulder

Each of us has a voice regarding the gray wolf

Many thanks to Jim Martin for his piece published January 19 regarding the gray wolf reintroduction currently taking place in our great state. Jim provided a reasonable approach, mainly communication that all factions on this program should consider, whether for or against bringing wolves back into our state. He commends the actions that Colorado Parks and Wildlife has learned from the initial release, to make sure that this

second release will placate ranchers, the Department of Agriculture and wolf advocates.

The idea of not having protection of the law from killing endangered species with snowmobiles or any act of cruelty and hatred toward the wolves as well as all our wildlife is also mentioned by Mr. Martin. He recommends that CPW and other federal agencies speak up and issue a public statement on such barbaric acts. As Coloradans, we can help keep the west “wild” for enjoyment of its citizens and all those who choose to come and enjoy the great outdoors. This includes hikers, campers and hunters. But showing respect towards the environment, mother nature and all wildlife species is paramount.

Each of us has an opinion and a voice regarding the gray wolf. But as Mr. Martin ends his column stating that we are all in this together. Let’s keep the conversations going and come up with rational solutions for a heathier, happier environment in which we live.

— Robin Dow, Edwards

Congress must check the president’s power

The president has just placed a freeze with almost no exceptions on all federal funding, including all funds that have already been passed into law. He does not have the Constitutional right to overrule Congress in this manner. This freeze will affect nearly every American in one way or another. I encourage every Coloradan to write to his/her Congress person to insist that the law be followed. In this country, Congress, not the president is responsible for creating funds to support the government. It is the president’s responsibility to administer the law, including distributing monies that have been legislated into law. Every senator and every representative has been sent to Congress to do the will of the people, including following the law. Congress needs to do its job, including checking the president when he has violated the law. Please lean on our Colorado Representatives and our Senators to do their job.

— Pauline Denning, Loveland