This is unacceptable, considering that the Border Police are the frontline troops in the war against terror in the capital.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORUpdated: FEBRUARY 7, 2016 00:07Letters(photo credit: REUTERS)The terror goes onI was distressed to read of the two Border Police officers shot outside Jerusalem’s Old City, one of whom later died (“Border policewoman killed in Jerusalem attack carried out by three Arab terrorists,” February 4), and was angered to learn that they were not equipped with protective vests.This is unacceptable, considering that the Border Police are the frontline troops in the war against terror in the capital.TREVOR DAVIS AseretHow sad that this happened so shortly after you published Caroline B. Glick’s “The IDF’s misplaced trust in the PA” (Our World, February 3). Unfortunately, this is not the only dangerous delusion by both the government and the IDF.Every day, we hear proud boasts from Hamas leaders about their tunnels having reached Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens them with a reaction “far stronger” than the summer 2014 operation. But just like last time, when Israelis living near Gaza complained about hearing drilling and digging under their homes and the IDF was unable to find any tunnels, we hear the same song again.Why do we not take a lesson from the Allied forces in World War II? Take block-buster bombs (if the US has not supplied us with any, I am sure our arms industry can supply some at short notice) and carpet-bomb the Gaza Strip along its side of the security fence. Surely, the craters will show where the tunnels are.Why do we always have to react? Prevention is better than a cure.EMANUEL FISCHER JerusalemWhat is wrong with our spineless leaders? Every day, we hear threats from the prime minister and defense(less) minister, but it’s just talk and bluster. Why are they not being pro-active? Closing Ramallah and other hot spots for a few hours is a waste of time and energy. For every terror event, close Palestinian villages for at least a week. Turn off their unpaid electricity for a specific time. Maybe the older people will persuade the younger ones to cease their murderous activities.JUDY PRAGER Petah TikvaFinding a solution to Israel’s all-consuming problem of widespread terrorism wherein our citizens have become a quarry for ferocious and hate-consumed Arabs is proving elusive.Being captured or killed in the act is patently no deterrent, so it is now time to harness the famous Israeli powers of inventiveness and creativity in order to prevent any further deterioration in our security.DAVID S. ADDLEMAN Mevaseret ZionThey can get along With regard to “Love chips away at barriers in ethnically split Cyprus” (International News, February 4), Cypriots on both sides of the island are apparently frustrated by the “occupation.”Can UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explain why young Greek and Turkish Cypriots are not running around knifing and shooting each other?AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN Ganei Modi’inWailing at the WallRegarding “Beyond the Wall” (Editorial, February 4), while I approve of the recent government decision to establish a non-Orthodox area at the Kotel, I think it remarkable that those who speak for pluralism and tolerance think they must make abusive remarks about all Orthodox folks.Their spokespersons know for a fact that the Orthodox have a “fetish” about the Kotel, so the Orthodox are devoid of any respectable religious feelings.Their spokespersons label the Orthodox as living in a ghetto, including, apparently, Orthodox Nobel Prize-winners who would not pray in their new area.The Orthodox, apparently, have no religious values worthy of being tolerated. To ascribe the lowest of motives to your opponent while implying that yours are the highest does not sound like pluralism to me.Please, do not respond by telling me the Orthodox are no better.That is not the point. My point is that the pluralists might not be as pluralistic as they want us to think.YEHUDA GELLMAN JerusalemThe writer is a professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Who was it who said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it will be believed? It is just such a tactic that many of your letter writers use when condemning adherents of Conservative and Reform Judaism with accusations of “deviating from the Torah” (“Western Wall prayer,” Letters, February 4).Since when was the debate, study and interpretation of Torah and Halacha regarded as deviation? On the contrary, they are the very heart of true Judaism.AMIEL SCHOTZ MeitarReader Gershon Dalin considers the new “liberal” Kotel prayer area a “Pyrrhic victory” fueled by “aging Jewish donors to Jewish federations.” He also asserts that Shabbat attendance at “liberal” synagogues is mostly due to a bar or bat mitzva.Synagogue attendance is hardly a good metric for Jewish survival.Almost all Jews attended services and kept the commandments in the ghettos, and the vast majority threw them off when the ghetto’s gates were breached.Mr. Dalin should inspect the restaurants and entertainment places on Friday night in Tel Aviv and most other Jewish cities.They are bursting with customers.They are mostly young Israelis (not “aging Jewish donors”) who serve in the army, work, pay taxes – in short, sustain the country. They could not care less about Mr. Dalin’s (or, for that matter, the Chief Rabbinate’s) opinions.Who knows? Some of them would even attend “liberal” (i.e., interesting and relevant) congregations if they were more available.Judaism is not an immutable fossil; it is like a tree with deep roots that adapts to the changing times and conditions.ALFRED INSELBERG Ra’ananaThat disconnect I read with great interest Eric Goldstein’s “An Israel for all of the Jewish people” (Comment & Features, February 1).UJA-Federation has been a leader in the American Jewish community for decades and yet, as the 2013 Pew survey pointed out, there is a growing disconnect between American Jews and Israel. Not surprisingly, this disconnect seems to be mirrored in the very lack of Jewish identity that UJA-Federation programs were meant to combat.Could it be that funding for so many diverse groups has facilitated this disconnect? The dissatisfaction of American Jewry with Israel is not an Israeli problem. It can be traced to the decades of malfeasance on the part of UJA-Federation and other organizations. When it becomes okay for bona fide Jewish organizations to lend their voice to the cacophony of nonsense that daily seeks to humiliate the State of Israel, what can anyone expect other than a massive disconnect from Judaism? UJA-Federation is behind the times – or perhaps ahead of its time, a time when the Pew survey will find no American Jews left to survey.JACOB HIMMELFARB JerusalemInaccurate headline The headline for Seth J. Frantzman’s February 2 Terra Incognita column. “Not a clash of civilizations; but world culture vs. Islamist culture.” was not accurate.The world faces a clash between civilization and barbarism.LESLIE PORTNOY NetanyaMany untold stories“The untold story of a Jewish freedom Rider” (January 31) was a well deserved tribute to Rabbi Allan Levine, who fought for civil rights in the segregated US South.He was one among many religious leaders who participated in the struggle, not always with their congregants’ blessings.Among them was my late husband, Rabbi Lipman Z. Rabinowitz, during the four exciting years we lived in New Orleans.RENEE RABINOWITZ FEIGENBAUM Netanya
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