As we approach the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War, your article makes clear the suffering the Palestinians have endured as a result of Israel’s occupation.
What your article leaves out, however, is the cost to Israel itself of its occupation: the deterioration of its democracy, the loss of international prestige, and the growth of terrorism and Islamist extremism as a direct result of its oppression of the Palestinians.
After four decades, friends of Israel, especially American Jews, must lose their inhibitions against “washing dirty laundry in public” and finally raise their collective voices against the self-destructive madness of Israeli policy.
Despite his assertion, if anything, there is nothing so constant and regular as American Jews washing their dirty laundry in public about Israel. In fact, persistent Mr. Bender has been busy "washing dirty laundry" himself. He has had this letter published in the same NYT:-
Re ''Clinton Divides Jerusalem,'' by William Safire (column, Jan. 4):
As an American Jew who lived for many years in Israel, I believe that one of the missing elements in the current peace process is an acknowledgment by Israel that its creation resulted in the dispossession of another people.
The right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes is supported by United Nations Resolution 194. Zionists and supporters of Israel have long argued that the Jewish people did not relinquish their ''right of return'' to their homeland for 2,000 years. Why should we expect the Palestinians to forget their homeland after only 50?
JACOB BENDER
New York, Jan. 4, 2001
And a short while later, this letter was published:-
Re ''Before Attacks, U.S. Was Ready to Say It Backed Palestinian State'' (front page, Oct. 2):
As you report, there will be opposition from some American Jews to a renewed and active American diplomacy in the Middle East. But I and others will welcome whatever American efforts are necessary to end the cycle of revenge and violence and promote a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A change in American policy that recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to national self-determination in a state of their own would also imply the ending of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and a dismantling of the Israeli settlements.
This would ultimately prove to be in the best interest of everyone: Israel, the Palestinians, the entire Middle East and the United States.
JACOB BENDER
New York, Oct. 2, 2001
In 2003, he had a piece in...Al-Jazeerah.
Seems Bender bends the truth. There's a lot of dirty washing while the laundry is clean by Bender.
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