Editorials

David French is not a US Senator. Too bad. He has principles, unlike Senators Charles Schumer and Bernie Sanders, who are both Jewish, and who both rationalized away Graham Platner’s Nazi Totenkopf tattoo — which he kept for 18 years and which, one of his (many) ex-girlfriends told the NYT, he called “my Totenkopf.”

Amidst all of her bobbing and weaving, obfuscation, indirect answers, non-answers and deflections, Melat Kiros still manages to make herself clear. When asked whether Israel has a right to exist, and why she will not condemn the firebombing of a predominantly Jewish group that injured many and killed one Jew on June 1 in Boulder, Kiros’ intent becomes clear.

The anti-Zionism of today — the latest iteration of assimilation — is worse than the anti-Zionism of the Pittsburgh Platform. The early anti-Zionism damaged the Jewish body politic spiritually but did not damage Jews physically. There was no immediate threat to Jewish life in the assertion of anti-Jewish nationalism in the Pittsburgh Platform.

Whither USA on the birthdayof the world’s oldest democracy? Judging the foundation of the United States of America by the norms of the time, the signing of the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago was a fabulously positive turning point...

Remember when President Trump pronounced Gaza as the future Riviera of the Middle East? Remember when the US-imposed ceasefire in Gaza of Oct. 10 promised the reconstruction of Gaza premised on the disarming of Hamas? Remember — if only for the one week since it was signed — the US-brokered peace plan for Lebanon, based on the disarmament of Hezbollah?

As the deal that President Trump struck with Iran’s new “rational” leadership becomes clear, it gives Iran everything and gains nothing for the US, for Israel or for Lebanon. Sen. Bill Cassidy called the “Memorandum of Understanding” between the US and Iran “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.” That’s a Republican speaking.

Not to worry. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon — because President Donald Trump has given Iran 60 more days to negotiate its end. Sixty days here, six years there, a couple of decades thrown in for good measure, and what’s a nuclear weapon between friends?

The Intermountain Jewish News does not endorse political candidates for office. But ahead of a June 30 primary, we can say this: If you are concerned about rising anti-Semitism and the weaponization of the Israel-Hamas war to attack Jews worldwide, be extremely careful who you vote for.

Holocaust survivor Oscar Singer lived a century, most of it in Denver. Yet, as with so many others, he left his mark in Denver not only on the basis of his life here.

So appropriate. So perfect. So courageous. On the first anniversary of the firebombing in Boulder against the peaceful demonstrators for the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, Boulder’s Students for Justice in Palestine delivered a uniquely creative, indeed courageous, statement — veritably perfect — of the highest humanitarian and psychiatric importance.