November 29: Just imagine

Given the British government’s recent policies, attitudes and actions, imagine what we’d be facing if the UK were already “away” from Israel!

By JERUSALEM POST READERS
Just imagine
Sir, – What a relief to read “Queen’s UAE trip does not signify shift away from Israel, insists Foreign Office” (November 26).
Given the British government’s recent policies, attitudes, statements and actions toward and/or against Israel; growing anti-Semitism in British society in general; and the recent, more-than-worrying statements expressed by some of the highest echelons of British Jewish leadership, imagine what we’d be facing if the UK were already “away” from Israel!
GERSHON HARRIS Hatzor Haglilit
New outlook
Sir, – Reading “The shared view from the top” (Frontlines, November 26) stirred this new oleh of three months’ standing to a whole new outlook on the issues of settlement freezes and bargaining with (or taking dictation from) the US, where I spent my first 88 years, to a reversal of my admittedly dovish attitude.
I see the typical man on the street here going about his business, no cares about terrorism or much concern about Washington.
At the same time, when I sit down to read The Jerusalem Post, I am brought quickly to earth.
I find myself morphed into what I once may have considered a hawkish position. I am not impressed with what Sharon might have done, or with the way Bibi is bargaining. I do not think Israel should be offering a freeze or trading its sovereignty for aircraft or dollars in the billions.
Israel has prevailed in other situations over all odds, and with an arms industry of its own it can and will meet any needs.
Israel in 1967 was attacked. It won the war and territory fair and square, and should guard every inch of the recaptured Eretz Yisrael.
Never, until the icy peace with Egypt, had any nation freely given back territory won in war.
I concede that this is not an original notion, but I do suggest that we simply erase from our minds and from our maps the so-called Green Line. There is no such line, and we should psychologically “get the green out” and go about our business as a nation within rightful borders. What happens on the other side shall no longer be our concern.
SHALOM STAIMAN
Jerusalem
Exactly what he said
Sir, – In “Rocking Obama’s world” (Column One, November 26), the normally rational Caroline B. Glick whines that President Obama isn’t bombing Iran, as if one could have ever expected such action from this most liberal and radical president. Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do during the campaign, and 75 percent of US Jews voted for him because or in spite of it.
If Glick read either of Obama’s autobiographical books, or Dinesh D’Souza’s recent The Roots of Obama’s Rage, she would know that the president sees countries like Israel and the US as colonialists, the bad guys. He would rather ban abortions than attack a Muslim country.
If Israel really wants to destroy Iran’s nukes, it will have to stop talking big and start acting big.
The world will whine, but it will breathe a sigh of relief when the nuclear facilities in Iran are in flames.
ABE KRIEGER
Highland Park, New Jersey
Mad men in charge
Sir, – The immutable law of effective advertising is to focus on the USP – unique selling proposition – a rule that Israel consistently flouts in its desperate attempt to position itself as a pleasure paradise wannabe (“Israel touts new tourism campaign on FTV,” November 25).
Slogans like “Come to Israel, come stay with friends,” “No one belongs here more than you,” and now the latest lunacy, “It’s like magic,” are all empty phrases that could just as easily be used by Italy, Argentina or Canada – except that those countries are not dumb enough to tout generic hedonism that can be found in better quality, closer proximity and at lower cost back home. After all, who in his right mind would travel to Italy for its horseback riding or beaches? Years ago, as the creative chief of a New York advertising agency, I met the then-Israeli official in charge of incoming tourism from America in hopes of pitching the account. I knew it was a lost cause the moment he opened his mouth as said, “Our biggest problem is convincing the American public that Israel is not a religious country.”
There is nothing wrong with beaches and bikinis. There is something very wrong with thinking that these are what will bring tourists to Israel. And there is something bordering on the criminal when Israel markets itself as if it did not have a USP.
J.J. GROSS
Jerusalem
Reverse flotilla?
Sir, – Extraordinary to think that just a few years ago, in the midst of an enormous economic boom, Ireland was called the “Celtic tiger.” The country now, it seems, is spiralling downward into economic disaster (“Irish unveil harshest cuts, tax hikes in history,” Business & Finance, November 25).
Could it be that the country’s militantly aggressive trade unions, obsessed with Israel-bashing and strident support for the BDS campaign against Israel, somehow lost sight of their responsibility to Ireland’s workers and totally dropped the ball? Shouldn’t they have been militant against malfeasance in Ireland rather than try to seek it out or, if necessary, manufacture it in distant Israel? Some good, however, may yet come of all this tragedy. The grateful people of Gaza and their compassionate Hamas overlords, in recognition of the selfless support of their Irish backers, will of course immediately organize aid flotillas to comfort their brethren in distress in the Emerald Isle.

FREDA KEET
Herzliya
Thanking Bob
Sir, – Kol hakavod to The Jerusalem Post for publishing Robert L. Bernstein’s devastating critique of Human Rights Watch (“‘Badly distorting the issues,’” Comment & Features, November 25), and thank you, Bob Bernstein, for exposing how, after your retirement in 1998, HRW was hijacked by people who had a personal animus toward Israel.
Thank you, Bob, for exposing how HRW underhandedly promoted Goldstone and his commission, notwithstanding his moral shortcomings and the deep flaws in the panel. Thank you, Bob, for exposing how, in order to raise funds in Saudi Arabia, HRW would emphasize human rights violations in Israel while downplaying much more serious violations there.
It is probably too much to expect that HRW will admit to any wrongdoing. However, it is not too late for those journalists in Israel who suspended their critical faculties and accepted HRW’s claims at face value to offer a mea culpa.
H.B. MITCHELL
Mazkeret Batya
Sending a message
Sir, – Thank you for Yaakov Katz’s November 24 analysis “Korean aggression is a taste of what could happen if Iran goes nuclear.”
A nuclear power is indeed bolder in its acts of aggression. And yet, the current situation is more dangerous still – the evil axis of North Korea, Iran and Syria could decide to attack democracies in unison. The good side, however, may be that terrorist North Korea has overplayed its hand before its ally Iran is fully ready.
The democracies should seriously consider that it may be better to act with full force now against Iran and its Middle East puppets Hizbullah and Hamas rather than wait until a nuclear Teheran throws its fat into the fire in coordination with North Korea. Neutralizing the Iranian side of the axis now can lead to a change in North Korean policy as it realizes that the “impotent” Democracies do have the will and ability to confront terror and aggression.
President Obama’s fixation on the Palestinians and Arabs at Israel’s expense only adds to the fire.
Heaven forbid that future historians will argue over Obama’s failure to prevent World War III.
AARON BASHANI
Jerusalem