NetanyaWho is a refugee?Sir, – “Palestinian refugee” is an extremely liberal term used to include, for example, descendants of residents of the area during the two-year period of June 1, 1946, to May 15, 1948, and even to people who live in places under Palestinian control, such as Gaza (“UNRWA restores Web name following Palestinian outcry,” July 12).So I wouldn’t be overly surprised if the pro-Palestinian activists deported from Ben-Gurion Airport now also try to get away with calling themselves Palestinian refugees and then demand the right of return (“23 ‘Flightilla’ activists deported,” News in Brief, July 12).YONATAN SILVER JerusalemSir, – How could we not fulfill the wishes of those who flew here on the so-called Flightilla and were arrested? They should have been placed in cells with the Palestinians in our jails.They would see how well these prisoners are treated, all the amenities they have, the food, healthcare, education, etc. They then could return to their homes and say good things about Israel instead of what they are going to say.M. SCHAEFFER JerusalemCredit due othersSir, – I read with disdain Shmuley Boteach’s attitude toward European soldiers, especially British, who held out and fought the Nazis alone until the Americans entered the war only after they were attacked at Pearl Harbor (“Knee-deep in blood-soaked battlefields of Europe,” No Holds Barred, July 12).The American GIs came into the war fresh, well-fed and with no worries as to what was happening to their loved ones, unlike the European and British soldiers whose homes were being bombed and whose very way of life was being threatened.Boteach has done a great disservice to the role of Britain and her brave soldiers. They, too, fought for freedom and liberty.On a personal note, I would like to add that my mother and her family were in occupied Europe, in France and Belgium, some of them in the Resistance.They were heroes without uniforms, cigarettes and chocolates.My mother found the GIs to be kind, generous and very humane, but poor soldiers.SHEBSON SHIRLEY JerusalemTell us the truth Sir, – The word diplomacy originated in two French words: “deux” for two, and “plume” for pen. The logic behind this derivation is that a diplomat employs two pens – one for reporting the truth back to the heads of government, the other to spin puff for the public where he or she is posted.When we say someone is being diplomatic, we mean he or she is being discrete and not disclosing the length and breadth of a matter that might be shocking to the ear. Such “diplomacy” might even mean the diplomat is completely concealing the truth. Sadly, this is what Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has done in his pathetic children’s story about the accomplishments of Israeli diplomacy.Effective diplomacy requires initiative and determination, and clear and forceful policy.Since Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman assumed office in 2009, all Israeli policy has been reduced to lip service.Ayalon’s absurd and meaningless tales in this article derive from the lip service. Let him go tell these things to people in other countries. It is a disgrace for a public official to employ this game on the people of Israel.YONATAN SILVERMAN Tel Aviv
Says it allSir, – Three cheers, and then some, for Gershon Baskin (“Reform! The end is at hand!,” Encountering Peace, July 12).Baskin has said it all here. If only Israel’s leaders would listen.We cannot continue on this same wrong road. We are losing more and more friends each day our stubborn government leaders refuse to stop and listen. A good example of this is the lies in the column right next to Baskin’s, by Danny Ayalon, the man who started our slide downhill with his undiplomatic handling of the Turkish ambassador and his continued refusal to see things as they are.Things are already pretty bad – and sad. But they will only get worse if something or someone doesn’t stop and realize how bad the situation actually is.LEONARD ZURAKOV NetanyaSir, – Gershon Baskin is scraping the bottom of the historical barrel. He invokes the hoary old calumny of South Africa (where, Mr. Baskin, are the separate benches, entrances and toilets for Arabs in Israel?), Sudan (where, sir, are the hundreds of thousands of murdered Arabs?) and even India (Mr.Baskin, the atrocities there were committed in communal conflicts, not by the British).ANTHONY LUDERRosh PinaPA appallsSir, – I am appalled after reading that the Palestinian Authority demands that the Quartet insist on the pre-1967 lines as the future borders, or it will go to the United Nations, where the large bloc of Islamic dictatorships and their allies will help it pass its unilateral bid for statehood (“PA asks Quartet to tell Israel to stop building over the Green Line,” July 11).Israel should publicly insist to all that only under Israeli control is there freedom of access by all faiths to their holiest sites, and that areas under Palestinian control are currently dangerous for Jews to even wander into. Indeed, the Arabs have a record starting from decades ago of vandalizing any Jewish holy sites in their control, whether the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City or Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.The Quartet should flatly reject the Palestinian blackmail.Otherwise, it will mean fighting against freedom in order to appease those who unite with internationally recognized terrorists in governance.KEN GREEN New York Getting it right Sir, – In your July 13 newspaper, we find a story about a synagogue called “Bnei Jeshurun,” which suffered damage in a major fire (“Fire fighters put out blaze at New York City’s famed Bnei Jeshurun synagogue”).There is such a synagogue, but it is not on the East Side of Manhattan, did not suffer a fire and is spelled “B’nai Jeshurun.” The synagogue in question is “Kehilath Jeshurun.”I am moved to write this because the day before, we learned that a haredi rabbi, “Nissim Karelewitz,” issued a landmark ruling that members of a certain community descended from Marranos are themselves Jewish according to Jewish law (“Chuetas of Majorca recognized as Jewish,” July 12).The rabbi who issued the ruling is Nissim Karelitz. A mistake like this is not a mere spelling error. It means that the writers and editors are ignorant of the famous Karelitz family, whose most illustrious member was the Hazon Ish.
MARK STEINER JerusalemThe Editor responds: The writer is correct. We regret the errors.