Call out hate
Shocking is the inclusion in Kolbo of a piece that lauds Egyptian actor, Karim Kassem, for his “big deal” revelation that his mother is Jewish (“Who is a Jew?” Dec. 8). This short piece unabashedly includes pejorative statements of hatred against our Jewish people and Zionism.
To wit, in Egypt “levels of anti-Semitism are high and Jews are often ridiculed on TV shows and in popular culture” and Kassem’s Jewish grandfather chose not to immigrate to Israel because he saw Zionism as “a ‘racist’ movement.”
The piece also includes Kassem’s anti-Semitic canards, “Jews have big noses and are stingy,” made before his Jewish heritage was revealed to him by his sister.
This is not what I look forward to reading in my Jewish newspaper. In fact, lauding Kassem as if he had made a positive contribution to the Jewish people is absurd.
Writing this piece, without including strong objection to the hateful anti-Semitic statements, is a great dereliction of your duty as the journalistic representative of the Greater MetroWest NJ community.
If we don’t speak up for ourselves, who will?
Chaya Cohen
Westfield
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