Libeling Begin
In trying to compare Sarah Palin to Menachem Begin, Benyamin Korn can’t be serious (“Breaking Begin, but Not Palin,” January 28).
Did Governor Palin ever serve in a Siberian prison? Did she ever fight for her country’s freedom from foreign rule? Did she ever serve in the opposition for several decades? Did she ever do anything remotely comparable to Begin’s taking out Iraq’s Osirak nuclear plant in 1981?
Alas, Korn does appear to be serious in his ludicrous comparison. And he seems to believe that Palin, who has her own reality show and appears as a regular commentator on Fox, is “mocked and pilloried by a shameless and unscrupulous horde of media predators.”
“Shameless” and “unscrupulous” are strong words but, of course, Korn provides no examples. Korn also fails to mention that Palin has been criticized even by some noted conservatives. And most important of all, he omits the inconvenient fact that poll after poll reveals that a significant majority of Americans do not believe that Palin is qualified to be president.
Korn would do well to pay a little less attention to that common right-wing scapegoat, the media, and a little more attention to Palin’s own razor-thin record and questionable utterances — and to have a little more regard for appropriate historical and political analogies.
David Szonyi
Bloomington, Ind.
"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
