ATHENS-Fhar Miess's recent letter on behalf of Southern Vermont for Palestine advocates for the boycott of software used to make the lives of mental-health-care patients better and the workload of the clinicians they rely on less.
While Mr. Miess's obsession with Jews is mildly flattering, his thinly veiled bigotry manifests in the form of illegitimate criticism of Israel, peddling conspiracy theories and false claims, while exposing himself and his "comrades" (as they refer to themselves) for the anti-American, aspiring insurgents that they are.
His contempt for readers of The Commons is plainly seen, following an age-old pattern: invent a problem; blame it on the Jews; gain notoriety by purging all things Jewish. If his protests were truly coming from a place of compassion, there would also be calls to release the tortured Israeli hostages, seven of whom are also American.
Violent delusions of exploding laptops in HCRS examination rooms aside, nothing in Mr. Miess' desperate plea for mindless compliance with his antisemitic agenda gives the reader any context. He would rather you don't ask yourself why the Jewish state must institute mandatory conscription, sending their children to die on the front lines of wars they didn't start.
Instead, Mr. Miess relies on his presumption that you, the reader, are ignorant, omitting that in this imaginary "apartheid," it is in fact Israel's Arab citizens relieved of their duty to military service, while their Jewish compatriots protect them from an adversary so barbaric they hide behind their own children to be killed in the crossfire, lest that enemy survive to inflict the horrors of Oct 7, 2023 over and over again, exactly as they have promised to do.
Those familiar with Mr. Miess' history of belligerence towards all things Israel will be aware of his denials of antisemitism due to the supposed existence of many Jewish friends. Though I am disinclined to believe anything Fhar Miess says, if true, the only kind of Jew he accepts must disavow their heritage and renounce their connection to the land from which they descend.
Mr. Miess' opinions, as he seems to intend, successfully make Jewish people feel unwelcome in our formerly bucolic, small Vermont town. The bad news for him and the terrorist sympathizers is the Jewish instinctual resolve to support a fortified Israel has only been strengthened, so that we should never risk suffering at the hands of Iran, their proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and even Vermont - again.
Fhar Miess, may you never experience the pain you inflict on your Jewish neighbors while accomplishing absolutely nothing else. Or, as you appear to prefer, continue enjoying your end-of-Israel fantasy while it lasts, and join the long list of fanatics who sought the destruction of our people, but were instead relegated to the foul dustbin of racist history, many of whom we remember during holidays in honor of their inevitable defeats.
Mark Treinkman
Athens
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
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