Letters

The latest letters to the editor.

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Holocaust (photo credit: Courtesy)
Holocaust
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Poignant discovery
We read with interest the review “An unhappy revelation” (April 7) by Janice Weizman on the recently published book by Paul Glaser, “Dancing with the Enemy.” What the writer of the article failed to mention is the very poignant way in which Glaser found out about his Jewish ancestry, which is crucial to the whole story.
While on a business trip to Poland, he was persuaded by his colleagues to pay a visit to Auschwitz. While there, he noticed a suitcase with his family’s name on it. This triggered the search, which ultimately led him to write his book and discover his true identity. Glaser gave a presentation to the International Jewish Center in Brussels last year that made a lasting impression.
- Ann Englander Tervuren, Belgium Brian Doyle Du-Breuil Leuven, Belgium
A more effective democracy
Dov Khenin’s commentary “Liberman’s bad law” (April 7) is a fair critique of the new law that slightly raises the threshold for a party to gain representation in the Knesset, but there is another side to the story.
A democracy is entitled to defend itself. It must not only be fair, it must also be effective. The lower threshold has permitted small ideological parties into the Knesset, which has led to unstable, bloated, and unrepresentative coalition governments.
Small parties have been able to extort distasteful and costly concessions that are contrary to the interests of a majority of citizens.
The higher electoral threshold should encourage parties to be less ideological and to broaden their appeal to voters. It should encourage Israeli Arabs, 20 percent of the population, to develop at least an electoral alliance (in the absence of their own broad-based party) to ensure representation.
The more fundamental flaw is the system of proportional representation within a single national constituency. This produces MKs who have no connection to voters and are distant from local problems; back benchers are unable to exercise their independent judgment and are mere pawns subject to party discipline. A stronger Knesset would be composed of a majority of representatives from single member districts who are known to and answerable to their constituents, and are better able to represent local and regional interests. This system works in most parliamentary democracies, and would make Israel a more effective democracy.
-Edward Steinhouse Columbia, Maryland
Well-being of patients
Your report on the Hadassah financial crisis “Who will heal the hospitals?” (March 24) noted that Director- General of the Health Ministry Ronni Gamzu (due to resign June 1) suggested nationalizing the Hadassah hospitals.
If he had bothered to take any legal advice, he would have known there can be no basis for the compulsory acquisition by the government of any asset without fair compensation being paid. Such compensation for the years of effort by the Hadassah organization in building and equipping the two Jerusalem hospitals would be far in excess of Hadassah’s operating deficit. In any event, common sense should have told him what an appalling precedent he would be setting. Calling for the nationalization of the Hadassah Hospitals would dissuade future charitable contributions to Israeli universities, public hospitals and scientific research.
Instead, there ought to be acknowledgement from both the government and Hadassah that never again should the well-being of Jerusalem’s patients be put at risk by doctors and the rest of the staff being forced to strike to be paid the salaries for the work they already have done.
Peter Simpson Jerusalem Dictating borders So Moldova suffers from its fate dictated by the neighboring powers, who determined its borders, “From Moldova to Arara” (February 24). Israel’s borders were determined by a hostile UN, making them look like three bottles connected by necks.
But, Israel, unlike Moldova, did not let the UN dictate reality and today’s 1948 borders are widely recognized. Maybe we should go further and stop listening to all those wishing to dictate the border of Jerusalem, in particular, and the 1967 borders, in general
- Yan Sever Kibbutz Moran
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