LETTERS: Comptroller’s report

Why are the tunnels still permitted to exist? Everyone knows that they are undermining the security of the citizens of Israel.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Comptroller’s report
With regard to “Gaza war report blasts Netanyahu, Ya’alon, Gantz” (March 1), the state comptroller’s report leaves all of its readers very perturbed.
Why are the tunnels still permitted to exist? Everyone knows that they are undermining the security of the citizens of Israel.
Are they impenetrable by ground troops? Maybe so, but we the people have to know if this is so.
What kind of defensive plans are there against invasion through the tunnels? How far into Israel do they extend? Is there a way of photographing them from the air so that we have better knowledge? After all, we can now photograph the canals on Mars.
There is plenty of blame to go around, but now what is important is that the people understand the situation and do something about it. The Knesset, the representative body of the people, should demand accountability from the coalition and cabinet.
TOBY WILLIG Jerusalem
Tunnels from the Gaza Strip have been the source of much anxiety and ministerial conflict.
But surely the concern has been exaggerated.
While the tunnels are indeed a psychological problem, their military use suffers from at least two disadvantages. First, only a limited amount of resources can emerge from a tunnel at a given time, allowing for defensive action. Second, every tunnel has an entrance as well as an exit – that is, every tunnel is also an entry into the Gaza Strip that can be utilized by the IDF. The tunnels are also relatively useless in daylight.
So while we must try to avoid any casualties from them, I believe we need not greatly fear the tunnels or bring down the government on their account.
SIDNEY HANDEL Tel Aviv
I read with interest the report into the last Gaza war and, in particular, the measures being taken to prevent further tunneling.
I appreciate that there are hi-tech solutions being developed, but surely a basic solution of, say, drilling holes at 25- or 50-meter intervals and detonating explosives at an appropriate depth would be a basic way of shaking out some of the tunnels.
I am not an engineer, but sometimes the easiest solutions work.
ALEX STUART Netanya
Regarding “Netanyahu ready to deflect blame for Gaza war woes” (February 27), whatever happened to “The buck stops here”?
JUDY GOLDIN Kiryat Ono
Erroneous assumption
Several years ago, my family was witness to a huge sting operation at the Riverdale Jewish Center in the New York City borough of the Bronx in response to a series of bomb threats to local Jewish institutions.
Aside from the drama of police work in action, it was more remarkable for its disruption of ordinary neighborhood activity than was any sense of a threat.
Therefore, I think that opposition leader Isaac Herzog (“Herzog: Get ready for mass aliya from US due to antisemitism,” February 28) makes an erroneous assumption that Jews in America feel threatened in same way that Jews in other places and at other times have felt to due government-sponsored antisemitism or hatred expressed by a rabid press.
American Jews have every reason to believe that the culprits to recent hate crimes will be found and brought to justice by ordinary police investigations.
American Jews can choose to make aliya to Israel for a number of good reasons, but I do not believe that fear of antisemitism is one.
MARION REISS Beit Shemesh
Elderly are neglected
I read with great interest Judy Siegel’s “Taub Center says Israel is ‘unprepared’ to deal with elderly” (February 28).
I think we older adults are neglected regarding basic needs.
If we have to travel to Jerusalem, usually for a doctor visit or to a hospital, we are forced to take a taxi back and forth, which is costly. My husband uses a scooter at home and a walker when he goes out, and is unable to board a bus because the initial step is too high.
I think, perhaps, we should start with the basics of daily living, and then go on from there.
HAVIVAH GOLDSMITH Beit Shemesh
Blame the gov’t
As usual, when something is amiss, dyed-in-the-wool socialist Susan Hattis Rolef blames the free market as the source of all evil (“Building free-market mechanisms,” Think About It, February 27).
Indeed, the recently revealed scandal in nursing homes is shameful, reflecting poorly on those who have taken advantage of their positions to abuse the elderly and the weak. However, the fault lies mainly with the government, which has failed to adequately supervise the situation.
(A similar situation prevailed in the UK, where state-run hospitals and nursing homes were found to have committed very similar, if not identical, crimes against elderly patients.) Evil people, whether publicly or privately employed, will commit evil deeds if they think they can get away with it.
In a properly run society, the free market should provide the goods and services that people want and need, with the government establishing and enforcing ground rules to ensure that what is provided is of an adequate standard and as advertised. This is especially so when those who need the services are weak.
In another example Rolef cites – the lack of safety in the construction industry – again the fault lies with the government for failing to enforce rules that are already in place, and for failing to provide a mechanism for employees who are aware of dangers to complain anonymously to the proper authorities.
Protection for whistle blowers should be standard in our society.
We should not have to rely on the press to bring these problems to light.
RITA STAR Ma’aleh Adumim
Challenge them
With regard to “The settlement law, or who’s the boss?” (Comment & Features, February 10), the nations howl and the UN passes resolutions making claims that Israel is in violation of “international law,” but Israel never challenges them on this supposed legal fact.
Make them be specific. What international law are they talking about? Challenge them to show us.
Moreover, when an MK or someone else does make a statement in defense of Jews living in Judea and Samaria, it is either something akin to “Oh yes, we do have the right” (biblical or historical), but without anything beyond what’s being offered. It often sounds like school children arguing.
The Bible aside, we do have a legal right to settle the land.
There is no shortage of extremely gifted Jewish legal minds or research, legal papers, documents or resolutions (the Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations resolution and San Remo Conference adoption of earlier resolutions regarding the Mandate of Palestine and the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people, and the UN adopting most, if not all, League of Nations resolutions).
The Arabs consistently outdo Israel when it comes public relations, with their one-note mantra of “occupation.” This mantra is simple and easy to understand.
Israel must do the same. It is time we sat down and wrote out our right to be here. Everyone in the government needs to be on the same page.
Our haters constantly threaten to take Israel to an international court. Perhaps it is time that Israel sued someone in court and presented its own legal right to settle the land.
MIKA’EL BEN DAVID Meitar