December 20: Seeking protection

So why is the government putting African immigrants, who haven’t committed any crimes, in prison?

By JERUSALEM POST READERS
Letters 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Seeking protection Sir, – In regard to “African migrants sent back to prison after protest walk to Jerusalem” (December 18), all the African immigrants who fled dictatorships came to Israel to look for protection. They knew that Israel is the one country in the Middle East that has human rights and protects people from those who are oppressing them. But now they are saying this is not the Israel they thought it was.
Israel is a democratic country, but it is turning into a dictatorship. The government, rather than protecting these people, is dehumanizing them and denying them their basic rights.
People who commit crimes aren’t put in jail without facing a judge first.
So why is the government putting African immigrants, who haven’t committed any crimes, in prison? It is not acceptable behavior for the Israeli government to do this to people looking for protection.
DIRI ABRAMSON Rishon Lezion The writer is a student and asylum seeker from Darfur
Views of Kerry Sir, – In “Kerry forces Israel’s moment of decision” (Our World, December 17), Caroline B. Glick turns from her weekly declarations of war against friends and foes alike to becoming a prophetess of doom.
Starting by describing as “a ghoulish creepiness” the latest visit to Israel by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Glick purports to know what he will propose to us in the American efforts have Israel and the Palestinians come to a peace agreement. Basing herself on “leaks” from the ongoing negotiations, she provides us with some not very cheerful conclusions.
Glick states that Kerry’s “lethal parameters” will require Israel to “surrender our ability to defend ourselves against foreign aggression and Palestinian attacks....” Has she forgotten that we have security services and the IDF, incomparably the most powerful in the region, and are supported in no small measure by the US? In her view, Kerry’s “disastrous framework” and “obsessive harping” should have Israel “jump ship” from the “two-state trap.” And should negotiations with the Palestinians result in an agreement, it will mean “our destruction within five to 15 years.” Is that really what our young people can look forward to?
PAUL KOHN Herzliya
Sir, – I agree with every word of the excellent “John Kerry’s frequent failure program” (Fundamentally Freund, December 17).
We are witnessing major turmoil in the Arab world.
These turbulent developments have created two political phenomena: The Arab world has become disinterested in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and most Arab states have become alienated from Kerry and President Barack Obama. Under these circumstances there is no rational explanation for the secretary of state’s obsessive peace engagement in our region.
Exactly for this reason, Israel must take a very cautious and reserved position toward Kerry. It must give priority to the six-month negotiations with Iran, which will have very serious implications for Israel’s security and very existence, and not waste precious time on futile and irrational negotiations with the Palestinians.
SHLOMO FELDMANN Givatayim
Apt metaphor Sir, – Crossing the Rubicon (“Can Netanyahu cross the Rubicon?” Comment & Features, December 17) is an apt metaphor for taking a very risky decision in life.
Yet with so much presently at stake for the life and well-being of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, one needs to look at the larger historical picture and ask: “But where are mighty Rome and its Caesars now?” Albert Einstein said: “God does not play dice with the universe.” We, the Jewish people, have no right to play dice with the ancient, one-and-only Jewish homeland entrusted to us, which we have done already for tragically foolish, shortterm gain that results in a continually increasing existential peril to which many of our brightest citizens are blind.
MIRIAM L. GAVARIN Jerusalem