March 19, 2013: What now?

Readers respond to the latest 'Jerusalem Post' articles.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
What now?
If I were Benjamin Netanyahu, I would cement my legacy by acting as a statesman. I would reject any participation in a unity government, which would rapidly deteriorate into a disunity government.
I would invite Moshe Kahlon to join the government in a senior position, with the express objective of modernizing the economy and eliminating monopolies, but primarily to ensure a huge increase in building homes. The objective would be to double the rate of home completions within the next three years. I would offer him all the support he needs, including changing laws and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles.
I would concentrate my own efforts primarily on the area of foreign policy, which would require a foreign minister to be someone compatible with the role. I would include any parties in the government if they agree to the Likud agenda.
I would invite the United List to work with the coalition to alleviate the problems in the Arab communities, even to the point of offering a representative a place in the government, even if only as a deputy minister.
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Finally, I would announce my intention to retire after three and a half years, thus ensuring that for the duration of this government there will be no incentive for anyone to undermine my authority.
STEPHEN COHEN
Ma’aleh Adumim
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obviously must govern responsibly and wisely for the economic and existential well-being of Israel. I suggest that he also work in the same vein for the emergence of a credible successor, for this time he should see the need for one! Enough will be enough!
MICHAEL BRUNERT
Modi’in
Prime evil
Benjamin Netanyahu’s paranoid and panicked statement infusing racial hatred into the political discourse on the eve our election (“Netanyahu criticized for warning against rising Arab voter rate,” March 18) was frighteningly evil.
We are being led in a loutish manner by a selfish person who has become a danger both at home and abroad. No self-respecting Israeli trying to establish a peace process can look an Arab straight in the eye after Netanyahu’s words. We are being sucked into a putrid swamp by a racist.
It is ironic that you published “The transformation of an evil man” (Comment & Features, March 18), about South Africa’s “prime evil,” the day after our prime minister grabbed that title. Apartheid in South Africa maimed those who perpetrated it, not only those who suffered from it.
Maybe President Reuven Rivlin will be the good fairy who sees to it that our own prime evil is not allowed to lead us any longer.
SUSAN TUCKER
Netanya
Our prime minister’s comment about Arab voters going en masse to the polls is an example of racist bigotry that has no place in our country, in which every citizen has the privilege to vote according to his conscience, even if the prime minister does not like the direction. He may have won the election, but he has shamed us all.
SUSAN BUCKWALD
Ramat Yishai
Standing up
I must respectfully disagree with Herb Keinon’s “Will the real Israel please stand up” (Analysis, March 17). When one asks the real Israel to stand up, one sees a nation united and strong. In times of pain and trauma, our true face is shown. You may call me a dreamer or think I’m crazy, but our nation at heart is one. The election campaigns were a pain, a failure, maybe even a disaster. They were also a deviation from our nation’s true self. We can unite, come together as one, and show our real face. The real Israel must stand up.
ARYEH JACOBOWITZ
Yakir
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