I find it highly offensive that the Jewish Federation demanded that an NRA lobbyist be fired because he voiced his opinion that Jews should be against restrictive gun laws (“On anniversary of shooting, Jewish Federation tells NRA spokesman to step down”).
The idea that the Holocaust could not have been prevented if Jews had guns is mere conjecture. However, it was not just gun laws in Germany that mattered, but those in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the other European countries in which Jews were rounded up and slaughtered like animals without resistance (since without weapons, any such resistance would have been futile).
As a Jew and a Federation member and long-time supporter of the Jewish Federation, I am aghast that you think we own the Holocaust. One of the major reasons we have Holocaust education is to teach Jews and non-Jews the ramifications of this unthinkable event. That people may draw conclusions different from yours is to be expected and even encouraged — it is certainly no reason to demand they be fired!
Of all organizations, I would have thought that the Federation would be more tolerant of the views of others. I am not speaking to the merits of the current initiative, yet I think you would agree that if Israeli Jews did not have guns we would be experiencing another Holocaust right now.
Since Federation is the “umbrella organization” or “big tent” of Jews in the Seattle region, I would greatly appreciate it if you did not speak for me and my fellow Jews on this topic — or any other, in advocating for the suppression of those views that differ from your own individual outlook.
Cliff Godwin, Seattle