By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)What the Ethiopians demonstratedRegarding “Tekah’s family: Stop the protests” (July 4), the Ethiopians’ level of violence against ordinary individuals, as reported by the mainstream and social media, has been counterproductive and reduces my sympathy for them. They are frustrated at the way they have been treated by Israeli society, but after demonstrating their violence, maybe the police attention and their army insubordination and prison rates are justified, and the policeman did fear for his life when attacked by the youth.Most Israelis I know believe that Jews are a caring people, not racist, but there are some blind spots, and many believe these demonstrations have exposed an unpleasant side of Israeli society. i.e. a racist attitude toward non-Ashkenazim.Why did the disabled have to similarly block roads for their grievances to be heard? Why do non-Orthodox couples have to fly to Cyprus to get married, etc.? Sometimes it seems that Israelis care more for the victims of an earthquake on the other side of the world than the neighbor across the road.Yet Israel is one of the most ethnically mixed countries there is, gathering as it does Jews from all over the world, and the vast majority of Israelis successfully co-exist, albeit with loud complaints!So, yes, these demonstrations underscore problems, and we can definitely do better, but demonstrations only once in a while maybe actually show how good Israel is at integration.BOB KNIGHTModi’inUnfortunately, regarding “Police see no difference between Arab and dark-skinned man” (July 4), the police have it all wrong. They should see no difference between a dark-skinned Jew and a light-skinned Jew.As far as Arabs are concerned it makes no difference between a light-skinned or a dark-skinned Muslim.In another vein, all of the people running for office in the Knesset have shown and proven that they don’t give a damn about the country or the Jewish people. They are only interested in placing their behinds on a chair and getting glued to it. There are many things that I do not agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about, but one thing is absolutely certain. There is not one of the characters running for office that has the ability to conduct and produce the diplomatic achievements obtained by him.JOE SIMONKfar AvivThe agonizing eruption of fury among the Ethiopians is an indictment of this nation and we are to blame for this ghastly tragedy that has been brewing like a menacing tumor and is now in full sight.There is something rotten in the State of Israel and one cannot say this is an isolated occurrence.We are a people divided. We do not mingle with those who are different. We are no longer the melting pot that produced spectacular successes in the early years of our establishment.Our leaders play the race card during each election. Our various strands of Judaism are mistreated by those who know how to shout loudest. Israeli sabras have their own cliques, rather like the country clubs in the Diaspora that forbade Jews as members. Our olim chadashim cling to one another according to their lands of origin and the ideal of a unified nation has dissipated.Soon the Ethiopians will stop blocking our highways and return to their sad little boxes and the rest of us can go to our summer parties with our exclusive friends.Will a Messianic age ever dawn in which we perhaps bus our children to play and be educated with their children? Will we ever invite them to join us on a hike, a picnic or even to a dinner party?They are Jews, so we can’t play the religion card. They are black and so we are playing the color card. That policeman won’t be punished because we are all on the same page; he is like the American cops whose murderous violence toward blacks doesn’t even raise an eyebrow.The brouhaha is nearly over. Let’s have a barbecue.SUSAN TUCKERNetanyaIn the wake of the current upheaval concerning the death of Solomon Tekah at the hands of an off-duty police man – no, he was not “murdered in cold blood” – the country, it seems, has lost all sense of proportion. While a gag order has been issued concerning the case pending thorough investigation, it is recognized that the officer went out of his way to break up a fight, that he called the police emergency unit for fear of his life, and that he sustained injuries from rocks thrown at him and required hospitalization.The Jerusalem Post is not subtle in citing the disproportionately high incidents of assaults on policemen by Israelis of Ethiopian origin and saying that “weak communities with low socioeconomic conditions, such as minorities, are more involved in crime than other populations,” even suggesting that Ethiopian parents have difficulty in bringing up their children and preventing them from “being at the wrong place and the wrong time.”Threatened by someone with a deadly weapon – yes, stones do maim and kill – a potential victim will first and foremost want to defend himself before considering whether the attacker is Arab or Jewish. Our sages teach us not to judge your fellow man until you are in his place.FRED GOTTLIEBJerusalemThere’s no planet BKol hakavod to Richard H. Schwartz for “An existential threat to Israel is being largely ignored” (July 4). He discusses many frightening examples of how Israel and, indeed, the entire world are increasingly threatened by climate change and why major action is needed as soon as possible to avert a climate catastrophe.And kol hakavod to The Jerusalem Post for publishing this important, challenging article. It reinforces the message in your June 14 editorial, “Save the beach,” in which you urge citizens to “demand that the environment be a central issue in the upcoming [election] campaign, [that] Israel should be a world leader in environmental protection, [and that] every candidate in every campaign forum should be asked, “What is your position ... to help sustain a healthy Israeli environment.” Please continue to use your outstanding reporters, commentators, and editors to help spread these urgent messages, because the future of Israel and all of humanity depends on it.BATZION SHLOMIAfulaThe gist of the article is that climate change is being driven by increasing CO2 produced by human activity, and that the changes are an existential threat to Israel.In fact there are many qualified scientists who question the first assumption. The article mentions that 97% of those studying climate change hold the view that human activity is the main cause of the phenomenon. If this were an election, 97% would be a landslide, and the case would be closed, but that isn’t how science works. There are a myriad of cases in the history of science where the popular view was found to be wrong. Science is decided by experiment and by prediction. In the case of climate science, experiments are not possible, so the CO2 hypothesis can be proven only by prediction.The hypothesis has a number of glaring holes. It does not explain known earlier warm periods such as those that occurred in Roman times and the medieval warm period. Most significantly, the predictions produced by the computer models since the late 1990s have been wrong. The temperatures they predicted were grossly higher than those that occurred. We should be highly skeptical of prophets that were wrong in the past. In fact, there has been no significant increase in atmospheric temperatures for the past 20 years.Secondly, we should look critically at secondary effects claimed by the alarmists. A favorite is the claim of increased and more severe hurricanes and typhoons; there is no statistical or logical basis for this. In any case, this is not a threat to Israel. The other claim is that melting icecaps will raise sea levels to swamp the coastal plain. To date only the Arctic icecap has diminished significantly, and as this is a floating cap, melting has no effect on sea levels. It has been estimated that the Greenland icecap may melt in about 1,000 years and cause significant increases in sea levels. I fact in the last century sea levels have risen a few centimeters, not a significant amount, and shifting tectonic plates may well negate this effect.The alarmists also ignore the positive effects of increased CO2, namely the very significant increase in plant growth, both natural and agricultural, an effect that can easily be proven experimentallyTo summarize; looking at the various threats to Israel, climate change doesn’t rate.STEPHEN COHENMa’aleh AdumimNo matter what one’s opinion is on a possible human role in global warming, everyone agrees that we should all do what we can to reduce pollution, littering, and unnecessary waste of resources (limit our use of disposable plates and cups, ride a bike once in a while instead of driving, etc.)It shouldn’t take a climate catastrophe to make us more considerate and thoughtful global citizens.TAMIR LEVINTiberiusThis land is our landCan we stop with the make-believe and tell it as it is?In “Two tales of one Western Wall visit” (July 2), British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, according to the Government Press Office visited the Old City of Jerusalem as part of his visit to Israel, whereas the statement issued by the British Consulate General in Arabic and English, explains that Javid visited not Israel, but “the Occupied Palestinian territories.”This parallels the make-believe situation with the Arab countries that our government so proudly boasts have turned to us in friendship. The bottom line there is that they want another state for the Arabs on our land plus the convenience of having us as allies against Iran, whom they are unwilling to confront themselves. Nothing more.We now have US senior adviser Jared Kushner saying, “I have a lot of respect for President Abbas, he’s devoted his life to make peace… I believe in his heart he wants to make peace,” adding that US President Donald Trump is “very fond of Abbas personally and that the door is always open for the Palestinian leadership” (“Trump fond of Abbas but PA reaction to Bahrain hysterical,” July 4)The reality is different. Abbas, a terrorist in a suit, has sworn to destroy us, encourages hate and vengeance in his state-controlled media and schools and denies any legitimacy by us to any part of our land and holy sites, saying that his ‘Palestine’ will not have even one Jew. Islam came only 2,200 years after Judaism, so from where do their rights to our Jewish land emanate? In the devious minds of our enemies and so called friends?Time to call a halt to this madness of negotiation over our land.EDITH OGNALLNetanya Regarding “German government contractor: IDF ‘executes’ peaceful Palestinian protesters” (July 4), Amnesty International representative Petra Schoning demonizes Israel at a speaking event. Among other things, she mislabels the disputed territories west of the Jordan River as “Palestinian territories.” The misnomer is commonly applied by pro-Arab and Arab propaganda sources, regardless of legal error, as fact, and reality is of no consequence to them. Those who seek truth or wish to avoid blatant anti-Israel bias employ terms such as “disputed territories,” “Judea and Samaria,” or “West Bank.”Since the early 1920s, no legal authority with the power to make international law has designated any territory in Palestine as the homeland of any nationality – not the League of Nations (following the Palestine Mandate given to Great Britain), the United Nations General Assembly (which, according to the UN Charter, has no power to create a country or apportion territory), nor UN Security Council, as in Resolution 242. It would be wise, therefore, for The Jerusalem Post to avoid such terminology in its reporting and leave it for commentators or propagandists who wish to misuse it to distort reality.BERNARD SMITHJerusalemJump on TrumpIn “Guns and Walls” (July 4), Anat Peled goes out of her way to denigrate and delegitimize what US President Donald Trump has done support of Israel.Peled says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went behind president Barack Obama’s back (he did in fact give the administration notification well in advance) in 2015 when he accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress, but this clearly shows that even when presented with the relevant facts of Iran’s subversiveness, which continues to be revealed daily, Obama still went ahead and signed the deal which included passing on billions to regimes that spread chaos via proxies in the Middle East.Thankfully, Trump has done right by standing by Israel, whether it’s placing the US embassy in Israel’s capital or recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights or with Nikki Haley’s assistance standing up to the bully boys at the UN – all relevant and legitimate issues that were crying out for attention for many years and it took a person who was willing to clear the swamp to achieve.To Trump’s detractors, the truth hurts. Hopefully the US-Israel relationship will be able to flourish until 2024 – and perhaps then Haley will throw her hat in the ring, hopefully creating the opportunity for the Stars and Stripes to continue to march in tune with the Star of David for more than a decade to come.STEPHEN VISHNICKTel AvivDead Sea visitors center“Study may help solve ‘snowy’ Dead Sea salt mystery” (July 3) was fascinating. It triggered me to wonder why there is no visitors center at the Dead Sea as there are in other interesting geographical sites in Israel, like Mitzpe Ramon, Golan Heights and Masada.There has been a real investment by the government to build a beautiful new beach area in Ein Bokek, and a bike promenade along the Sea itself, as well as a new mall with upscale stores. A Visitors Center could explain why the Dead Sea is so unique, and valuable as a major source of important minerals, health bathing, nature exploration and beauty.I hope the government will continue to develop this amazing location for tourism and learning about the lowest point on Earth.MARSHA ROTHJerusalem
Related Tagsecology
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
