Somehow, I had hoped that Trump would be given at least a few days free of bashing and negativity.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Trump inaugurationI am not sure why I should be surprised by your decision to juxtapose a protest photo next to a photo of the swearing in of Donald Trump, both under a lead headline saying “Trump presidency begins with mass protests” (January 22). This diminishes the impact of Trump becoming president of the United States, Israel’s most supportive and closest ally.I estimate that you devoted at least 80% of your content about the inauguration to negativity and protests rather than capturing the celebratory nature of the moment for millions of Americans and the Trump family.Somehow, I had hoped that Trump would be given at least a few days free of bashing and negativity.SIDNEY (SHOLOM) STRAJCHERJerusalemHow sad that the significant speech of President Donald Trump is given such short shrift in your newspaper.Since Shabbat prevented many in Israel from following inaugural events directly, The Jerusalem Post should have covered the speech in much more detail than the less-than eighth of a page of actual quotes. Instead, we got a full page of expanded quotes from anti-Trump protesters, with considerable photo coverage of the same on Page 2, and even more anti-Trump articles on Page 3.Without ignoring the significant protests, the speech deserved (and good journalism demanded) considerably more coverage.PHIL LUGOSI JerusalemChances for peaceWith regard to “Palestinians protest against relocating US Embassy” (January 20), before any of us here in Israel get too euphoric about the idea of an American embassy in Jerusalem and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, making peace, we ought to consider something.Most of us who live here know that making peace needs two sides. As much as we might want an agreement, there is no one on the other side that can make one.The Palestinian Authority has no real authority. Fatah in Judea and Samaria continues to avoid having elections because it cannot win. Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been steadfast in refusing to give any kind of recognition to a Jewish state. The UN and other well-meaning parties throw money at the problem but allow the Arab side to invest it in promoting hatred, intolerance and, yes, making weapons.We have organizations like Peace Now; they have admirable ideals but no sense of reality. Why is there is no similar organization on the Arab side with any real voice or chance of influence? President Trump has said that if his son-in-law can’t make the 0deal, no one can. The last part of that statement is certainly correct right now.ARYEH WETHERHORNElazarApology owedAs an American who is also a citizen and resident of Israel, I demand an apology from ex-president Barack Obama and ex-secretary of state John Kerry for creating an environment that will assure that I and my family do not see peace in the foreseeable future.Security Council Resolution 2334 effectively removes any incentive from the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria to make concessions to the State of Israel in order to achieve an end to the occupation of their land. Without any concessions, the State of Israel will not make such a move, and the present state of hostility will continue.The failure by Obama and Kerry to condemn the incitement and support for terror by the Palestinian Authority essentially acknowledges that such action is permissible and should continue. The least they can do is apologize for the damage they have done to me and my family, among other American citizens living here.HAIM SHALOM SNYDER Petah TikvaChoosing sides?I was horrified to see the front page of your January 19 issue.More than half of the page above the fold consisted of a photo of a bandaged MK Ayman Odeh, chairman of the Joint List, giving the impression that he was the victim of the tragic events of the previous day. To the right was a photo, perhaps one-twentieth in size, of Erez Levi, the police officer who was killed during these events by a fast-moving truck driven by an Arab.This juxtaposition made me wonder whose side you are on.You certainly are not on the side of proportionality or truth!JAC FRIEDGUT JerusalemSmart fishNever will I wrap a fish in Page 15 of your January 19 Comments & Features section, for thereon are the smiling faces of some 20 smug “world leaders” who took part in the recent Paris conference on the Middle East, and the word “peace” appearing about 24 times.In “Commanders against peace” (Encountering Peace), Gershon Baskin “wants Palestinian neighbors to have the best life possible, prosperous, part of the international community and benefit from Israeli science, technology and advantages of our economy and society.” He blames us for “rekindling [settler] violence so as to have a territorial expression of our identity” and infers that we are teaching hate.In “The peace gamble” (Washington Watch), Douglas Bloomfield continues his vendetta against our “hard-right government and its supporters.”The smart fish just slipped out of Page 15, refusing to be frozen among such content.ESTER ZEITLINJerusalemBizarre supportIt is bizarre that 300 US “Jewish leaders” signed a letter backing Democratic congressman Keith Ellison to chair the Democratic National Committee.Ellison was for years a devotee of the antisemitic Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan.During this period, he co-sponsored a vicious antisemitic speech by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) titled “Zionism: Imperialism, White Supremacy or Both?” while ignoring pleas from Jewish law students not to do so.In 2016, Ellison approvingly tweeted a Hebron window sign falsely accusing Israel of expropriation and portraying Israeli security precautions as “apartheid.” In 2014, he was one of only eight members of Congress to vote against a bipartisan bill to provide $225 million to Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.In 2012, Ellison traveled across the country, raised funds and spoke at mosques in New Jersey, urging Arab-Americans to defeat Jewish, pro-Israel Democratic congressman Steve Rothman. In 2010, he spearheaded the “Gaza 54” letter to President Barack Obama, which falsely accused Israel of wreaking “collective punishment” on the Gaza Strip; the letter is still being used to promote the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.Ellison has been the recipient of substantial campaign contributions from donors with a history of connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has addressed the radical Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group with ties to Hamas, which the US has designated a terrorist organization, and has defended CAIR on the floor of the House.Ellison’s efforts to insert anti-Israel provisions into the 2016 Democratic platform, and now his opposition to the Royce bill opposing UN Security Council Resolution 2334, should also be of grave concern to the 300 “Jewish leaders.”MORTON A. KLEINNew YorkThe writer is national president of the Zionist Organization of America.Dem bonesI want to shout hooray when I open the paper to see our beloved Dry Bones in the cartoon corner.Does this mean that Yaakov Kirschen is back with us? Oh, happy days if this is true!JAN GAINES NetanyaThe editor responds: Dry Bones will now be appearing in The Jerusalem Post several times a week.
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