To the Editor:

Re: “The Wrong to Remain Silent by Ariela Rutkin-Becker,” Letters, Jan. 28

The underlying contention of Ariela Rutkin Becker’s column “The Wrong to Remain Silent” is fundamentally flawed. Rutkin-Becker argues that the American Jewish community is unconditionally supportive of Israeli government policies without any debate as to the justice and effectiveness of Israeli policies. This could not be further from the truth.

The ironic thing is that detractors of Israel and pro-Israel organizations frequently cite polling statistics illustrating how “dovish” the American Jewish community is on contentious issues such as Palestinian statehood, settlement activities and the final status of Jerusalem. One can endlessly debate the current Gaza operation but to argue that American Jews are blindly supportive of Israel simply does not square with public opinion polls — in addition to the fact that organizations exist in the United States that critique Israeli policies from both the Left and the Right.

Furthermore, singling out a specific group for allegedly holding homogenous viewpoints is inappropriate. One would not and should not assume that all Palestinian-Americans automatically support Hamas or its actions. To make generalizations like that is wrong and does not further honest and informed discussion of the Israeli-Arab conflict or ways in which the 100-year-old conflict can be solved. It is this kind of generalization that simply gets people riled up and does not serve any useful purpose.