Maybe it’s time for the EU and other organizations to set up shop in some ME countries - even the human rights strongholds of Saudi Arabia and Libya.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSThe real rights violationsSir, – With all the human rights violations that are happening in all the Arab dictatorships in the Middle East, it would seem that monies from the EU and other foreign countries and organizations would be better utilized in exposing them (“Egypt: Protesters criticize Mubarak, demand change,” April 14). Instead of constantly trying to influence public opinion in Israel, these bodies should concentrate on Hamas’s executions of citizens in Gaza, the use of young children in digging tunnels, and the murder of Arabs who legally sell land to Jews.If these organizations truly believe in the work they are doing for human rights and equality, why aren’t they exposing these and other horrific acts committed by these people, rather than condemning the only true democracy in the Middle East – one that tries to act as fairly as possible, even if that means accommodating their sworn enemies?Maybe it’s time for these organizations to set up business in some of the countries in the Middle East, including Gaza and the PA, and even the human rights strongholds of Saudi Arabia and Libya. Perhaps then these groups will be able to accomplish their true goals.JONATHAN SURASKYBeit ShemeshProblems at homeSir, – Before we blame others for our problems, let’s clean up our own house.Anna Kamm is under house arrest, in the company of family and friends (“Supreme Court extends, toughens Kamm’s house arrest,” April 15). Our education system is going downhill. We, the over-60 crowd, are still reading the newspaper; the younger generation has to get up early to attend the opening of H&M.There is a dangerous silence right here at home.OLGA P. WIND HolonResponse to the ‘drift’Sir, – This gentleman from Chicago has succeeded in doing to me what nothing else has managed to do over the past couple of months: propel me into writing another letter to The Jerusalem Post (“We’ve drifted apart,” Letters, April 15). He seems to be claiming that he has “been there, done that,” and talks about being “saddened” and “insulted” by our government’s stance on many aspects of our extremely complicated reality in this, our land and the land of our forefathers, that we regained and are holding onto for dear life.He has the audacity, resting on his laurels in Chicago, to cynically blame the completion of his assimilation on Israel, still a very young and very inexperienced country, replete with constraints that do not exist in any other country in the world. I cannot understand how, as a child of a Holocaust survivor, Mr. Williams forgets that there were a good number of assimilated Jews and their children whose ancestors had been living for centuries in relative safety, in dozens of European countries, who did not survive.Mr. Williams’s parent was fortunate to have found safe haven in America, but things can change in America, too.LINDA STERNSafedClear and present danger...Sir, – The following is an open letter to the prime minister:There are now over seven million Jewish Israelis living in our beautiful country. As a citizen here, I feel I can state for myself, and perhaps for the majority of us, that we are very concerned over the prospect that Iran may have nuclear weapons capability in the very near future (“‘Iran could have enough enriched uranium for a bomb in one year,’” April 15). This amounts to living in a state of clear and present danger. Please don’t be the first prime minister in 62 years to (knowingly) let an enemy state have the capability to destroy our country.I personally believe that this is the primary reason behind the attack on the Iraqi reactor over 25 years ago – i.e., prime minister Menachem Begin could not live with the notion of having a similar development of epic proportions take place while he was in office. He knew he might not win, but also knew he had to try, because the State of Israel lives on miracles. It is simply a reality here. Although the players are different in this generation, the stakes are the same.Remember one thing Mr. Netanyahu: Every battle is won before it is ever fought.HIRSCHEL (HARRY) MOSKOFF Tel Aviv...not just ‘victimhood’Sir, – Larry Derfner writes that he feels he is living in an insane asylum. (“Victimhood Forever Day,” April 15). Reading his article, I feel that it could have been written by an inmate of such an institution.Who else would pooh-pooh the existential threat facing Israel with the Iranian claim that they are close to possessing a nuclear weapon and that they will eliminate the state of Israel? To believe that our presumed possession of nuclear weapons in greater numbers will act as a deterrent for Iran to carry out their threat is naïve and does not allow that the Iranian leaders are aware of our arsenal. To laugh off the increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks throughout the world is indeed no different than the attitude of many German Jews before World War II.ROBYN ROTBERG Kfar SabaSir, – Larry Derfner has succeeded in turning even our most sacred memories upside down. To claim that we politicize Holocaust Remembrance Day by reminding the world that there are still those who would commit genocide, such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who explicitly calls to “wipe Israel off the map,” is ridiculous. Of course that’s the purpose of such a day! It’s there so those who were murdered should not have died in vain, that the world should be reminded over and over again, precisely so it won’t let Ahmadinejad reach a position to cause another Holocaust.Derfner is the one politicizing, by turning this into another leftist gimmick. We’ve taken innocent people’s lands, we blockade their borders and attack them, simply because they are Palestinians, he wants to say – how racist of us! Conveniently, he’s again forgotten to mention that those lands are historically Jewish lands, that those borders were being used to smuggle terrorists and bombs and even missiles for use against our own people, and that attacking those who plan and perpetrate such terror against us is our right to self defense.MEIRA OVEDJerusalemFocus on the victorySir, – As Remembrance Day approaches, Israelis will once again bereminded of the ultimate sacrifice paid by thousands of our soldierswho fell in all of Israel’s wars (“Ashkenazi places flag on Peretzgrave,” Online Edition, April 14). Heartrending television interviewswith family and friends they left behind graphically depict thepersonal and collective suffering inflicted on the Jewish state in theshort period since its rebirth, with God’s help, in l948.Yet it occurs to me that these programs that constantly show Jewsmourning at funerals and memorials are sending the wrong message to ouryouth. Rather, I believe, a more meaningful portrayal on thisRemembrance Day would be to focus on the miraculous victories won inbattle by the heroic IDF against all odds in the continuous strugglefor Israel’s survival.The late, great US General George Patton once said, “The object of waris not to die for one’s country... but to have the enemy die for his.”SHIFRA HOFFMANFounder, The Victims of Arab Terror International OrganizationJerusalem
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