Columnist Cohen pushes his ethnic politics

Israeli commandos stopped a flotilla of humanitarian aid to relieve the suffering of Arabs interred in Gaza. Israelis allege that the flotilla had nothing to do with aid but functioned as cover for the smuggling of arms to the Hamas guerrillas.

Palestinians contend that the Israelis deliberately murdered innocent people, and that they continue a war of attrition against the helpless Arab population. Much of worldwide opinion has joined the side of the Palestinians in condemning Israel for its aggression.

One would think that Jewish writers in the U.S. would have some sympathy and sensitivity to ethnic groups that are similarly vilified in world opinion. But, no, columnist Richard Cohen eagerly jumps on the defamation bandwagon, pushing the theory that Polish people instigated a terrible massacre of Jews in Kielce, Poland. When American forces penetrated into the forest near Smolensk, Russia, they discovered evidence that some 5,000 Polish officers were murdered there. The Russian Communists blamed the German NAZIs while the NAZIs blamed the Communists.

An independent investigation found that the Communists were responsible. In other words, they blatantly lied about massacres, which they orchestrated, of Polish officers amounting to 20,000 victims.

The Communists totally backed the formation of the state of Israel in the Palestine area. Russian, Polish and German Jews set up this state as a utopian, communist nation. But they encountered a problem. Many European Jews refused to settle there. They solved that problem by organizing pogroms, some 15 to terrorize the Jews into fleeing to Israel.

An independent investigation into the atrocity never happened because the Communists controlled Poland at the time. They controlled the "news" and the flow of information.

I find it disturbing, but not surprising, that Cohen abandoned journalistic standards in favor of pushing his own ethnic politics.

George Kocan

Warrenville