Letters - The Anti-Semitism Question

Letters - The Anti-Semitism Question - NYTimes.com

To the Editor:

To feature the inherently anti-Semitic phrase “the Jewish question” on the cover of the Book Review is a reprehensible act, whether the choice was based on ignorance or evil purpose. What it means is: “Do the Jews belong in Western culture and modern society — or in our country? Are the Jews even human?” This heinous question was endemic to the rise of anti-Semitism in late-19th-century Europe and of course underpins Nazism. It makes one wonder about the motivation (conscious and unconscious) of The Times’s editorial stance in general and on Israel in particular.

DANA GORDON
Manhattan

Quite so.

To think we call our age "modern." Disputes in 2010 -- to the blood -- still focus on Christians (Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic), Jews, Moslems (Sunni, Shia) and, Hindues