“I’m devoted to the Forward, so when I read the article about you I was puzzled as to why I hadn’t known about you before.  Anyway, I have a long and complex history with Zionism and Israel (I’m 85), with which I won’t bore you.  In my dotage I’m re-examining a lot of this, and have recently started reading Raja Shehadeh’s books, which I’ll assume you know.  I’m kind of sick of having people tell me that “it’s complicated” as an excuse.  I was born in Germany but I’m supposed to use my own displacement to justify the displacement of others?  I was active in the boycott/disinvestment movement against South Africa, but it’s not OK when it comes to Israel?  I’ve been translating my father’s 1936 memoir/report on his trip to Palestine in March 1936, preparing for our moving there.  We didn’t.  We came to the States, where my parents devoted their lives to Zionism — especially in the 1940’s and 50’s. So it’s especially encouraging to know that there are younger people who are not anti-Semitic and not self-hating Jews but are nevertheless concerned about justice and don’t believe the religion of Israel-worship is a value in itself.

Cheers,
Tom”