By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Sarsour lemonsRegarding “No truth to the Palestinian Jesus” (July 12), let’s take this opportunity to put to bed forever Linda Sarsour’s absurd claim that Jesus was Palestinian.If her remark held even a modicum of truth, then why for the past 2,000 plus years is there no mention anywhere of the generous monthly stipend his family would have reaped from the relevant authorities as someone who should have been revered as a martyr?Yes, absurd – but no less so than the ridiculous proclamations of Sarsour, whose verbal outpourings and rhetoric must be ridiculed and refuted. She takes “fake history” to a whole new level in her attempt to negate someone else’s heritage in order to fabricate her own.STEPHEN VISHNICKTel AvivDavid Parsons argues with the notion that Jesus was a Palestinian. There is a wise Talmudic saying, “One should not argue/discuss/debate with fools since one will soon be indistinguishable from them.” The same applies here.Arguing with the concept of the Palestinian Jesus is akin to arguing that the moon is not made of green cheese – especially since everybody knows that Jesus was planted on earth by an advanced alien civilization from somewhere in our galaxy, perhaps a constellation near the Great Bear. Israeli TV recently interviewed the leader of the sect who believes that the earth is flat. Is there any point to arguing with that as well? Wait, I’ll check my horoscope (Taurus) to see if my arguments will bear fruit this month.YIGAL HOROWITZProfessor Emeritus of RadiationPhysics and debunker of nonsenseBeershebaExclusive to The Jerusalem Post – here is Linda Sarsour’s revised list (still a work in progress) of who is Palestinian: Jesus, Moses, Einstein, Freud, Caesar, Roseanne Barr, the Smothers Brothers, Peter Pan, Golda Meir, George Washington, Vladimir Putin, Queen Elizabeth and Roger Waters.Who knew?Actually, she might be on to something there about Roger Waters…GEORGE SYDNEYPhiladelphiaSlippery Silwan statementsRegarding “In recognition of the Judeo-Christian values upon which both nations were founded” (July 11), Gershon Baskin claims, “Israel is planning to evacuate dozens of Palestinian families from Silwan and transfer their homes to Jewish settlers – who have nothing to do with the properties or history of the area for the last few hundred years.”One can perhaps admire him for identifying with the Palestinians, but not for following their propensity for distorting the facts by claiming there is no Jewish connection to Silwan.While driving in Jerusalem recently, one of my Jewish passengers pointed to a side street and said, “That’s where I was brought up after our family was evacuated from Silwan because of the prewar rioting.”Not everyone has the opportunity to hear local history first hand, but everyone should expect a respected newspaper such as The Jerusalem Post to ensure that its columnists pushing an agenda are not playing fast and loose with the facts. Otherwise how can I, or anyone, know the truth that he distorts or believe anything other than what is written?BOB KNIGHTModi’inIt is your right to print opposing views. However, to allow Gershon Baskin to fabricate history is not presenting an opposing view, it is rewriting history.History clearly confirms that the area of Silwan was vacant during Ottoman control. In the 1850s, the area was a mixed Jewish-Arab village. In the 1880s, Yemenite Jews moved into the community. These Jewish homeowners were brutally attacked during programs of 1921 and 1929. In 1939, these Jewish occupants were evacuated for their own safety and Arabs stole the homes, without compensation. So any effort today to right the wrong of 90 years ago is not evicting legal Arab residents; it is an effort to restore the rightful property to the Jewish owners who were forced out by the Arab mobs.Silwan has a 3,000-year Jewish history. It is very easy to overlook the truth, as most readers lack knowledge to understand the facts of the conflict and history.The excavation of a road that dates some 2,500-3,000 years is not an effort to draft a new reality; the discovery puts history and current events in perspective.Please give (and stick to) the facts.ELIEZER COHENCedarhurst, NYNew (Anti) Israel FundI enjoyed reading “Is Nir Barkat for or against the New Israel Fund?” (July 11).When Barkat was mayor of Jerusalem, he used their money to improve conditions in his city. J Street has been spending their funds, together with money from Europe, to increase their control over the internal politics of Israel. We know, for example, that they channeled funds last week to anarchists who were inciting young Israelis of Ethiopian parentage to cause as many problems as possible when they demonstrated in order to make life more difficult for citizens caught in terrible traffic jams. Most Israelis have tried to absorb our brethren from Ethiopia as well as possible and few of us judge them by their color. I suggest that J Street and their European allies direct their money to help people here in Israel rather than simply trying to deface our prime minister.BARBARA SHAMIRJerusalemJewish disappearing actRegarding “Peretz slammed for ‘second Holocaust’ remarks” (July 11), Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz was criticized for saying that intermarriage of US Jews has resulted in a loss of six million Jews, which is comparable to a second Holocaust.In the 1950s, the Jewish population of the USA was approximately 5.5 million out of a total population of about 150 million, or about 3.7%.Currently the US population is estimated at 329 million, yet the Jewish population is still about 5.5 million, or 1.7%. Had the proportion of Jews remained at 3.7% (as it was in the early 1950s), today there would be about would be about 12 million Jews there – some 6.5 million above the current estimated population.Where did those 6.5 million Jews disappear to? Certainly most did not immigrate to Israel. The obvious answer is exactly what Rabbi Peretz concluded, that most of these Jews were lost to intermarriage.Perhaps it isn’t politically correct to call this a “second Holocaust” as Rabbi Peretz stated, but the facts remain that intermarriage in the USA was the major cause of the significant proportional reduction of Jews there.ABRAHAM BROTPetah TikvaDiscussing sexual orientationAccording to “Peretz: Gay conversion therapy works” (July 14), Education Minister Rafi Peretz endorses gay conversion therapy. I have worked for years as a social work professional, counseling young people who are consider the option of sex change or same-sex relationships. There is nothing better than a proper environment for such life decisions to be discussed.Peretz has taken a step in the right direction by making it clear that someone can opt out of a same-sex relationship by exploring the options with a proper mentor or counselor.ARIELLA RUBINJerusalemImmune from indictmentRegarding “Why an immunity law is necessary for Israeli democracy” (July 5), I couldn’t agree more with Shoula Romano Horing, who has been a criminal attorney and a law professor for the past 26 years in Kansas City, Missouri.I wonder how many of our pundits have absorbed this eye-opening article. As stated, in most Western democracies, a sitting head of the executive branch is immune from criminal indictment or prosecution while in office, including in the presidential and parliamentary systems of the US, France, Britain, Germany, Canada and Australia, with the sole purpose of protecting democracy by shielding the national leader’s capacity to perform his duties under the mandate granted him in a national election.I am sick and tired of all the bashing of our most dear prime minister by the opposition leaders and parties instead of appreciating all that he has done in protecting and defending our tiny God given nation.Just take a look around how our nation is blooming in prosperity in every field. A small piece of advice: “You don’t have to extinguish another candlelight in order to see the light of your own candle. If it is bright enough, your candle will always shine.”N.E. SAMUELYavne(Un)lucky strikeRegarding “The question Israel’s leaders ask every day: Will tomorrow be too late?” (July 9), Eric Mandel acknowledges that a key argument against a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities – that Israel cannot totally destroy the Iranian nuclear program – but he contends that the argument “misses the point,” because “[d]elaying the program five or 10 years, which would be the case with an Israeli strike, could be game-changing.”He may be right, but his observation clashes with one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s key comments in his March 3, 2015 speech to Congress against the proposed nuclear deal with Iran. He warned, “Iran could get to the bomb by keeping the deal, because virtually all the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program will automatically expire in about a decade. Now, a decade may seem like a long time in political life, but it’s the blink of an eye in the life of a nation.”Mandel, at least, raises the question whether delaying Iran’s nuclear program five or 10 years is “worth the price Israel will pay if tens of thousands of missiles are unleashed, capable of hitting everywhere in the country, while the negative diplomatic fallout will be enormous,” and he doesn’t pretend to have an easy answer. Netanyahu did not confront questions of this kind. He posed the choice as one between the proposed deal and a stronger deal, but, in so doing, portrayed the proposed deal as worse than no deal at all, dismissing a 10-year delay as inconsequential. He still does.If it is even conceivable that such a delay might be worth the price Israel would pay for a preemptive strike, then perhaps such a delay is also worth the price of the deal with Iran: waiver of sanctions. Of course, if ending the deal leads to a stronger, better deal, and not to a need for a preemptive strike, all well and good. But the true risks involved shouldn’t be obscured by rhetoric.SHALOM BRILLIANTRa’ananaDoomed to repeat the past?Regarding “Netanyahu: We won’t uproot settlements in any peace plan” (July 11), what happened to the pledge our prime minister made in April that if reelected, he would extend sovereignty to communities in Judea and Samaria? Instead, he demolished a Jewish community and still refuses to prevent and destroy illegal Arab construction. He pledges not to “repeat mistakes of past,” but has had every opportunity to rectify those mistakes and refuses.He suggested in the past that Jewish owners need not leave their communities, but could continue to live there even when the “Palestinians” are given our land in a “peace” deal. How dare he talk of our people living under terrorist rule and how dare he talk of negotiations over the Jewish land?Our historic homeland would be free of the terrorism he encourages by refusing to destroy our enemies who he insists must be integrated into our society – even as they murder and pillage and burn our land. He has brought us to the edge of the abyss with his concessions and surrender to the terrorists.We need leadership that is proud of our heritage and will do everything in its power to keep the land as a Jewish state for the Jewish people with freedom to walk throughout without fear of attack, basking in the delights of the land that God returned us.YENTEL JACOBSNetanyaViolence on tapRegarding “6,000 riot along Gaza border in 66th week of protests” (July 14), perhaps if Israel would enforce that which was negotiated, demand that Gaza live up to it without rioting at and crossing our borders, digging under our borders, and sending bombs and fire balloons over our borders, there would be a chance at a cold detente. Calling for an increase in fishing mileage and an increase in work permits when the other side fails to comply with anything is not a recipe for success.SAM ROSENBLUMBeit ShemeshAs I am not a soldier, I can’t begin to imagine how it is possible to defend the border line against thousands of violent rioters (armed with firearms, firebombs and other weapons) without fatal casualties. I salute the bravery and restraint of the young men and women of the IDF – the most moral army in the world.HELENE ZWEIGBeersheba
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