Bernie Sanders’s Criticism of Israel

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/opinion/bernie-sanderss-criticism-of-israel.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Bernie’s Israel Heresy,” by Roger Cohen (column, April 19):

The issue is not whether the Israeli government is immune from criticism. Of course it isn’t. The issue is not whether American Jews have differing views on this or that action of the Israeli government. Of course they do. The issue is not whether the Palestinian people should be treated with respect and dignity. Of course they should.

The issue is that Bernie Sanders is simply wrong that Israel used “disproportionate” force during the 2014 Gaza war. Proportionality is influenced by proximity. Where you sit determines where you stand.

If you sit on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, if the kindergartens of your children are targeted by Hamas rockets, if you are living three miles from a terrorist regime sworn to your destruction, your sense of proportionality may be different than that of someone who lives in the idyllic green state of Vermont.

Here is a better formula of proportionality for all those who care about the future of the Palestinian people and the reconstruction of Gaza — and I include myself among them: Don’t attack Israel, and Israel will not attack you.

AMMIEL HIRSCH

New York

The writer is senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.