May 8: Warm wishes...

Kindly convey my warm congratulations and greetings to your government and people on celebrating the 60th birthday of Israel.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Warm wishes... Sir, - Kindly convey my warm congratulations and greetings to your government and people on celebrating the 60th birthday of Israel. I believe no demon can do this Holy Land any harm. God, the supreme savior, is there and will save you. DAVID GHOSH Calcutta ...with reservations Sir, - How wonderful! The Jewish Agency received the Israel Prize this year. I have a nomination for next year's prize: the National Insurance Institute, they do so much good. And also Egged & Dan, they get us where we need to go. With the Agency's new award I can throw out my old copy of Things My Emissary Didn't Tell Me. David Ben-Gurion refused the honor, saying, "Should I get a prize for doing my job?" Those days are long gone ("Prize organizations," Ruth Eglash, May 6). AVIGDOR BONCHEK Jerusalem Dubious praise Sir, - Jay Bushinsky praises Winston Churchill's role in Zionism but neglects to mention that Churchill, as prime minister of the UK from 1940 to 1945, virtually closed off Palestine to Jewish immigration at a time when British intelligence knew of the mass murder of Jews in Europe. Does Churchill really deserve praise in Jewish history? ("Impossible without Churchill," May 6.) SAUL PHILLIPSON Jerusalem Quiet on Pollard Sir, - Re Douglas Bloomfield's "It's still a crime" (May 1) about Jonathan Pollard and Ben-Ami Kadish: A number of years ago I was reminded by a remarkable Hebrew teacher, Jacob Elbaum, that a person has two parents, each of whom he loves. That doesn't inhibit his ability to know the difference between right and wrong, and act accordingly; and not on the basis of loyalty to one or the other parent. At a time when Israel is being pressured to accede to the establishment of another Arab state, specifically on our reoccupied Jewish territory, the issue of "dual loyalty" is being pulled out in order to keep Jonathan Pollard incarcerated. Because of "dual loyalty," prominent American Jews who should be speaking out in Pollard's defense are intimidated and keep quiet. SIMCHA RUDMAN Jerusalem Shoah films Sir, - "Portraying the unimaginable" (Tom Tugend, May 1) about the documentary Imaginary Witness noted the lack of films in the '40s dealing with the Shoah, though mention was made of The Mortal Storm. Omitted was reference to the 1942 RKO production of Once Upon a Honeymoon starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rodgers, with Walter Slezak playing a Nazi who sets up the downfall of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. In the film, Rodgers' character, in Warsaw, is approached by a Jewish maid who asks her to exchange passports, after which Rodgers and her man are picked up for deportation by the Germans. In a powerful scene at the train station, mournful Jewish prayers are heard. The couple are saved, and, despite the subject matter, the film is a comedy. NADAV STARK Ma'aleh Adumim