November 10: Got it right

Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman hit the nail on the head when he said: "Some of the Hamas leadership is probably rejoicing; this is exactly what they wanted to happen."

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters to the editor 88 (photo credit: )
letters to the editor 88
(photo credit: )
Got it right Sir, - Re "UN to hold special session on Gaza deaths" (November 9): Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman got it right when he said: "Some of the Hamas leadership is probably rejoicing; this is exactly what they wanted to happen." Arab leaders shackle their people in poverty and doom them to die as human shields. When they are inadvertently killed by the IDF, their deaths are used as a PR weapon against Israel. Every death of an Israeli, adult or infant, is a victory. Every Arab who happens to be killed in the conflict is a martyr. Israel's response is typically a mea culpa; and, indeed, as human beings we are constrained to be saddened by innocents' deaths. However, when we are attacked, we must respond. The Arab leaderships' disregard for human life, and failure to prepare the next generation for peace, must be reiterated ad nauseam. ALICE EIGNER Ma'aleh Adumim Daily disservice Sir, - Further to "19 civilians killed by artillery in Gaza" (November 9): I wonder who edits the daily IBA News in English at 5 p.m. . As the only Israeli TV news in English that non-Hebrew speakers here and abroad receive, should it be the mouthpiece for every left-winger? Almost half of its November 8 edition was devoted to interviewing Arab spokesmen decrying the IDF attack in Gaza, along with pictures. What about the tragedy going on daily in Sderot and Ashkelon? The rest of the time we got the goings-on of members of the gay community. Is this really the kind of image our country wants to put out? MINNA HARRIS Haifa Better abroad Sir, - As a yored, one of the 650,000 Israelis who have left for a better life elsewhere, and a Post reader, I was puzzled by "Come home, yordim" (Editorial, November 2), which repeated the same timeworn Zionist slogans about the importance of aliya while disregarding the obvious reasons for the massive rate of emigration from Israel by hundreds of thousands of its sons and daughters. Some of these reasons appeared in the same day's issue of your paper: "IDF soldier killed in fierce Beit Hanun firefight." Why should I move back to a war zone? Or "Dodging death in a playground." Why should I move back to a place where there has, granted, been a cease-fire with Hizbullah, but in the South deadly Kassam rockets keep hitting a populated town (Sderot)? And why should I move back to a country where gays unashamedly want to parade through its holy city? BRUCE YITZHAKI Philadelphia Sad 'protest' Sir, - As a supporter of Glasgow Rangers and a member of the city's Jewish community, I attended last week's match against Maccabi Haifa at Ibrox. I would like to apologize on behalf of the majority of decent Scottish people to all Maccabi fans present and watching on TV for the sad, one-man "protest" during the match. This attention-seeking hooligan, not a Rangers supporter, was clearly as intent on annoying the home crowd as much as the away crowd, if not more. His T-shirt displayed a photo of the pope, which likely points to his allegiance being with our rivals Celtic, the city's Roman Catholic team. I hope the incident did not spoil the Maccabi fans' trip, and that they left with a good feeling about the country. They were impressive supporters of their team. DANIEL GREEN Glasgow, Scotland