Readers’ comments: August 30, 2024

Are Isaac’s talking points antisemitic?
Dear editor:
We are appalled by the violence and injustice we see in the Middle East and elsewhere.
What to do?
I watched the YouTube video of the Rev. Munther Isaac, who heads the Israel-based Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Beit Sahour, as he offered his thoughts at Claremont Presbyterian Church on August 8, calling Israel a settler colonialist state guilty of racism, genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
“Zionism” he said, is “racism and supremacy.”
He faulted churches that don’t use such terms. “Why isn’t the church talking about apartheid in Palestine?” he asked.
He was tough on churches that don’t blast out these same terms and talking points, portraying them as hypocritical, saying that “the credibility of [their] Christian witness is at stake.”
Clearly he himself finds using such terms very helpful.
Most of the people in his audience at Claremont Presbyterian that day were surely earnest Christians wanting to make a positive difference, appalled by the violence, injustice and suffering that we all see, and all want to stop.
We know that antisemitism has “gone viral” many times before in history. And it is very dangerously close to doing so again. Where do Issac’s use of the terms settler colonialist, racist, genocide, and apartheid to describe Israel and Zionism and his appeal to Christian churches also to do so fit in?
Though some in Claremont may scoff at this question, I don’t think it’s scoffable. It’s a serious question that matters.
To think more about this, try Googling Izabella Tabarovsky’s work on demonization blueprints in contemporary discourse, for starters.
Yes, dear Claremont friends and others, it matters.
Kathryn Martens
Pomona

ATM machine scam warning
Dear editor:
Last week after completing a cash withdrawal at an ATM machine I was approached by a non-threatening Hispanic male as I was walking to my car. He said, “You did not cancel your transaction.” I had two quick thoughts: one, he seemed non-threatening, and two, often, in our computer world programs and applications are changed and/or updated (And not always correctly, as evidenced by the last big airline ticketing breakdown). I handed him my card, and he proceeded to swipe it at the ATM and activate the system. I said, “No, the system cancels” and hit the “cancel” button, took the card back, and again proceeded to my car.
At that point I should have listened to my instincts. I was driving the three miles to my home, I stopped halfway to check my bank account on my phone: “No activity,” it said. Good. However, after I got home, I get a bank alert: “Did you use the card at Lowe’s?” I hadn’t. And I was reassured thinking the bank would cover the fraud, and I would sustain no loss. I then decided to take a look at my ATM card, which the man had returned to me. It was not mine.
I immediately called Bank of America and the Claremont Police Department to report the crime. Thanks to CPD Corporal Hodge, who traveled to Lowe’s, they have a photo of the person who used my card there.
A recent article in Consumer Reports noted that if you attempt to use an ATM machine and the can’t access the card insert slot, you should walk away and not use that machine, as a scammer has likely jammed it and is awaiting your arrival.
Rich Laughton
Claremont