Jerusalem Post Letters to the Editor: Too up front

Why do we have to be so up front with our lack of preparedness?

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Too up front
With regard to “Shapira: Israel unprepared for future rocket onslaught” (December 7), there is a Yiddish expression that says one must not always tell everyone everything. So what compels Israel to tell the world that it is not ready for the next war? I do not remember Hamas, Fatah or the Palestinian Authority telling the world how many tunnels they are digging to destroy us. I don’t remember them telling the world about the quantity of armaments they receive from our enemies. I don’t remember any information that tells us how prepared they are for the next war or any war.
Why do we have to be so up front with our lack of preparedness? Moreover, why are we not doing something about it? Why are we allowing the Hamas tunnels to be dug while Egypt is flooding them? Why are we still worried about world opinion? Am I alone in knowing what the world thinks and am concerned about what we are doing to protect our country and its citizens? The time has come for us to stand up and be counted as an independent people that needs to be represented by people who have the sense to remain quiet when necessary, and a press that reports the positive side of the news and does not increase our vulnerability.
HAVIVAH GOLDSMITH Beit Shemesh
Leading question
With regard to “Majority of Jewish public favors pending ‘muezzin bill’” (December 7), I suspect I was not the only person surprised to read that according to a recent Israel Democracy Institute survey, a significant percentage of respondents “believe the Jewish people to be greater than other peoples,” with the number rising as high as 80% among the ultra-Orthodox.
However, it is apparent from the IDI’s website that the question actually asked in the survey was: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: The Jewish people is the chosen people and hence is greater than other peoples.” This wording assumes an equivalence between being chosen and being greater.
I will let your readers decide for themselves whether posing the question in such a leading fashion may have had an effect on the results of the poll.
DAVID LERER Bet Shemesh
Climate change
 Kol hakavod for your wonderful and comprehensive coverage of the recent wildfires and their devastating effect on many Israelis.
However, despite the many thoughtful letters, articles and editorials on the issue that appeared in The Jerusalem Post, there has been inadequate attention to the very dry conditions and severe winds making the wildfires far more widespread and harmful.
Climate change is an existential threat to Israel as the Middle East gets hotter and drier. We are now in the third consecutive year of record temperatures worldwide, and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense is projecting a decrease in precipitation of up to 30% for our country. Hence, it is essential that reducing climate change be a major priority for us and every other nation.
This is not just my opinion, but also that of science academies worldwide, over 97% of the articles on the issue in respected scientific journals, and leaders from 195 nations, including Israel, who met at the December 2015 Paris climate change conference.
Especially significant for Israel is that military experts believe climate change will increase the prospects for instability, terrorism and war, as it causes shortages of food and water, and results in millions of desperate refugees fleeing droughts, wildfires, floods, storms and other effects of climate change.
An additional threat to Israel from climate change is that a rising Mediterranean threatens to inundate the coastal plain, where much of Israel’s population and infrastructure are located.
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ Shoresh