JerusalemJewish penicillin Sir, – It’s poetic justice that as a direct result of its seemingly implacable enmity against the Jewish state, Iran is suffering from a desperate shortage of chicken soup (“Soaring price of chickens puts ordinary Iranians in hot soup,” Business & Finance, July 23).Who knows? Perhaps our shared appreciation for this dish can herald a truly new Middle East. Maybe one day, Iranian tankers will deliver fuel at Israeli ports and return home filled with chicken soup.As peace plans go, I’ve heard far worse than “chicken soup for oil.”YONATAN SILVERJerusalemDavis and LeiblerSir, – The continued animus between British Jewish leader Mick L. Davis and Post columnist Isi Leibler (“Scandal or not,” Letters, July 23) made me consider who is a Zionist.The definition I have always accepted is that Zionism is a form of nationalism of Jews and Jewish culture that supports a Jewish nation-state in territory defined as the Land of Israel.The recent Levy Report confirms that this land includes all of Judea and Samaria. Thus, any person who advocates BDS against Jewish settlements in these areas forfeits the right to be considered a Zionist, and any organization employing such a person similarly forfeits such rights.There are, of course, some true Zionists who believe that some of these areas should be granted to the Palestinians to form their own state in order to avoid losing a Jewish majority in Israel.MONTY M. ZION Tel MondSir, – Isi Leibler (“New scandal impacts on Anglo-Jewry,” Candidly Speaking, July 19) claims to “hold no personal animus” against United Jewish Israel Appeal head Mick Davis. Yet he goes on to mention Davis 12 times in an opinion piece that purports to be about Joe Millis’s opinions on Israel (mentioned only five times by comparison).Millis does not act as spokesperson for UJIA. Anyone who has an understanding of the practices of UK Jewish charities would know that above Millis sits a team of executive professionals that include a director of communications, a CEO and a chairman, and that behind that team sits a remarkable communications lay-committee made up of industry-best professionals in marketing and communications, many of whom also sit as trustees on the UJIA board.As a former marketing manager at UJIA it is important to note that like Millis, I never met Davis before or during my tenure.Also, I never wrote or released any public statement about UJIA without at least half a dozen or more people reviewing it and approving it.To call Millis’s appointment a “scandal” is simply ludicrous and uninformed, and shows the author of the piece to indeed hold some kind of personal animus against Davis.There is no one person in our UK Jewish community more dedicated and supportive of the State of Israel than Mick Davis.He is entitled to express his opinions about Israel, even when critical of its behavior. For Leibler to criticize him for doing so after writing such an appalling opinion piece is quite simply hypocritical.ZOE BERMANT Bushey, UK
Learn from Saddam Sir, – Irwin Cotler’s “Combating Iran’s cycle of denial, deception and delay” (Observations, July 20) was comprehensive and informative, but not particularly encouraging.Success in depriving Iran of its nuclear option by diplomacy or sanctions seems increasingly unlikely. Even if successful, attacking its nuclear installations, an enterprise fraught with difficulties and expensive in resources and possibly lives, cannot promise more than a temporary effect.American policy should learn from the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein. After 12 years of inconclusive warfare with Iran he unleashed a number of Russian rockets on Tehran. Iran’s rulers understood that the war was no longer for soldiers at the front or children in the minefields, but in the streets and their own palaces.The war ended forthwith.Similarly, a threat to destroy a small area of Iran from the sea unless Tehran undertakes total compliance and allows full inspections would be eminently persuasive. Such action would involve minimal risk to life and undue expense of resources. Of course, it would need to be preceded by intensive warnings.If unsuccessful, the follow-up would be a similar attack on the gorgeous Iranian capital. Carrying out this threat would surely bring immediate compliance.Iran’s facility with missiles increases constantly so that any external interference should be sooner – much sooner – rather than later. Meanwhile, we hope that our own defenses will be equal to any Iranian reaction.GEOFFREY HARRIS Ra’anana