Nice to see the concern the Herald has when it comes to anti-Semitism as demonstrated by the recent editorial cartoon. The cartoon highlighted alligators swimming in a swamp with the words white nationalism, anti-Semitism and a frog that has been associated by the liberal press as a symbol of hate representing Donald Trump and the alt-right.
But it seems the Herald’s stand on anti-Semitism is only convenient when it supports its negative agenda as per Trump. Recent stories that were of major importance were either not covered in this paper or important informational facts were left out.
The decision by UNESCO (the United Nations cultural agency) that just voted with a huge Arab majority and backed by many European countries, to nullify any Jewish connection to their most holiest site, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was ignored by the Herald. That UNESCO adopted a resolution that only calls the holy site by its Islamic name, denying any ties to Judaism or Christianity, the Herald found non-relevant. If it had voted that Mecca was not associated with Islam, I’m sure headlines of Islamaphobia would be plastered across this paper. Recently, the FBI came out with a 2015 hate crimes report. Even though it showed 667 anti-Semitic hate crimes against 257 anti-Muslim hate crimes, the Herald led with only the Muslim headline. The crimes are both a worrying trend, but to the Herald, it was their attempt to tie Trump’s misinterpreted words to anti-Muslim crimes.
With Keith Ellison, as of this writing, possibly becoming the chair of the Democratic Party, will the Herald scrutinize him for his ties with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, the most anti-Semitic organization in our country? And what will that say for the social justice warriors of the Democratic Party?
Anti-Semitism will never go away, but please, Herald, whatever your views of Trump, don’t use it as a political pawn. It only cheapens your paper.
Shelly Perlmutter
Durango
