To the Editor:

In her piece, “How I was smeared as an anti-Semite,” on Dec. 23, Christina Patterson should have spent more time looking in a mirror. She issues a plea that we shouldn’t draw conclusions by painting with a broad brush. And then she smears the Simon Wiesenthal Center with the broadest of accusations and generalizations.

In contradicting her own decree, Patterson is herself exercising a collective form of hatred—against Israelis—while she presents half-truths and gaping omissions.

Why doesn’t Patterson mention that the Gaza flotilla was made up of armed fighters? Or that Israel repeatedly offered to have the ships unload their cargo at a safe port for trucking into Gaza? Why does she omit the crucial history of the region—that Jerusalem became the capital of the Jewish people 3,000 years ago, and that Jews have lived continuously on the land for more than 2,000 years? These are just some of the vital facts necessary to understand the conflict. But Patterson doesn’t let the facts get in the way of her hate-filled message.

Patterson condemns Israel for all manner of crimes against Palestinians. But conveniently leaves out the 62 years of incessant hatred of Israelis, as both Israelis and Jews. She does not note the thousands of rockets and missiles Hamas has fired upon Israeli civilians. Even the Hamas rocket that landed just feet from a kindergarten a few days before Patterson’s rant didn’t warrant a condemnation from Patterson.

Patterson’s herself proves the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s case against her.

--Daniel S. Mariaschin

B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President

Washington, D.C.