To the Editor:
I am an ethnic Jew from Budapest, Hungary, where Theodor Herzl was born. Reading Dr. Jack Schwartzwald's column in Thursday's Herald ("Remembering Theodor Herzl," April 22) upset me in a number of ways. Here is why:
Schwartzwald seems to think that the existence of Israel is necessary because of anti-Semitism. For instance, there is a 17 percent-strong openly racist and anti-Semitic party in Hungary. Yet there is no institutional anti-Semitism: Being Jewish does not disadvantage us in any way. Being a Roma would, so is there a case for a Roma state?
Even if anti-Semitism were threatening us, it would be immoral to choose to live in Israel at the price of causing more suffering to Palestinians. There are plenty of alternatives to Israel. If I really felt threatened in Eastern Europe, I could always choose to emigrate to countries like the United States or Germany. Imre Kertész, survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his book "Fatelessness," notably chose to live in Berlin instead of in Budapest.
I disapprove of American youth choosing Israel and the Tzahal as their new home. The idea of Israel is diametrically opposed to the idea of the United States. The United States is a country where people can find their homes, regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion. Israel wants to be the state of ethnic and religious Jews, even if it reluctantly accepts the presence of others.
If there is anything that we should take away from the Holocaust, the defining experience of my grandparents who survived it, it is that when we start differentiating among people based on religion, race, ethnicity, sexuality and so on, we get very, very bad results. The long history of anti-Semitism and racism should teach us that we should not commit crimes against Palestinians.
Daniel Prinz '13
April 24
