The world must understand that destroying Israel is just the first step in the master plan of Hamas and radical Islamists
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )
Sir, – The sub-headline “Terror cell infiltrates via tunnel to Nahal Oz area...” in “5 soldiers killed as another cease-fire crumbles” (July 29) says it all.Earlier reports claimed that a tunnel in the same area had been discovered and destroyed shortly before this incident. Was there an unknown extension? Was this another tunnel entirely? It’s amazing that the earth doesn’t sink into this honeycomb of tunnels.Those in favor of “humanitarian cease-fires” are saying we now know about all the tunnels and will clear them in a few days before withdrawing our soldiers from Gaza. But in the same issue of the Post you report on claims by Hamas that most of its tunnels remain undiscovered (“Hamas says Israel razed only ‘fraction’ of tunnels”). Why do we believe Hamas more than we believe our own spokesmen? SHARONA GLASER BEN-AVRAHAM YAACOV BEN-AVRAHAM Kfar HaroehSir, – The world must understand that destroying Israel (God forbid!) is just the first step in the master plan of Hamas and radical Islamists to take over the world and force their way of life on everyone.This might sound far-fetched, but Muslims tried and partially succeeded centuries ago. (And look at what’s happening throughout Europe today.) At the very least the world should recognize that the terrorists’ actions can easily spread elsewhere.Realizing and truly absorbing this would help the world support us, knowing that we’re doing its dirty work.NACHAMA KANNER RehovotObama and evil...Sir, – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach does an important service for your readers by focusing our attention on the existence of evil in reference to the Hamas terror organization (“Obama: See no evil, hear no evil,” No Holds Barred, July 29). What he writes about US President Barack Obama’s “moral ambiguity” as justification for “inaction” can be applied to multitudes of loose-thinking people around the world – and yes, even in Israel – who prefer to “understand, rather than resist, evil.”Yet the “moral battle of good versus evil” can rise to a spiritual level, not one of hate but of challenge. Hamas can and needs be defeated on its own ideological turf. Its evil regime in Gaza is a mirror of growing Muslim fanaticism around the world, a fanaticism that is an aberration of Islam.With the Koran and its affirmation of the sanctity of human life and prophesies about the return of the children of Israel to their land, we can help cleanse the minds and souls of Muslims for the greater sanctity of the world.As President Obama might say, yes we can – against Hamas. The defeat of evil in Gaza will only then be understood as Allah’s punishment for the apostasy and satanic worship by His errant devotees.AARON BRAUNSTEIN JerusalemSir, – What a pity that Shmuley Boteach is a passionate hater and exhorts us to share his passion.If Boteach only had the humility and intellectual capacity to listen to, understand and adopt the wise attitude of one of the true prophets of our time, Elie Wiesel. Like Wiesel I am a Holocaust survivor and like him I have gone through the process of trying to come to terms with that survival and my relationship to Germany and Germans, where and with whom I studied.Judaism teaches us not to hate, e.g., “You shall not hate your neighbor in your heart...”(Lev.19:17 et al).In as much as hatred might lead to the fight against and even destruction of the hated entity, it damages the hater just as much. A hater might destroy what he hates but usually remains bitter and emotionally hurt as well. That is why our tradition teaches us not to hate, but rather to be rational and smart.Be angry, worried and even afraid, but react rationally and wisely. If evil occurs, eradicate it with the appropriate means and totally, as the Torah tells us repeatedly.The wise will find the right means just as the surgeon finds the correct way to cut out a cancer. The hater might engage irrationally and, like a surgeon who hates disease, damage vital organs in his rage. But in our current situation we need wisdom, not hatred, to eradicate the evil of Hamas and to save and heal Israel.May it be wisdom that also guides the world, especially the UN, to lead all involved to real peace.URI THEMAL Kiryat Tivon The writer is a retired rabbiSir, – This American watches the news very carefully when it concerns Israel.I don’t think the US president is anti-Semitic or that he opposes Israel’s right to exist or its right to self-defense. Still, it would be pleasing to me if he expressed support for Israel’s efforts each and every day, especially during times like these.SHERMAN DANIELS Elkins, West VirginiaSir, – The root of all evil is Hamas’s Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh. They are the sole cause for all the flare-ups in our region.They should be the first to be targeted. Just as the US killed Osama Bin Laden, we have the right to wipe them off the face of the earth. Only then will Gaza prosper and its citizens realize that hatred leads to their own destruction.Instead of the US wasting its resources in spying on Germany and its allies, it should investigate (if it has the guts) the personal bank accounts of Mashaal and Haniyeh, as well as those of Mahmoud Abbas and his sons, and even the estate of Yasser Arafat. Other countries will then realize that billions and billions of their precious dollars ended up in the pockets of thugs.N.E. SAMUEL Yavne...and Pollard Sir, – In view of US President Barack Obama’s attitude toward Israel and his stubbornness regarding the continued imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard, the headline “Obama is abandoning Israel” (Comment & Features, July 29) should have been “Obama has abandoned Israel” – all for the sake of Turkey, Qatar and other countries of the same ilk.YISRAEL (IAN) LAST Kiryat AtaFull controlSir, – Upon returning to Beit Hanun during yet another truce that Israel agreed to while Hamas continued to fire rockets, the “civilians” we protect by endangering our soldiers’ lives cursed Israel.“God bless the resistance! We stand by them and may God make steady their feet,” said one. “There is nothing called Israel! This is our land! Whatever they do we will not be defeated!” said another (“During truce, Gazans return to neighborhoods targeted by IDF,” July 27).These people are our enemies.They chose Hamas and rejoice at our deaths. We should be ashamed that we are unable to call them what they are. We should be ashamed that millions of Israelis are under siege because we will not take the initiative and wipe out our enemies, whoever and wherever they might be. That would be leadership. That would be Churchillian. That would be victory.We just cannot survive without being in full control of our land.There will never be peace until we accept that fact.YENTEL JACOBS Netanya
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