Letter to Rabbi Hier of the Wiesenthal Center

Meretz USA President Lilly Rivlin writes to Rabbi Hier of the Wiesenthal Center about the planned Tolerance Museum:

Dear Rabbi Marvin Hier,

I am a 7^th generation Jerusalemite Jerusalem lives within me. I write to tell you that I am surprised, if not shocked, to learn that the Wiesenthal Center intends to build a Museum for Tolerance at a site that was once an Arab Cemetery. It is ironic, that the Wiesenthal Center, which is committed to teaching tolerance, should choose to build on another people’s ancestral grounds. It flies in the face of all that tolerance implies. It will be seen by Muslims as an insult.

I remember the outrage Jews felt in 1967 to discover the vandalization of Hebrew tombstones on Har Hazeitim, and the consequent discovery that tombstones had been used for construction material of roads and living quarters. Are you thinking of an eye for an eye… ?

I encourage you to reconsider your decision to build at this time . In inflammable times, it would be prudent not to provoke the very people we are destined to co-exist with. We do not want a reason for riots now.

Sincerely,

Lilly Rivlin