Editor’s Note: While we agree strongly with the author of the letter to us below that it is tragedy that Israel continues to supply arms to Myanamar, we disagree with the premise that Israel is a “democratic country” as long as it refuses to grant equal voting rights to the millions of Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza under Israeli rule either directly or indirectly. And Israel is NOT the only non-democratic country to be selling arms to Myanamar, and joins that group of ethically reprehensible countries in this respect. We at Tikkun condemn all of those countries for their immoral behavior, including Israel!
Letter to Tikkun:
Israel is the ONLY democratic country in the world that continues to
sell munitions to Myanmar, in spite of the fact that it is being used
for ethnic cleansing.
While there are a number of global organizations that have related to
this terrible fact, the Israeli government and many (and perhaps a
great majority) of the Jews in Israel have tuned out those
organizations as being anti-Zionist and antisemitic (the first may be
true, the second is not, for the most part).
I think that it is imperative that Tikkun, as a Jewish organization
with a large American following step up and make this a visible public
issue.
I say this as a Jew and an Israeli (and an American, technically … I
have not considered myself an American since making aliyah over 40
years ago).
Please pass this on to be considered and perhaps acted upon by your
staff.
Keep up the good work.
Marc Marcus
Kibbutz Urim, ISRAEL