Myles Kantor
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003

I enjoyed meeting you last week and our wide-ranging chat. While you said you’re not smitten with Spanish, one of these days you might read something by Jorge Luis Borges or Mario Vargas Llosa and feel inspired to learn más. (Wink.)

As you noticed, I was surprised when you told me your plan to name your new cat “Fidel.” Since you’re a Jewish youth leader and ardent supporter of Israel, your fondness for Castro makes as much sense as, say, a group called Evangelical Christians for Gangster Rap.

Here are one newspaper’s recent headlines about Israel:

• “Israel murders Palestinian leader of the movement Hamas, end of truce” (August 22)

• “Israeli troops demolish Palestinian homes in Bethlehem” (August 14)

• “Israeli repression intensifies against the Palestinian population” (May 9)

• “The massacre of Palestinians murdered increases by five” (April 21)

Last year’s headlines in this newspaper included:

• “Israeli genocide continues against the Palestinian people” (August 30)

• “Crusade against the Arab people from Washington and Tel Aviv” (August 21)

• “Sharon announces continuation of Palestinian holocaust” (April 9)

You might think these headlines are from a Syrian or Saudi Arabian newspaper, and they could’ve easily appeared there. But they’re actually from the Cuban newspaper Granma International.

Cuban radio and television – state-controlled like Cuban print media – also depict Israel as a savage country that regularly commits atrocities against Arabs. On the occasion of this year’s Israeli Independence Day, for instance, a television commentator referred to “the continued aggressions of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.” (May 16)

And what has Castro said about Israel? Here are a few examples:

• Last March during a televised speech in Havana he referred to “revolting and brutal killings such as the ones carried out by the State of Israel … against the people of Palestine.”

• At September 2001’s United Nations “World Conference against Racism” in South Africa he referred to Israel's “ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

• Castro led a rally of approximately 10,000 in Havana in June 2001 against Israeli “genocide.” The rally was part of a week of “Palestinian solidarity” activities organized by the regime.

You’ve probably noticed a pattern here, and it started decades ago. To give just two examples:

• When Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur in 1973, Castro sent thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks to support Syria.

• In 1975, the United Nations passed an infamous resolution that equated Zionism with racism. Cuba voted for this resolution and co-sponsored it. (Cuba voted against repealing the resolution in 1991.)

If media here in Florida accused Israel of genocide, we could express our outrage through letters and phone calls, organize protests, etc. Cuban Jews can’t do that. As the Cuban Jew Tony Fune has courageously said, “I understand that we have no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom to travel, no freedom to choose how we will educate our children. And I understand that's not right.” (Cuba doesn’t even have a rabbi.)

To apply in a different context the language of Dr. Phyllis Chesler, author of the recently released book "The New Anti-Semitism," generations of Cubans “have been completely indoctrinated to treat Israel as the Victimizer and the Palestinians as the most noble of victims.” I know it’s unpleasant to think about, but how would you feel if you were a Cuban Jew and couldn’t defend Israel? How would you feel to be part of a religious minority whose homeland is constantly demonized?

Instead of Fidel, you might name your cat Oscar after Dr. Oscar Biscet. Dr. Biscet is a Cuban physician who has defended Israel against the Castro regime’s anti-Semitism. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April for human rights activism.

We’re Jews, Shana. Let’s support our friends, not our enemies.

Kol tuv,

Myles

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Castro/Cuba
Israel
Middle East

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