In J.M. Sorrell’s April 1 column, “April news for the wise,” she makes a virulently, antisemitic reference: “Jews will now actually control all of the media …” as the basis for a “joke.” While the article overall is both unfunny and a confused mess of random thoughts, this reference harkening back to Nazi propaganda and to justifications for persecution of Jews going back hundreds of years is especially inappropriate either as humor or “wisdom.” It is appalling that the Daily Hampshire Gazette would publish this piece without any regard to its content.
Ms. Sorrell’s opinion pieces for the past year or more have demonstrated her near total lack of understanding and knowledge of history as regards the Israel-Palestine issue. She repeatedly has conflated Judaism and Zionism, as though they are interchangeable, and ignores the horrific multi-generational suffering of Palestinians, including most recently —the genocidal invasion of Gaza, inflicted upon them by the State of Israel, as if somehow, it can be justified by the Holocaust. She apparently is not even aware that Palestinians are actually descendants of ancient Semitic peoples, whereas the ancient ancestry of most contemporary Jews is very diverse.
One could argue that a “little” antisemitism in this piece is of no consequence compared to her repeated indifference to Palestinian suffering. As far as Ms. Sorrell is concerned, I think that most of the readers of her columns have long since given up any hope of balance, to say nothing of accuracy, in her writing. But, what about the Gazette? While the newspaper publishes no editorial opinions that it identifies as its own, it is still responsible for deciding what editorial opinions it will publish. Is there an editor at the Gazette, who actually reads the columns and is capable of screening them for racism, sexism, homophobia, and yes, antisemitism, etc., before they are published? If Ms. Sorrell’s opinion piece is any indication, the answer to this question appears to be that there is not.
John Ziv
Granby