By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: PIXABAY)
“How Israel’s deterrence against Hamas vanished in facts and figures” (December 2) throws light on the cost of the current trend to appease Hamas out of fear of reprisals and repercussions.While I supported former defense minister Avigdor Liberman’s stance threatening massive retaliation for Hamas’s unceasing rocket attacks and balloon warfare, I was disappointed in his capitulation to the pacifists and their decision to extend the Hamas fishing rights, to allow Qatar to send $15 million and 10 trucks of fuel as a reward for their recalcitrance. My objection hinged on the lack of logic and the poor negotiating strategy of rewarding belligerence and murder.The article validated my objection with facts and figures. We have all to lose and nothing to gain by appeasing Hamas. We have all to gain by again showering Hamas with a timely round of “Israeli punishment” in the form of a massive attack on Gaza.I hope those in power reconsider their strategy and teach Hamas that attacks against Israeli civilians will cost them more than they stand to gain. Appeasement often results in more casualties than warfare. The chorus of voices of those who advise appeasement should look at the facts and figures, and reevaluate their approach to Hamas and its terrorist network.YOCHEVED MIRIAM ZEMELGivat Ze’evMathematics of UN delusionRegarding “The UN’s delusion” (December 3), why bother with those people? Nothing will make them change; they come from pure hatred of the Jewish people. The editorial notes that the UN twists the truth about the Temple Mount, excluding the millennia-old Jewish connection to Jerusalem, but it is not a big leap to observing how little importance we place on our Temple Mount and other holy sites. We allow the Muslims unfettered access to the Mount, where they are free to dig, destroy and make fools of us.The prime minister chooses to keep the status quo there, which makes no sense. No matter how much he bends to our foe’s will, it will never be enough, even though he has all but accepted dhimmitude. This alone should have brought about his dismissal had we any pride or shame. Because Islam was not around until 2,200 years after Judaism, it has no claim to any of our land or holy sites. To allow them any claim is to bring us to the present situation where they are the master and we the underling, so it is not difficult to see why haters jump on any excuse to exclude us from what is now regarded as Arab property and Israel as occupiers – and we did it all by ourselves!Who needs enemies when we are so determined to self-destruct?PHYLLIS STERNNetanyaIn your editorial, you write: “That [resolution] and another, which was approved 156-8, spoke of al-Haram al-Sharif without mentioning that Jews and Christians call it the Temple Mount and that it is Judaism’s holiest site.” When it comes to the UN, its declarations are in inverse proportion to the truth – i.e. y = 1/x.As Daniel Pipes mentioned in his “The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem” article, “‘Jerusalem’ appears in the Jewish Bible 669 times and ‘Zion’ (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154 times, or 823 times in all. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion seven times.In contrast, notes columnist Moshe Kohn, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Zion’ appear as frequently in the Koran “as they do in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, the Taoist Tao-Te Ching, the Buddhist Dhamapada and the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta.” Which is to say, not even once.I would not be surprised if 156 UN members voted for a resolution that 2+2=5 if it could in some way delegitimize Israel.MLADEN ANDRIJASEVICBeershebaWe do not have to quote Daniel Patrick Moynihan, as great a friend of the State of Israel as he was, to defend our right to the Land of Israel, and especially Jerusalem.As the great commentator Rashi quotes Rabbi Yitzchok on the very first verse of the Torah: “...should the nations of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, for you have taken by force the lands of the Seven Nations, they [Israel] will say to them: ‘All the earth belongs to G-d. He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit. It was His will to give it to them and it was His will to take it from them and give it to us.’”That is enough proof for the Jewish people to deny the UN’s continuous delusions.AVRAHAM FRIEDMANGanei Modi’inNetanyahu’s futureRegarding “Police: Indict Netanyahu on bribery, fraud charges” (December 3) I may be misreading, but it seems to me the analysis of Yonah Jeremy Bob suggests that either by means of attaining his voluntary resignation or through his indictment, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit intends to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cease to be Prime Minister. If that is the real implication of this article, it should of course be its headline.And if this is in fact what the Attorney-General intends to do, then it will certainly outrage many in the Israeli public who believe there is at present no substitute of comparable stature who can be responsible for Israel’s security.These are big ‘ifs’ and perhaps your correspondent could explain if the first ‘if’ is what he intended.SHALOM FREEDMANJerusalemHebraizing names Morgan Freeman is not (yet) a member of the “tribe,” contrary to what is implied by the spelling of his name (Freedman) under his photo on p. 12 (December 3).ROSALIE MORIAHJerusalemWhat’s in it for us?Kudos to The Jerusalem Post on their artistic flair. In “Black hole discovered outside Milky Way” (October 3), the article uses white type on a black background. It certainly was an eye-catcher.There has always been lively discussion in the sciences (especially in Physics) about the benefits of esoteric research to society in general – aside, of course, from keeping thousands of scientists happily employed. These days the discussion should intensify considering the astronomical costs of “big” science, including astronomy.The pros of the debate have usually centered on “spin-off” benefits; the cons have argued that the vast sums might better spent elsewhere. The article informs us that these new findings will allow the determination of the mass of the black hole, have demonstrated that the gas clouds swirl around the black hole and will, hopefully, further inform us about galaxy growth, but maybe it’s time for astronomers to list and discuss some of the spin-off benefits for the general public.YIGAL HOROWITZProfessor (Emeritus) of Radiation PhysicsBeershebaTrump and NetanyahuRegarding “Netanyahu’s pandering to Trump is a serious threat to Israel’s long-term security” (December 3), what’s the difference between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pandering to US President Donald Trump and any other prime minister pandering to any other American president these past 70 years?I’ll tell you. Trump is the friendliest US president since 1948, as MK Michael Oren said recently in Ma’aleh Adumim. So, what should Bibi do? Ignore Trump? Insult him, as president Barack Obama did to Netanyahu on numerous occasions?For all his faults, our prime minister has made great inroads with establishing and strengthening Israel’s foreign relations with countries like India, Russia, China and many in Africa, to name just a few. Thank God he went to the floor of the US Congress to blast the pending Iran nuclear agreement. Bibi has been speaking about the threat of Iran to the free world for decades already, usually as a lone voice in the wilderness, but now he has in Trump a comrade who shares his views.I pray for the day that Israel will no longer be dependent on any US or any other foreign government’s aid to ensure its existence. We have a very close friend in the US now, especially with Trump, but God help us if the liberal-progressive-socialist wing of the Democratic Party ever takes control of the government in America.NORMAN DEROVANMa’aleh AdumimWho can retell?A little knowledge can be dangerous.I am so sick of people with no more than a child’s understanding of Hanukkah twisting or inventing its historical facts to make it seem that the holiday validates their own agenda, no matter how odious that agenda is.In “An ignorant ‘New York Times’ trashes the Maccabees” (December 4), the rabbi sheds lights on some of media giants and individuals shamelessly transforming the “Festival of Lights” and truth into something dark and false.After reading the article, I appreciate the richness, depth and historical context of the holiday more than ever – and deplore those who retell and pervert it, flaunting their ignorance in the process.YONI FRIEDMANModi’inI agree with almost all of Shmuley Boteach’s article, but a sentence near the end of his article showed that he is also subject to prejudicial thinking.While it’s true that Thanksgiving was celebrated by those seeking their own form of religion, the phrase “ brave men and women who were forced to venture to a new world to practice the faith of their choosing” implies that they were seeking to introduce religious freedom when they were actually importing their own form of fundamentalist Christianity and persecuting those who disagreed with them.Almost more like Antiochus IV Epiphanes than the Maccabees!BOB KNIGHTModi’inBushwhackedRegarding “PM eulogizes Bush” (December 3), the Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, began on January 17, 1991. It was not Israel’s war, but we were targeted by 39 Scud missiles during a seven-week period by Iraq and most of us remember that traumatic time when we ran into our “sealed rooms” and put on our gas masks.Our government under prime minister Yitzhak Shamir wanted to respond to these attacks, but acquiesced to president George H. W. Bush’s request not to counterattack. The US feared that the Arab nations would then leave the coalition or join Iraq.It is no secret that there was enmity between Shamir and Bush, but Bush did authorize two batteries of Patriot missiles to be shipped and used in our defense. Ultimately, we did benefit from the destruction of Iraq’s military capabilities, though the cost was enormous.HELA TAMIRNeve Ilan
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