When will we see these people who are dragging the good name of our country through mud standing before a judge?
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Hardly ‘great’ peopleRegarding “Magnate Steinmetz arrested in fraud case” (August 15), there is hardly a day that goes by when your pages do not headline the wrongdoings of our captains of industry, the incompetence of our executive management or the Israeli banks that fund their excesses. You even call them “magnates,” from the Latin magnus, meaning great.When will we see these people who are dragging the good name of our country through mud standing before a judge?HENRY HASLETONSde Nitzan History is history With regard to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s “Monuments to those who fought to continue slavery betray American values” (No Holds Barred, August 15), I would remind him that history is history whether he likes it or not.How about next giving in to the demands of the American Indians and renaming or stop marking Columbus Day? After all, that gets their knickers in a twist, right? Also, it was under communist and fascist dictatorships that symbols of the past were destroyed just because they were unpleasant to the new leadership.Is that what Rabbi Boteach really wants?JOEL BLOCKHaifaMisrepresentationFred Menachem’s opinion piece on America’s Jewish Democrats (“Jewish Democrats’ abandonment of Israel could threaten US national security,” Comment & Features, August 15) misrepresents their unwavering support for Israel.Mr. Menachem confuses criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies as anti-Israel, which is wrong.Supporting gender equality at the Western Wall or opposing Netanyahu’s call for amnesty for an Israeli soldier who wrongly killed a wounded Palestinian terrorist is not anti-Israel.To call Barack Obama, who gave more financial support to Israel than any other American president, a “colossal failure” at foreign policy is also incorrect.Obama ended the useless war in Iraq, negotiated the end of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and implemented significant climate change policies.Compare this to the incumbent Donald Trump, who tempers criticism of Russian sanctions and fails to condemn Israel’s most dangerous enemies, Syria and Iran. Trump’s support for Syria’s continued slaughter of its citizens in the name of fighting Islamic State is far more anti-Israel than anything America’s Jewish Democrats have ever supported.MICHAEL FRIEDMANLa Quinta, California Turning point...As a longtime subscriber to The Jerusalem Post and a citizen of both Israel and the United States, it has been a tempting notion to cancel my subscription to your paper. The reason is obvious to most Jews: You have been leaning toward support for US President Donald Trump for far too long. He is truly the Prince of Darkness.Therefore, I am happy to see the gradual editorial tilt toward recognition of what so many of us already saw and understood two years ago. Perhaps Charlottesville is the turning point for you (“Trump remains silent on neo-Nazis after violent rally,” August 14; “Condemning Charlottesville,” Editorial, August 15).Trump is an incompetent breeder of hatred. He is hopelessly ignorant, and any of us who have any fantasy that he will be good for Israel are hopelessly misguided. One day, even your verbose columnist Caroline B. Glick will understand Trump’s gross inadequacy.I am happy to see you joining most of America’s Jews in understanding this very sad reality.ROSANNE SKOPPHerzliya...and still dismayed Please add my name to those readers who are dismayed by The Jerusalem Post.The main reason for keeping my subscription is because there is no other English-language game in town for my wife to read. Otherwise, I finish reading the paper in about 10 minutes – it helps to skip all the opinion pieces, on both the left and right, written by the same columnists who never change their opinions or even acknowledge that perhaps the other side has at least one good point to make, or admit that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done at least one good thing during his premiership.You can now add to that the August 14 front-page analysis “Will Trump’s domestic chaos fuel global instability?” by Seth J. Frantzman.Conveniently tucked away on Page 10, in the continuation of the analysis, is an example of the leftist slant and “fake” news appearing in the Post. Mr. Frantzman writes: “But Obama enjoyed stability at home. There were no leaks... no scandals....”What about the scandals of the Veterans Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Hillary Clinton’s destruction of emails and cell phones, hacking into the Democratic National Committee and attorney-general Loretta Lynch meeting former president Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac during the election campaign? The reason there were “no scandals” is because the mainstream media ignored them and did not demand investigations.AVRAHAM FRIEDMANGanei Modi’in Diaspora’s debt The Six Day War changed all of our lives significantly.Many people in today’s Diaspora were not yet born 50 years ago, when the bravery of Israelis, forced into a war, defeated hordes of attackers in six days.Recently printed discussions of the Six Day War have omitted an important aftermath, namely, the enormous lasting benefits that we in the Diaspora received as a result of that historic war.That omission nowadays is especially unfortunate.Before 1967, Jewish persons, myself included, had the constant feeling that we were looked down upon by the gentile majority. Too frequently, we overheard the word “Jew” being spoken in a derogatory, belittling tone, or in an obviously pejorative context. Personally, even among numbers of good Christian friends, there was constantly a chip waiting to be knocked off my shoulder even though insults were not at that time verbalized.Discomfort at being part of a disliked minority constantly lurked at the back of my mind.And then, immediately after Israel’s remarkable 1967 victory, it was suddenly a widespread, shining honor to be a Jew.There were no more references to “the little Jew.” Suddenly, we American Jews were looked upon as giants even though our contributions to that victory were mainly monetary and political, and only a few brave Americans had gone to fight in harm’s way.Legislators, performers, writers and others lost their inhibitions about allowing their Jewish identity to circulate and about using Yiddish expressions. Comedians increased their use of Jewish shticks. People generally showed increased interest in learning about Judaism. Our Jewish comfort level in the US zoomed way up in 1967 after those historic six days in June.Of course, attitudes change with time, prejudice, economics and so forth, and around the world as well as in Israel, opinions vary widely regarding Israeli politics and policies. But throughout Israel’s existence, its beleaguered people have overall been admired as a beacon of hope, accomplishment and pride to all of us. For this, Diaspora Jews can never repay the Israelis.Regarding our moral debt to Israelis for their beneficial legacy to us and focusing at the moment on the watershed change in our Jewish comfort level that resulted from the Six Day War, we must never let it be forgotten – ever.ROBERT J. GOLDISHMinneapolis, Minnesota
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