In his letter last week, “Misinformation is increasing antisemitism,” Charles Marsden accused the Ely- Palestine Solidarity Group (EPSG) of spreading misinformation and increasing antisemitism.  I would urge Charles Marsden to read the recent statement by Jewish rabbis.  It reads, in part: 
“Dabru emet, speak truth: The Israeli military is herding Palestinian men and boys into lines, and forcing them to walk toward pits. These are death marches.
“Dabru emet, speak truth: The Israeli military is forcing Palestinian families to flee again and again, even as there is nowhere safe from their bombs. This is ethnic cleansing.  
“Dabru emet, speak truth: The Israeli military is burning Palestinians to death in hospitals and displaced persons camps. The Israeli military is burying Palestinians alive in the rubble of their destroyed homes. The Israeli military is abandoning infants to die and decompose. This is a campaign of extermination.  
“These atrocities are crimes against humanity, a phrase codified within international law in response to the Nazi Holocaust, seeking to prevent horror of this magnitude from ever happening again. Lo ta-amod al dam re’echa (Leviticus 19:16): we must not — we will not — stand by watching endless Palestinian bloodshed. So many lives can still be saved.”
This statement by the Jewish Voices for Peace Rabbinic Council is consistent with the EPSG message on atrocities in Gaza. Does Mr. Marsden also believe that Jewish rabbis are antisemitic and spreading misinformation about their own people?  Perhaps other voices would convince him otherwise. 
In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem is illegal.  In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as a senior Hamas official, accusing them of war crimes during and after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. This court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” Does Mr. Marsden believe that both the ICC and the ICJ, the world’s highest international courts, are also spreading misinformation and are antisemitic in their investigation and rulings? 
Perhaps the Pope has more credibility.  The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said this about the response to the Oct. 7 attack: “Israel’s right of self-defense, which has been invoked to justify this operation, must be proportional, and with thirty thousand dead it certainly isn’t.” 
Similarly, other churches across the U.S. are speaking out against Israeli actions in Gaza. A letter by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Conference of Bishops to President Biden calling for a permanent bilateral cease-fire states, in part, “We call for the collective punishment imposed on civilians in Gaza to be brought to an immediate end.”  In their balanced statement they also stated, “The United States must do more to secure the release of all hostages.”
There are many other voices echoing these sentiments, representing other church bodies, human rights organizations, the bulk of the leadership of other nations, the UN and ordinary citizens throughout the world.  They understand the truth that there is no justification for genocide. It is actually information, not misinformation that may be turning people against Israel. Israeli leaders must take responsibility for their illegal and abhorrent actions in Gaza and beyond. It is only then that they can hope to restore the sympathy of the world and stop providing fuel for antisemitism. 
Sharon Beatty
Cook