Out with Weinstein
Sir, – With regard to “Despite resignation, Liberman to
remain MK, head of party” (December 16), Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein has
to have his reign ended. I don’t know what his past credentials or successes
are, but for sheer arrogance he takes the cake.
Ehud Olmert, not my
favorite politician, had to wait forever for the indictments and court
cases.
Liberman also had to wait for ages. Now, on the eve of the
elections, one investigation is dropped and he is told the authorities are
proceeding with a second investigation.
Is this timing acceptable? After
more than six years, the attorney-general could not have waited six more weeks
so as not to turn the upcoming elections on their head? Weinstein seems to have
his own political agenda and he does what he likes.
To go to sleep every
night for six years and more, waiting for the axe to fall, is not fair. It is
immoral. I would suggest that Jewish law does not support this kind of torture
(and incompetence).
It’s time for Weinstein to be removed and replaced by
someone who can bring back the true meaning of justice.
RUSSELL GADDIN
Modi’in
Sir, – I am a new immigrant, and every day I see a story saying that
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein approves of a certain government policy and
disapproves of another government policy. He seems to have more power than the
prime minister.
Is he elected? Can we vote him out? If he is not elected,
who appoints him? Can we vote out the person who appoints him? It seems to be a
very strange democracy when the most powerful person in government is not
answerable to the people.
Hundreds of years ago in America, people
revolted against the rule of King George III. Is there any way to get rid of the
rule of Yehuda Weinstein? He may be a very nice person, but he should be
accountable to the people.
DAVID WILLIG
Safed
Poor reaction
Sir, – Martin
Sherman (“Ill-considered, inappropriate and inadequate,” Into the Fray, December
14) makes complete sense to me.
I have been struggling to understand why
we behaved so reactively to the Palestinians, again bringing upon ourselves the
world’s condemnation for something so minor. Since we cannot change the
malevolent bias of most of the world, let it be for, to quote Sherman, “measures
that have real and lasting – indeed permanent – strategic effects.”
I
hope there are some in our government who agree.
CHARLOTTE SLOPAK GOLLER
Jerusalem
Bloc party
Sir, – As summarized by Barry Shaw (“Thoughts on a possible
solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem – Part 2,” Original Thinking,
December 14), Dr.
Mordechai Kedar’s possible solution concentrates on the
Arab side, devolving the Arab community of Palestine into harmless, harmonious
little emirates.
Imagine the benefit, once the military threat is gone,
of repackaging Israel into perhaps a dozen homogeneous little mini-states.
Various separate leaderships have already presented themselves, as they do every
election season.
We could mark off a state for the haredim, a state for
the Sephardim, a state for the secular socialists, and so on. Everyone could
find a place somewhere, even Reform Jews and smokers.
If the UN were to
accept all the Jewish emirates as members, we would have a bloc like everybody
else.
MARK L. LEVINSON
Herzliya
No pejoratives
Sir, – I would like to
point out to Ben Caspit (“Liberman and the next government,” Observations,
December 14) that he should not refer to non-Jews as “goyim.” I resent and
deplore hearing this expression used by some Jewish people.
I do not
think that this man – I hesitate to refer to him as a gentleman – would like to
be referred to as a “yid.”
R.G. GOODRICHE
Tel Aviv
Rules of engagement
Sir, – Despite the way world leaders and our own media demean the IDF, our young
men and women are neither irresponsible nor trigger happy (“Military sources
defend restrained conduct by soldiers in face of rock throwers,” December 12).
They are imbued from youth with the ideal of the sacredness of all human life.
At the same time they patrol terrorist- infested areas that often require
split-second decisions to protect life and limb.
In this type of setting
it is essential that our soldiers feel confident that their own safety is
preeminent, that their instinctive decisions are supported by the military chain
of command, that they need not fear legal action, and that the rules of
engagement explicitly protect them over hostile mobs.
The safety of our
young men and women must be the overriding consideration in these
confrontations.
ROBERT DUBLIN
Jerusalem
Sir, – Three decades ago I was
honored and privileged to serve in the IDF reserves for five years, from age 47
to 52. Now I am ashamed and embarrassed to read and see that our soldiers run
away from Arabs throwing fist-sized rocks.
Those rocks are weapons. In
any other country in the world the army would respond differently by putting
down the rock throwers in an appropriate way.
I saved my uniform for
these many years, but I will now dispose of it in shame. If today I were called
to serve in the IDF, I would refuse for fear of my and my comrades’ lives
because of the orders given to our soldiers to restrain from responding
appropriately.
The rules of engagement of the Israeli army show us to be
cowardly and afraid of our enemies.
This is not the Jewish army that I
proudly served.
CHAIM GINSBERG
Ma’aleh Adumim
Introducing Shamir
Sir, –
With regard to “Why I became a politician” (Comment & Features, December
11), I and others from “Anglos for Yisrael Beytenu” were privileged to introduce
Yair Shamir to a gathering of members of the Anglo community of
Ra’anana.
First, Shamir gave us some background information about his
professional accomplishments, which are quite impressive.
He proved
himself in many different areas – in the Israel Air Force, where he was a senior
commander; as chairman of several teetering corporations that he succeeded in
turning around; and on the boards of very distinguished institutions of higher
learning.
Unlike most politicians in Israel, whose main agenda is
personal and benefits only themselves, Shamir decided to enter politics in order
to serve the Israeli public and pursue policies that will improve the country,
not him personally.
He considers his work in aliya and absorption,
especially for Western olim, one of his greatest contributions. This is an area
that should be of interest to those of us who made aliya from the West, and the
many more who are considering it. It is time we had somewhere to turn in order
to bring about a positive and successful transition in Israeli
society.
We wish Shamir the best of luck and as much success in his
political career as he has had in his professional career. We, the citizens of
Israel and the Jewish community overall are sure to benefit immensely from this
success.
JONATHAN SURASKY
Ra’anana
The writer is chairperson of Anglos
for Yisrael Beytenu Ra’anana
CORRECTION: The link to a film trailer on the
planned documentary about former refusenik Sylva Zalmanson, which was provided
in the December 12 Grapevine, was incorrect. It is
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anatzk/next
-year-in-jerusalem-documentaryfilm.
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