Nothing Funny About Him

AARON CRESS, who wrote the Bullhorn article "Yuppie Intifada" (May 26) and who has served in the Israeli army, demonstrates the kind of mentality that leads to what the Israeli military did in its flotilla attack. When one resorts to name-calling as Mr. Cress does, it is easier to see people as less worthy of decent treatment. Next, it's easier to rationalize attacks on civilian populations as in the attack on Gaza, and to murder and maim civilians in international waters trying to bring supplies to a population choked by Israel's three-year blockade.

Mr. Cress is supposedly a "standup comedian." I saw nothing comical about his diatribe against the Resource Center for Nonviolence and speaker Norman Finkelstein. I also took offense at his equation of the words Zionist and Jewish. Was my father, who lost seven brothers and sisters and their families to the Holocaust, any less Jewish for not being a Zionist? To insinuate that because RCNV opposes Israeli occupation policies and actions toward Palestinians, Scott Kennedy is anti-Jewish is ridiculous. Several of us on RCNV's Palestine Israel Action Committee are Jewish. And we are truly ashamed of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, and cannot agree with the many Jews in the U.S. who defend those indefensible actions.

One of the important points that Norman Finkelstein made in his talk, that is very relevant to the attack of innocent civilians on the humanitarian flotilla, was that the attack on Gaza a year and a half ago was not a war. The invasion of Gaza wasn't met by armed fighters. The deaths of 1,400 civilians, including 400 children, was not a war, just as 700 people from around the world trying to break the blockade with humanitarian aid did not endanger Israelis. That attack, and the assault on civilians in international waters, are both crimes, and no name-calling by Mr. Cress will change that. We should condemn Israel's crimes and should work to stop the role that our own government plays in funding and enabling such crimes.

Marcia Heath,

Santa Cruz

Editor Needs Head Examined

I PICK UP your liberal so-called Santa Cruz Weekly, it's free. I like to check some of the eating places. I don't eat out at most, if any, of the shops that pay to advertise in your rag. The evil cartoon (Nutzle, May 26) is so far out that I think you people are in need of a brain doctor. How low can you people go? For the sake of the young people, cut it out!

Earl E. Verrill,

Santa Cruz

Spill, Baby, Spill

TERRIBLE about the oil spill. Such a monumental waste. I mean, California drivers alone could have burned through all that Texas tea in just one car caravan to Disneyland, thus sending those nasty pollutants up where they belong—in the atmosphere. Instead, as it stands, Sarah Palin can see the oil-soaked Gulf Coast from her house! Spill, baby, spill. And cry if you have any tears left.

Tim Rudolph,

Santa Cruz

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