Letter to the Editor: Jon Barry

Let’s compare the articles written by Chuck Berk in support of Donald Trump and Michael Rosenzweig in support of Joe Biden in the 2020 Voters’ Guide.

Mr. Berk enumerates dozens of examples of actions taken by the Trump administration, which have benefited Israel, minorities, the economy and foreign relations resulting in record low unemployment for Blacks, Latinos and women, strengthening NATO by encouraging member nations to pay their agreed share, ending one-sided trade deals, which thwarted employment and wage growth for blue-collar workers in America and the recent peace accords between Israel and two Arab neighbors.

Mr. Rosenzweig offers only platitudes in support of Joe Biden such as: “decent and compassionate man who shares our values,” “exudes respect for others …,” “pro-Israel record,” and “Biden is a mensch.” Most of Mr. Rosenzweig’s article is focused on attacking Trump for the canards we have heard for four years: racist, bigot, xenophobe, etc. Mr. Rosenzweig reduces Trump’s support of Israel to: “long on symbolism, short on substance.” How then should we view the historic agreements with the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and Bahrain, which he fails to even make note of in his article?

Of particular concern is Mr Rosenzweig’s false statement “…and even now he accuses Jews who don’t support him of dual loyalty.” In fact, President Trump’s exact words were: “In my opinion, the Democrats have gone very far away from Israel. I cannot understand how they can do that. They don’t want to fund Israel. They want to take away foreign aid to Israel. They want to do a lot of bad things to Israel. In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.” Sadly, Jews have suffered the consequences of the “dual loyalty” claim during the extent of the Diaspora. Clearly Trump was asking the opposite question: Why would Jews support politicians who do not advocate for Israel?

Jon Barry, Marietta, Ga.