Why, if Germany is such a good friend of Israel, are so many German firms openly helping Iran build the genocidal machine destined to finish off what Nazi Germany did not manage to complete?
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )Fast fallacy Sir, – I’m writing in regard to “Haredi Likudniks irked by fast day election,” (June 18). Haredi Likud campaign chairman Ya’acov Veeder and those “irked” by the choice of date for the upcoming Likud election are acting like spoiled children.Despite its serious nature and the fact that it is in the middle of the hot summer, the fast of the 17th of Tamuz is only from sunrise until nightfall, and is not, nor ever was, considered a day when work was prohibited.Almost all businesses and offices work as usual, and all schools are in session, including in the haredi sector, though certain employers allow fasting workers to leave early, and religious school frameworks usually end at midday.The prayers for the day include some extra slihot in the morning, and there is Torah reading at the afternoon service, but certainly nothing like Tisha Be’av in either length or intensity.There is plenty of time to go to a local polling station and vote, and any claim that this fast “will harm many members who will not be able to take part in the democratic process” is simply false and disingenuous, because there is no legal or religious problem at all! GERSHON HARRIS Hatzor HaglilitLabel laws Sir, – I wish to comment on German Ambassador to Israel Andreas Michaelis’s op-ed “The need to distinguish between fabrication and fact” (Comment and Features, June 17).Michaelis stresses time and again that the labeling of Yehuda and Shomron products, if implemented, will be “not more and not less” than meeting the law’s requests. Do I have to remind a German citizen that most if not all of Nazi anti-Semitic activities were “according to the law”? Germany’s friendship toward Israel is repeatedly stressed, and supporting facts are quoted. It would appear that there is no room for argument here.But – oh the big but – may I ask why, if Germany is such a good friend of Israel, are so many German firms openly helping Iran build the genocidal machine destined to finish off what Nazi Germany did not manage to complete? No doubt, rhetoric is a wonderful tool. But it cannot defeat facts, and facts are what the ambassador says he likes.The trouble is, facts show that while Germany invests millions in assisting Israel, at the same time it makes billions out of genocidal business with Iran.M. KOLIN Kiryat MotzkinSir, – German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis appropriately restates the close ties between his country and Israel, reminding us of their importance and context.Yet his direct approach strongly contrasts with the ambassador’s blatant decision to omit and erase all evidence of the intent of the proposed product labeling from Jewish owned factories in the West Bank. This campaign singling out Israel involves much more that consumer rights, as the ambassador claims.Certainly, he knows that selective labeling is part and parcel of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) political war against Israel, launched at the infamous NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban conference.The actions of the ideological groups pushing this immoral double standard do not support the ambassador’s claim that the labeling requirements “have nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”Rather than defending such one-sided political campaigns that make a mockery of the human rights principles developed following the Holocaust, German officials should be the first to condemn demonization of Israel in all its forms. Similarly, we would urge the ambassador to speak out against the misuse of German taxpayer funds by political foundations that promote the NGO Durban agenda of hate.GERALD M. STEINBERG Jerusalem The writer is president of NGO Monitor.
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