January 1, 2017: Swan song Concerning

Good riddance to Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Ambassador Samantha Powers.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Swan song Concerning
 “Kerry’s swan song: Settlers define Israel’s future” (December 29), the Obama-Kerry-Powers regime, as is usual with the anti-Israel, politically correct, deluded and romanticized Left, conveniently ignores or fails to even remotely address facts, truth or reality.
For a century, the Arabs have pathetically and tragically rejected or violated every deal despite the repeated dissection and downsizing of Israel to almost indefensible borders.
They have never accepted Israel, only raining down genocidal terrorism. The so-called settlements have been corruptly used by the Palestinians, Islamic terrorists, the UN and now US President Barack Obama to delegitimize and ultimately, God forbid, annihilate Israel.
There is no precedent of any country returning land captured (in Israel’s case, recaptured) in wars of self-defense – more so, of course, land that is biblically, historically and legally its own, and critical to its very survival.
Good riddance to Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Ambassador Samantha Powers. Let them ride off into the sunset, settle in Damascus and enjoy the abundant fruits of their brilliant eight years of Middle East achievement.
ALAN CROOCK
Kfar Saba
It is interesting to note that in the “Kumbaya” speech US Secretary of State John Kerry felt so compelled to give before going, he left out the UNESCO vote obliterating Israel’s ties to anything Jewish in the land. He also failed to mention that the Arabs want a state that is judenrein or, in layman’s terms, Jew-free.
It would be interesting to see the results of two states for two peoples when one of the states does not allow a Jewish person to be there, vote there or have the same rights as Arab neighbors. That would work well, I’m sure.
DEBRA FORMAN
Modi’in
It is time for Israel to bring the matter of the Mandate for Palestine front and center. Not only does it encourage the Jewish people to build anywhere and everywhere in what was then called Palestine (which included the so-called West Bank), it urges all to help us do so.
The mandate remains in force as international law, and any resolution against it is illegal.
Hence, the recent vote in the UN Security Council is worth less than a worm’s lunch. The world body had a responsibility to let the members know that the resolution would be impossible to implement.
EDMUND JONAH
Rishon Lezion
High ground
In “Settlements, sovereignty, Obama and the Palestinians” (Comment & Features, December 29), David J. Martin glibly dismisses the immense strategic value of the Judean and Samarian highlands, so essential to Israel’s security, in an effort to downplay one of the Right’s rationales for a Greater Israel. He suggests that “technological changes in warfare” neutralize the value of this buffer zone, ignoring the fact that while technology is constantly evolving, the commanding views remain forever.
Well over two millennia ago, Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote: “Do not attack an enemy that has the high ground.” It was true then. It is true today.
I invite Mr. Martin to my home to see with his own eyes the strategic height, territorial depth and vital airspace that these lands afford our tiny country.
MICHAEL GOTTLIEB
Ginot Shomron
‘Bibi’s fight’
Your December 28 editorial “Bibi’s fight” must have Gershon Agron, founding editor of The Jerusalem Post, spinning in his grave.
I don’t know if the thinking represented in this piece of nonsense is the result of your relationship with the leftist, anti-Netanyahu Ma’ariv, or a residual of ghetto-Jew thinking, according to which the goyim can do as they please to the Jews, but if the Jews fight back, it’s a provocation of the goyim that must be avoided at all costs.
If the former is the case, then I wish to remind you that it was David Ben-Gurion who said “Oom, shmoom” on more than one occasion when derisively referring in Hebrew to the United Nations. If it is the latter, it is time for a general housecleaning of your editorial staff and the defeatist leftists who seem to have taken over.
If this keeps up, my wife and I will have to reconsider our subscription.
JOEL BLOCK
Haifa
While there is much in “Bibi’s fight” that I agree with, there is one point you make that does not assess the facts correctly.
You take Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to task for having summoned on Christmas Day the ambassadors of countries that supported the recent UN Security Council resolution on settlements, saying this must have been disconcerting for Christian-majority countries. Yet you say nothing about the fact that diplomats rushed to vote on the UN resolution when it was the Jewish Sabbath in the country most affected by it, something that might be offensive to Israeli Jews.
What would have happened if the vote had taken place the following week or even the week after that? Barack Obama would still be president of the United States and he could have made whatever point he thought he was making on a day that did not conflict with Shabbat.
Sometimes, a measure for a measure is appropriate.
BARRY EISENBERG
Jerusalem
Greater good
The brouhaha over the upcoming ban on plastic bags (“Plastic bag ban to take effect on January 1,” December 28) is so dramatic, one would think we are being asked to give up coffee or television for life.
Four years ago, I bought two plastic totes for NIS 3 each and am still using them. What is the big deal? Three of the biggest selling points are that it is so much quicker to pack groceries with sturdy totes than with wimpy plastic bags; the totes stand up in my car rather than schlumping over; and they are so much easier to carry. They are a good thing, so why does the government have to bend over backwards to get people to do this? Why do we expect such little cooperation from our population? If an issue like this creates such consternation, how will we ever tackle big issues like smoking laws, bikes and motorcycles on sidewalks, speeding and running red lights? Or will the new law be repealed because, like many others, it will be “too hard for the people”? People need to stop whining and start cooperating. I hope that in my lifetime, we grow a sense of community in Israel, where a majority of the population wants to do what is right for the greater good.
K. BRONSTEIN
Petah Tikva
Trial and error
Zionist Union MK Amir Peretz’s self-promoting “Why I am running for the Labor Party leadership” (Comment & Features, December 23) reads like a sales pitch used by underhanded used-car dealers. It is similar to the many leadership forays the left-leaning writer has presented to our flawed political system to no avail.
As a former Histadrut leader, what has Peretz done to eliminate the 30% poverty trap that the poor continually endure in this country? Can he explain the fiasco of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which he oversaw as defense minister? Where was he when rockets were flying over his home town of Sderot daily during the string of Gaza conflicts? We don’t need any more political opportunists who use us as an experiment through tragic trial and error.
JACK DAVIS
Jerusalem