editorials
T urkey has long been a prickly ally. At the crossroads
of Europe and Asia, it joined NATO, the West’s
Cold War umbrella, in 1952 and served as a bulwark
against the USSR in the Mediterranean. Today, Turkey
has NATO’s second-largest army and hosts two of the
alliance’s airbases. Turkey’s contribution to NATO is not
small. Turkey has never been a Western-style democracy.

And under authoritarian President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, Turkey has exasperated the West with its
dismal human-rights record and the stands it has taken
in opposition to its NATO allies. So it is not surprising
that when the Biden administration announced a plan
for major arms sales to Turkey and Greece, a bipartisan
opposition quickly formed to the Turkey side of the deal
— a $20 billion arms package, including 40 new F-16
fi ghter jets.

With all of its warts, Ankara is an ally and should
be treated like one. That includes receiving serious
consideration for its arms requests and to be regarded
like every other U.S. ally to whom we sell arms, including
those that have equally disconcerting human-rights
records. There are multiple arguments in favor of such a move.

First, the arms deal will strengthen Turkey’s ties to the
West — militarily, diplomatically and even for repairs
and spare parts. Second, the administration wants to
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 2021
condition the sale on Turkey agreeing to allow Sweden
and Finland to join NATO, a major strategic gain for
the alliance at a time when Russia is attempting to
destroy Ukraine and threatens its NATO neighbors.

Any NATO member can block expansion, and Turkey
is opposing the expansion because Sweden harbors
Kurdish separatists it considers terrorists. An end to that
standoff is in everyone’s best interests.

Third, at a time when Erdoğan has moved closer to
Russian President Vladimir Putin and even signed an
arms deal with the Russians to buy S-400 surface-to-
air missile systems, American support for the F-16 sale
sends a message that Turkey is taken seriously by the
Western camp. And fourth, Erdoğan is repairing his
break with Israel, a plus for the Jewish state and the
United States.

Opponents are unquestionably correct about the
Turkish president’s stifl ing of human rights — the
suppression and arrest of journalists, the rollbacks on
women’s and LGBTQ rights, and repression of political
opposition. Erdoğan has also fought America’s Kurdish
allies in northern Syria, helping to strengthen Syrian
dictator Bashar Assad, Iran and Russia. As recently
observed by former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman,
if Turkey were a candidate for NATO membership today,
it would not likely be admitted.

We don’t live in a perfect world. But even in an
imperfect world, consistency is important. Many U.S.

allies are not squeaky clean. Yet we regularly sell arms to
allies with contemptible human-rights records, including
to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Middle East regimes.

That doesn’t excuse their human-rights abuses. Instead,
we try to use the leverage of increased interdependence
and support to spur discussion and address human-
rights concerns.

The same approach should apply to Turkey. 1
Progress at the Jordanian Border
T here is a lot going on in Israel. And much of it
complicates the job of diplomats posted there.

The job of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides
is no exception.

Indeed, because of the unique, historic
relationship between the United States and Israel,
Nides’ job is particularly challenging. And to
his credit — and to the credit of the Biden
administration he serves — Nides has been very
careful to modulate his public pronouncements
and activities in a manner that is respectful of
Israel’s independence and seeks to maintain the
rock-solid bonds between Washington and the
Jewish state, while providing input and taking
advantage of more private avenues for the sharing
of suggestions and concerns.

But there are some areas where Nides has used
his platform and his public voice to encourage
Israeli government action. One such area relates
to the Allenby Bridge Border Terminal, which is the
only exit for Palestinians living in the West Bank to
reach Jordan and the world beyond. That border
crossing area, which is controlled and administered
12 JANUARY 26, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
by Israel under agreements between Israel and
Jordan, and Israel and the Palestinian Authority,
has been in operation since the 1994 signing of
the Israel-Jordan peace agreement. But in its near
three decades of operation, very little about how
the border crossing facility operates has changed.

Long waits are common as heavily laden trucks,
busloads of people and a variety of individual and
group travelers need to go through comprehensive
screening processes in a cramped facility under the
stifl ing heat of the Jordan Valley.

Nides wants to help modernize the Allenby
operation to make it more user-friendly and
accessible. He wants to see the border-crossing
structure upgraded and its hours of operation
expanded, all with the goal of “making people’s
lives marginally a little better” without compromising
security or other governmental concerns.

His efforts, which have reportedly been
supplemented by encouragement from U.S. Special
Envoy to the Palestinian Authority Hady Amr, have
begun to bear fruit. Late last year, Israel ran a pilot
program at the Allenby facility that expanded both
the number of personnel assigned to the crossing
and its hours of operation. And now, Israel has
announced a signifi cant expansion of hours of the
Allenby operation beginning on April 2, which should
help relieve the overcrowding and long waits that
have plagued those trying to cross the border.

Beyond that, Israel has plans for a new Allenby
terminal building — a modernized facility, complete
with fast-moving biometric passport checks and
other passenger accommodations — to signifi cantly
ease the pressure and tension of the border-
crossing experience. Nides has also pledged to
work with several Israeli government departments
and authorities to assure proper funding for the new
facility. We applaud Ambassador Nides. His behind-the-
scenes encouragement helped move the Allenby
process along, similar to his successful involvement
in last year’s announcement of U.S. funding for East
Jerusalem hospitals during President Joe Biden’s
summer visit to Israel.

Through his work, Nides reminds us of the enduring
value of quiet, mission-driven diplomacy. 1
Photo by Presidency of Republic of Ukraine
In Support of a Consistent Arms-Sale Policy



opinions & letters
Rampant Use, Abuse
of Holocaust Analogy
Rafael Medoff
A new record may have just been set for the
most Hitler analogies in a 24-hour period.

From Moscow to Mar-a-Lago, public
fi gures this week were inappropriately invoking
Nazi-related terms to denounce developments that
did not at all resemble those of the Nazi era.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared
that the United States and its European allies are
attempting to solve “the Russian question” in the
same way that “Hitler wanted a ‘fi nal solution’ to the
Jewish question.”
Meanwhile, more than fi ve thousand miles away,
former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social
that the FBI agents who recently removed classi-
fi ed government documents from his Mar-a-Lago
residence were “the Gestopo” (as he spelled it).

And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last year that
America’s Covid vaccination policies are even
more dangerous than Hitler’s policies, since in Nazi
Germany there was (he claimed) the option of “hiding
in an attic, like Anne Frank did.”
At least Kennedy retracted and apologized for his
comment. That’s rare among those who use Nazi
analogies as political weapons.

Five years ago, the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum announced that it “unequivocally
rejects eff orts to create analogies between the
Holocaust and other events, whether historical or
contemporary.” It issued that statement after one of its staff histo-
rians, Rebecca Erbelding, expressed support for
the claim by Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
that U.S. immigration facilities resemble “concentra-
tion camps.” Erbelding’s statement was made “in a
personal capacity” and “does not refl ect the position
It should be possible to discuss even the most sensitive
issues without resorting to absurd and insulting
historical comparisons.

Before the news cycle was done, a former Israeli
attorney general called proposed judicial reforms in
that country “a pogrom,” and New York Times colum-
nist Thomas Friedman described them as a “putsch,”
the term commonly associated with Adolf Hitler’s
failed coup attempt in 1923, known as the Beer Hall
Putsch. If such outbursts were an aberration, they would
be bad enough. But there have been numerous such
remarks fl ung about in public discourse in recent
months. Filmmaker Ken Burns, speaking on CNN about
Holocaust-era immigration policies, said the decision
by Florida’s governor to fl y 50 migrants to Martha’s
Vineyard was “straight out of the authoritarian
playbook.” Not to be outdone, the Republican nominee for
governor of Illinois, Darren Bailey, declared that “the
attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II
doesn’t even compare on a shadow of the life that
has been lost with abortion.”
of the Museum,” the museum emphasized.

Given the sudden proliferation of comparable
statements by public fi gures at home and abroad,
this might be a good time for the Holocaust Museum
to publicly reiterate its opposition to Nazi analogies.

Such analogies both exaggerate contemporary
controversies and minimize what the Nazis did.

Policies concerning issues such as immigration,
abortion or COVID restrictions naturally generate
intense debate. But it should be possible to discuss
even the most sensitive issues without resorting to
absurd and insulting historical comparisons. Abortion
is not another Holocaust. America’s immigration
facilities do not resemble Dachau. And Mar-a-Lago
is not on the way to Auschwitz. ■
Rafael Medoff is founding director of the David S.

Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of
more than 20 books about Jewish history and the
Holocaust. This op-ed was originally published by
Jewish Journal.

Article Inspired
I was overjoyed to see the Jan. 12 Jewish Exponent
devote the front page article to the work of Jennifer
Anolik and Moving Traditions (“You Should Know
Jennifer Anolik”).

The work Moving Traditions does in training the
next generation of Jews in the values, traditions and
history of our people is the absolute best invest-
ment for insuring our survival. I was moved to read
of Anolik’s family connection to the Shoah and the
vital role that plays in her work for justice for all
people. I only wish I could be a Kol Koleinu fellow
learning feminist change-making and how to build
sacred community. It is stories like these that keep
me reading the Jewish Exponent and feeling hopeful
for the future.

Abigail B. Weinberg
Philadelphia Be Careful With Your Words
Rabbi Michael Rose Knopf rightly extols “respectful”
Jewish debate (“Why I’m Not Sure I’m Right,” Jan. 19).

As Israel is a normal human polity, there is certainly
much to debate about. But that should be engaged
from a stance of prideful affi nity and unwillingness to
rush to critical judgment, before full investigation of
the facts, of actual, not hypothetical, actions.

While concern about some ministers in the new
government is understandable, the democratically
expressed will of the Israeli electorate ought be
respected. Israeli mega-party elections invariably
result in coalitions. All parties to it make demands,
but threats to leave usually ring hollow, given a next
election’s uncertainty. As a highly seasoned politi-
cian, Netanyahu should be able to restrain unpopular
proposals. Case in point: Israel’s Supreme Court. Its members
eff ectively choose their ideological soulmate succes-
sors. That it can strike down Knesset laws as unrea-
sonable seems highly unreasonable. Altered division
or power between those two bodies will require
careful consideration.

Sage Talmudic advice to critics: “Be careful with
your words.” A loyal opposition doesn’t call for
massive public protests or civil war. The enemies of
Israel and the Jewish people are watching and listen-
ing intently, awaiting any words to weaponize. ■
Richard D. Wilkins
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
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