Jonathan Karp: Maybe I Need to Change My Name to Keep a Letter Printed by the NYT

I am seriously considering changing my name to Abraham H. Foxman, since that is apparently the only way I can get a letter published in the New York Times. A quick check of your search engine reveals that since 1996 Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, has had twenty-three of his letters published. The gist of many of these missives has been to challenge as anti-Semitic virtually all criticisms of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. In the meantime, I myself have written at least a dozen letters to your paper - many of them highly critical of Israel - and you have not seen fit to print a single one! My suggestion is you make Mr. Foxman a regular columnist. That will both formalize his relationship with the Times and open up some room in the letters column for the rest of us.

Jonathan Karp (though maybe not for long)

Mr. Karp is Assistant Professor, Judaic Studies/ History, Binghamton University, SUNY