Where is justice?Sir, – Meir Rabin, accused of 18 bribery offenses, has been in custody for 30 days (“Holyland suspect Rabin accused of 18 bribery offenses, police say,” April 29). Anat Kamm, the former soldier currently on trial for allegedly copying 2,000 top-secret army documents, is at home. Where is justice?
ELLEN HEXTER Rehovot
Barkat tells it like it should beSir, – What a contrast in words and attitudes between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (“Barkat backs east Jerusalem building in trip to Washington,” April 29). Barkat went to Washington, met with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and spoke up explicitly to say that we will continue to build in all parts of the city of Jerusalem. Jewish residents of Jerusalem and Arab residents of Jerusalem must be treated fairly, as all citizens need housing. It is a pleasure to hear words that have meaning and are spoken so that they resound in the corridors of power in Washington.
The prime minister should learn from Barkat so he, too, can stand up and say that no prime minister of Israel can limit building in Jerusalem. We need more statesmen who act above the politics of the day.
THELMA SUSSWEIN Jerusalem
Remember San RemoSir, – The 90th anniversary of the San Remo conference was this week (“90 years after San Remo, MK Danon vows to ‘raise awareness of Israel’s rights under int’l law,’” April 26). The San Remo Resolution recognized the exclusive national Jewish rights to the Land of Israel under international law, on the strength of the historical connection of the Jewish people to this land. The outcome of the resolution was the “Mandate for Palestine,” an historical League of Nations document that laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine – namely the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which includes the entirety of Judea and Samaria: Hebron, Beit-El, Shiloh, Nablus and so forth. Fifty-one member countries – the entire League of Nations – unanimously took part in this decision on July 24, 1922.
This seminal event has been forgotten or ignored by the community of nations, and the rights it conferred upon the Jewish people have been unlawfully dismissed, curtailed and denied.
In parallel, political right to self-determination for Arabs, was guaranteed by the same League of Nations in no fewer than four other areas: Lebanon, Syria (both via a French Mandate), Iraq and later Trans-Jordan (under British Mandate).
When will Jewish rights become known and subsequently recognized? The contributions of public figures such as Mr. Eli Hertz and MK Danny Danon (Likud) must be acknowledged in reminding mankind and the Jewish people itself of these forgotten facts, which should be benefitting Israel to this very day.
SUSIE DYM Spokesperson, Mattot Arim
Rehovot
Cutting off one’s nose...Sir, – Two seemingly unrelated news items – “New Palestinian Authority law bans settlement products” and “Protest planned outside Scottish Parliament after authorities refuse to cancel Israel expo” (April 27) – are actually a sad, and unfortunately all too common, reflection of how much hate and vilification of Israel blocks even the most basic common sense.
Legally banning and outlawing goods manufactured in the “settlements” first and foremost harms the thousands of Palestinian workers employed in these industries, not to mention the entire Palestinian population, which also uses, sells and buys these goods. No matter that the Palestinian Authority has no alternative or even any plan to relocate/retrain those who will most likely be fired because of highly reduced consumption by local Palestinians, nor does anyone even think of where else the local population can find these goods. The Palestinian prime minister’s hate and contempt for Israel overwhelms any logical and rational thinking – and let’s not forget that he is a distinguished economist to boot!
Likewise, no matter that many of the achievements displayed at the Israel exhibition in Scotland are as helpful and crucial to Scotland as anywhere else. In fact, it is safe to say that the same groups that so vilify Israel, including those in the Scottish Parliament who so viciously and vociferously condemn Israel at every opportunity, are probably using Israeli computer and other high-tech innovations in both their everyday and professional lives – including spreading their venom and petitions online! Even if unaware of how much even the worst Israel bashers in Scotland (and everywhere else) are dependent on Israeli brainpower, better to hate and boycott the “rogue” state to be politically correct than let the fact that Israel has been so successful in scientific, medical and technological fields be publicly acknowledged.
“Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” may be an old cliché, but it certainly applies to both the anti-Israel Scottish parliamentarians and the PA.
GERSHON HARRIS Hatzor Haglilit
...to spite one’s face?Sir, – Thanks for publishing Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit’s hopes that we will go “back to the little Israel that we knew and loved” (“Avishai Margalit: Lift the siege!,” Independence Day Supplement, April 20).
“Ending the occupation is a moral and Zionist imperative,” he says. And that’s just what the Arab League Peace proposal of 2002 (re-endorsed in 2007) proposes for comprehensive security and peace.
And yet a recent
Jerusalem Post editorial, “62, under a US cloud” (April 19) says that we are “rejected by most of the Arab world because of the very fact of our existence here.” Why such denial about the Arab world’s peace offer, as it does indeed accept our existence here? It’s been on the table for nearly eight years, and we’re the ones who have been the “rejectionists.” It is rightly said that we cannot afford to lose even one war. And we worry about annihilation.
Meanwhile our defense minister warns us that the continued settlement-building is turning us slowly into an irreversible binational state. But then why do we reject the Arab League offer of complete and total peace and security, as well as demographically Jewish permanent borders?
How could it fail to look to the world that we prefer our conquests and settlements over comprehensive peace and security? And how can it fail to look that way even to us in our honest moments?
Larry Derfner courageously tells us truths about ourselves that it would make us more comfortable not to see (“Wanna buy a bridge, Mr. Mitchell?,” April 29).
Why does the
Post soft-peddle the settlement-building and say that Israel’s mistake with the Biden visit was only over timing of the expansion announcement – rather than with the 40-year policy itself? The Right, ironically, has become Zionism’s worst enemy.
JAMES ADLER Cambridge, Massachusetts
Appreciation: Rabbi Bernie Lipnick
Sir, – On Yom Ha’atzma’ut, the US, Israel, and the world mourned the
passing of a truly great and righteous man, Rabbi Bernard Lipnick
(April 29, 1926 – April 20, 2010).
A committed Zionist, in 1949 he took leave from Rabbinical School in
New York, boarded a cargo ship for Israel with $80 in his pocket and an
8-inch Bowie knife. There, as a radio newsman stationed with IDF
troops, he broadcast to listeners worldwide stories of Israel’s
struggle to become a new nation. Over the next 62 years, he travelled
to Israel over 50 times, in addition to visiting synagogues all over
the world to learn, study and teach Judaism and Jewish values. His
immense contribution to Jews worldwide, Israel, and everyone with whom
he came in contact cannot accurately be put into words in one letter to
the editor.
Farewell, Rabbi Lipnick.
EDWARD ADLER
Chicago