Letters to the editor April 30, 2020: Annexation Anxieties

I was outraged by the words of the French Ambassador to the UN (“France warns of changes to Israel ties over settlement annexation,” April 24). He threatened that if Israel declares the sovereignty contained in the Trump peace proposal, this “would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel.”

This is the very same threat that France and England made in 1938, when they threatened to sever all ties with Czechoslovakia unless it agrees to cancel its sovereignty over the Sudetenland and to transfer this area to Hitler’s Germany.  This threat was made to appease Hitler, with the nations declaring “peace in our time.”  Abandoned by its “friends,” Czechoslovakia had no choice but to submit, thus creating the conditions that soon led to the Second World War.

European nations are now repeating the 1938 threats, “advocating sanctions on Israel” unless the West Bank is transferred to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.  However, unlike Czechoslovakia, Israel is a strong nation, with a powerful army, a thriving economy, and important support from the United States.  Therefore, we have no need to be browbeaten by European nations, who apparently have not learned the lesson of what happens when one tries to appease tyrants.

 

Regarding “Annexation will happen shortly, vows PM” (April 27), The Israeli government will not be “annexing the West Bank,” it will be formally delineating our country’s borders in the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria.

Under international law, Israel includes all of Judea, Samaria. The UN’s 1948 partition resolution is not law. The UN General Assembly makes recommendations, not laws. Only the Security Council creates law. Even so, Israel was prepared to share its land with the Arabs, but the Arab League refused, waged a genocidal war and lost all moral claims. Still, Israel sued for peace.

The Arabs, Europeans and international fora have yet to realize there has been a paradigm shift. The days when they could push Jews around with impunity is over. Israel is ranked among the 10 most important countries in the world. It is a technological giant. Its military is formidable. It can take care of itself.

Israel will implement the American peace plan with or without Arab participation. The Arabs can help modify the outlines of their state and get $50 billion for development, or they can refuse and stay on welfare.

I suppose Israelis are once more in a euphoric trance reading prime minister Netanyahu's statement "President Trump pledged to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (actually 30%) and in the Jordan Valley. In a couple of months from now, I'm confident that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism"

In fact, what we would be celebrating is yet another surrender to our enemies, even greater than all of Netanyahu's previous surrenders. It was God, not Donald Trump, who gave us the Land to build and settle for the Jewish People in perpetuity. Thousands of our people did not fight and die for us to surrender land to enemies who will never rest until we are destroyed. We should say “no” to even one dunam of the Jewish Land being surrendered.

Regarding “Owners, workers protest government in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv” (April 27), one can understand the “back to work” demands and malaise of small business owners, wherein one interviewee deplored his lack of business because “people are being depressed again.”

However, a business may be restored or a new one found, but a human life is lost forever. In a week, I paid online shiva calls to one friend who lost a daughter, another who lost her husband, one who lost her mother – all to corona virus. I am checking daily on a relative in the ICU plus two friends who are slowly recovering from the virus.

While this pandemic is still on the upswing, I think a better focus than small business owners would be on the nurses, doctors and essential workers who put their safety on the line every day in order to help others

 

Regarding “Could the Bible’s prohibition on eating bats have prevented coronavirus?” (April 26), I find it hard to understand the value of wondering whether the coronavirus pandemic may have been avoided if all humans kept kosher. Since kashrut is commanded only for Jews, pondering this point has no value.  

If you wish to wonder what human iniquity led to this worldwide disaster, it might be more beneficial to consider transgression of the Noahide Laws, which apply to all mankind, but I’ll leave that to others.

What really prompted me to respond to Shmuley Boteach’s article was the story of Michael Jackson, who was moved to donate $100 to fatten up a skinny cat in an impoverished village. The fact that the woman ate the cat after it was fattened was not only reasonable (since she was presumably malnourished) but she was actually giving Jackson the benefit of the doubt that he would not donate this money to a cat while ignoring the numerous human inhabitants of the village whose welfare surely merited more attention than a cat.  

Perhaps he did donate money to the human inhabitants, but in that case upon hearing of the cat’s fate, he should have concluded that he didn’t help them sufficiently and his remorse ought to have been for that.

Rehovot, Israel

 

Litzman leaves ministry post
Regarding “Why Litzman’s tenure in the Health Ministry came to an end” (April 26), although Rav Yaakov Litzman has been under fire for his handling of the coronavirus crisis as well as other issues, he should be given credit for his accomplishments.

These include instituting universal coverage for pediatric dental care, which for many families means the difference between their children getting dental and orthodontic treatment, or not.

He also only recently introduced a labeling program on food items, to mark products that have a high percentage of unhealthy ingredients.

He worked with sincerity and dedication on these as well as other health concerns.

 

Minister Yaakov Litzman is leaving the Health Ministry. It’s a shame it took so long, but then we find out that he decided to leave the post in favor of the Housing and Construction portfolio.

He was not qualified to be Health Minister, and was not very popular in this position because of the job he was doing.  Now is he willing to switch portfolios, because his Rabbi, the Gerrer Rebbe, wants him there. He told him “The Construction Portfolio was needed to help his haredi constituency.”

He also wants the Israel Lands Authority included.  What chutzpah! No mention of helping sectors of the population other than the haredi community. He already has an ulterior motive for wanting the job before he starts. He gets his orders from his rebbe; we know upfront who he is going to be listening to when making decisions.

Bias should make him unqualified for such an important portfolio.

 

Beit Shemesh  

Regarding “The emissary of the rabbis: Why Litzman left his post,” (April 27), in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) os says, “Hevay san’ut et ha’ra’banut”; which Rashi tells us is a clear warning against mixing religion and politics.

Is Minister Yaakov Litzman’s religious “handler,” Rabbi Yaacov Aryeh Alter, unaware of Pirkei Avot’s forewarning about attempting to mix religion and politics? Does Rabbi Alter have a rabbinic source that expresses a religious principle contrary to that espoused by Pirkei Avot? Can anyone involved in the Alter-Litzman combine rationalize the baseness of their activities?

As a dati Jew, I am mortified by the scandalous activities of these supposedly religious Jews. What shame they bring to our faith. Are they so dense/thoughtless that they are clueless over how many Jews are driven away from a religious lifestyle by their base/sinful activities?

Regarding “B’Tselem: Settler attacks rose due to coronavirus” (April 26), why does the Post still bother with B’Tselem?

B’Tselem is funded by Soros, the EU and other antisemitic groups. A few Jewish useful idiots serve as cover. It has two functions: it demonizes Israel internationally and turns over Arabs who sell land to Jews to the Palestinian Authority.

In this article, B’Tselem claims Israelis are attacking Arabs, while many Arabs are blaming Israel for the coronavirus, just as Jews were accused of causing the plague in the 1300s. The Jew-haters were wrong then and they’re just as vicious now.

 

B'Tselem claims that Jews living in Area C committed nearly 50 attacks on Palestinians in the past two months. How many of these attacks did B'Tselem report to the authorities? If no reports were made, the incidents mentioned in the article are easily dismissed as baseless accusations.

If the incidents were reported, and no action taken to investigate the veracity of the claims, I would think that the leaders of B'Tselem would have insisted that the failures of the Israeli police and/or courts be mentioned in the article.

I understand that not much can be said about matters still under investigation, but letting the readers know if there have been investigations, arrests, court cases, would be very valuable in helping readers weigh the validity and context of B'Tselem's charges.

Regarding “Why the coalition deal will lead to Likud's downfall” (April 24), Amotz Asa-El blames Likud’s “criminality” (April 24), for the huge new government, as “Gantz could not have demanded this gubernatorial bonanza, because his faction of 17 is far too small to man all the positions.”

Neither the writer nor I know what exactly was argued behind closed doors, but the simple fact is that Blue and White leader Benny Ganz is getting equal representation, but with only a third of the seats of the Likud bloc. It is hard to believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have gone this far without the pressure Gantz could exert as kingmaker. Even now, Gantz could surrender two thirds of his places, leaving Netanyahu with all the places he needs “to feed the Likud’s 36 lawmakers” and be seen as pragmatic, responsible and even patriotic! It seems obvious to me that both are equally to blame.

Perhaps a simple way to prevent such nonsense in future would be with legislation to limit the total budget for ministers. The prime minister would then have the ability to decide how many he needs, but the more he makes, the less they earn and the less cars and benefits they would claim. This would make the job of minister less attractive and might wean out those just there for the takings and, above all, put a ceiling on the cost to the taxpayer.

We finally have a government, one year late.

If this is the price to pay for democracy, so be it. Nonetheless, one should strive to reduce this price as much as possible. I have a few modest suggestions:

Inasmuch as there will be rotation between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Ganz, both should share the Balfour Street residence.  I am sure that it does not lack space.

In the same order of things, they should also split salaries and various perks. Witnessing this, ministers and deputies would most certainly agree to have their salaries halved. This should be in force until the economy returns to the level prior the first 2019 elections.

As for Knesset members, if they had any sense, they would forgo pay, at least until lockdown is rescinded. After all, had they not voted twice for new elections the country could have saved some billions that would have been useful to stock up on masks and test kits.

It is never too late to do the right thing.