Most Portlanders were surprised to read that the Portland City Council had adopted a one-sided resolution on the Israel-Hamas War, penalizing Israel. Ignored entirely was the fact that Hamas initiated hostilities by attacking unarmed civilians enjoying a dance and then raping and murdering other civilians in their homes. It was Israel’s subsequent retaliation that was condemned. One wonders if the same atrocities had happened here in Portland, what our own reactions might have been. How would we have retaliated?

Israel is a Jewish state – the only Jewish state in the world. It is in this regard that Jewish citizens internalize, with utmost sensitivity, what happens within its borders. The Portland Council’s action is deemed by many as antisemitic. Jewish community leadership was given little or no advance warning of the political nightmare about to descend upon us. The message, spoken and unspoken, was frightening to Jews throughout our region. The word is now out: “We never realized how marginal our position in the community is.”

Even if someone is not Jewish, in this era of mass communication and transportation, there’s a lot here to give everyone pause. Any city or even subdivision can become a Springfield, Ohio, overnight. The dark stain the Portland City Council has visited upon our region will not be erased quickly … or easily.

Alan Levenson
Windham