Mideast Violence

* Once again Michael Lerner has written a disingenuous anti-Israel diatribe that misrepresents events in the Middle East (Commentary, Feb. 16). While he purports to endorse “nonviolence,” his is a thinly veiled attack on Israel and its governments (present and past). He condemns Palestinian terror in passing, saying, “Violence against Israelis is not an appropriate response.” His ire is directed at the Israelis, accusing them of virtually every sin imaginable: “horrible repression,” “destruction of homes and livelihoods,” racism, “massive reprisals,” killing children, “quasi-pogroms,” etc.

It is as if Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak had never existed, as if there had not been an Oslo agreement or a Camp David, where the party who rejected compromise and peace was Yasser Arafat.

DAVID A. LEHRER

Regional Director

Anti-Defamation League

Los Angeles