October 24: Mr. President...

With all due respect to Shimon Peres, the office of president is supposed to be non-political.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters good 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters good 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Mr. President... Sir, - With all due respect to Shimon Peres, the office of president is supposed to be non-political and just because he sees "a vacuum in our political leadership" doesn't give him the power to move into this void ("Peres to focus on Saudi peace plan in meeting with Mubarak," October 22). Instead of granting Tzipi Livni a two-week extension for more horse-trading, maybe he should be demanding an end to this "vacuum" (read "blackmail situation") and calling for elections, now. But, specifically, why should he be giving legitimacy to the Saudi plan? It is not in Israel's best interest. To even consider going back to the 1948 (pre-1967) borders is madness; and to divide Jerusalem or internationalize it is to forget our own history. Has the president forgotten that the pope, before 1967, needed a special road to travel into the Old City in order "not to step on an Israeli road"? I do not recall the pontiff, or the UN, mentioning all the Arab-destroyed synagogues. And then there's the failure of Peres's own Oslo agreement. Please, President Peres, do not commit Israel to any more dangers without the consent of all Israel's citizens. LILA BRODSKY Jerusalem ...be prescient Sir, - Whilst Yvonne Narunsky's idea sounds like a "Simple solution" (Letters, October 23) and I have always wanted the death penalty for murderous terrorists - and not just here - the plan would backfire. It would turn into a life for a life. More Israelis would be kidnapped and killed as there would no longer be a bargaining chip. Too many Israelis would die, and the Palestinians would become "holy martyrs." JUDY GOLDIN Kiryat Ono It's compassion Sir, - When rabbis agree to people who committed suicide (Heaven forbid) being buried in a regular cemetery, they don't "know better than God," nor are they deviating from "the traditional (Jewish) way" ("Improvising Judaism," David Benkof, October 23). Rather, they are showing compassion, which the Talmud calls the greatness of the rabbis, not their failing. People who end their lives often do so in utter despair, and with some measure of bad luck. A delay or interference might well have changed their minds. So suicide is normally not a disregard of God's word, more the bad outcome of a mental crisis. Fear of "not being buried with their families" will keep no one in a panic alive. Fear is the last thing that helps in a scare, and recognizing something like that is what our tradition is all about. That is what God requires from our rabbis, and from us. M. VAN THIJN Jerusalem Skirting the topic? Sir, - May I add a quote to "That's entertainment," Judy Montagu's column on public speaking (October 22): "A speech should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the subject, and short enough to be interesting." ORA LESHEM Tel Aviv CORRECTION "Compare records, not rhetoric" by Joel Pollak (October 23) had an incorrect reference to the "American Jewish Public Affairs Committee." It should have read "American Israel Public Affairs Committee."