Letter: Cartoon was wrong; Macklemore was out of line
In a recent Pen & Ink offering, political cartoonist Christopher Weyant depicts an offensive interference penalty call on the gridiron. Unfortunately, he has the ref calling it on the wrong player (Perspectives, Sept. 26). The call was against Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft for insisting that Macklemore, the opening singer for Ed Sheeran’s concert, be removed from the tour. The prompt for Mr. Kraft’s move was Macklemore’s use of his microphone to air personal political commentary.
On stage, the singer revved up the thousands by citing “those two words” which fuel his humanitarian concerns, “Free Palestine.” The crowd roared its endorsement, but left Jewish concertgoers feeling unwelcome, unwanted, and wary for their safety. Uttering “those two words” at a concert where ticket holders expect musical entertainment should have been the prompt to throw down the penalty flag.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is deep-seated and complex. For the past 2,000 years, Jewish history was infused with antisemitism, persecution, expulsion, and exile, culminating in the worst crime of human history, the Holocaust. I would venture to say the vast majority of Sheeran concertgoers were born in a world never having witnessed such fragility of the Jewish experience.
In 1947 the UN approved a Partition Plan splitting Palestine, a disputed sliver of Middle East holy land, into one home for Jews and one for Arabs. Jews accepted Partition, but the surrounding Arab States rejected the concept and waged war to abort the embryonic Jewish State. They tried again in the 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and have continued ever since, but always failed. Despite tremendous odds against it, Israel remains here and to be sure, is not going anywhere. They have no other option or place to go.
“Free Palestine” may seem like an admirable concept for ending suffering on both sides. For Jews however, it is a toxic expression translating into dismantling Israel for the creation of one entity for all. History has shown that never worked well for Jews, and it won’t work now.
Bottom line: Macklemore was out of line to use his privileged platform to express personal views. He is the one deserving the offensive penalty. Weyant’s call against Mr. Kraft should be overturned.