Letter to The Washington Post

Dear Editor, In "High above Nazareth, an Israeli mayor wants to keep his city Jewish 'now and forever'"(9/20/13), The Washington Post publishes a story about a Jewish mayor who also happens to be a bigot. In the report, The Post inverts reality by publishing the exception rather than the rule by finding such a mayor from some obscure town in Israel. In actuality, Israel has greater rights for minorities than any other country in the Middle East has. Arabs, for example, have greater freedom of speech, freedom of press, and even freedom of religion in Israel than they do in any Arab nation. Of course it would be difficult for the Post to do a similar story interviewing Jews in an Arab country who are discriminated against and that is because there are nearly none left. And those who are left value their lives. Speaking out against the majority, unlike in Israel, puts them at serious risk of death. And don't even attempt to become a citizen of Saudi Arabia if you are Jewish or Christian; that is illegal. So when it comes to Israel, The Washington Post publishes the exception. When it comes to the rule, in Arab nations, The Washington Post is silent. Michael Berenhaus