October 26: What's in store

Olmert wants to stay in power, Shas wants more money, and Livni wants to look like she is resisting Shas's demands.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
What's in store Sir, - Of course it will take two more weeks for Tzipi Livni to form a government ("Livni lobbies support for narrow gov't," October 23). Ehud Olmert wants to stay in power, Shas wants more money, and Livni wants to look like she is resisting Shas's demands. What will happen? Olmert will leave without any indictments, since the press will claim that being "forced from office" is punishment enough. Shas will get billions of our shekels. Livni will look like an honest politician. And we simpleminded citizens will get the government we deserve. More of the same. DAVID FEIGENBAUM Netanya Papal failure... Sir, - Jews were not the only people horribly wronged by Pope Pius XII's inaction to save civilians and condemn the slaughters of innocents during WWII ("Cui bono?" Editorial, October 21). Serbian Orthodox Christians and Gypsies also suffered a horrible genocide at the hands of the Nazi-puppet Croatian Ustashe, bent on slaughtering one-third of Serbs living in the Nazi-puppet "Independent" State of Croatia (NDH), ethnically cleansing one-third, and forcibly converting the remainder to Catholicism. Some half-million to one million Serbians perished, including 68 of my relatives; hundreds of thousands were displaced, and over 200,000 were forcibly converted to Catholicism. Pope Pius met with Ante Pavelic, the fascist leader of Croatia, numerous times. The Croatian archbishop, Alojzije Stepinac, condoned Croatia's pogrom and numerous Croatian Catholic priests actively participated in the mass slaughter. There is no way Pope Pius was unaware of the atrocities committed against Serbians, Jews and Gypsies in the NDH, which encompassed Croatia, Bosnia and a large swath of Serbia all the way up to Belgrade. Speaking out against this genocide in the NDH would have done nothing to harm Catholics anywhere, as even the Nazis were shocked by the brutality of the Croatian Ustashe and often had to take control of areas from them to prevent the terrorized Serbian population from joining Tito's partisans. Yet Pius remained silent throughout the entire affair. The Catholic Church's role in the genocide of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies must be exposed, acknowledged and compensated. Canonizing Pius XII will forever prevent any true reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches, as well as Judaism. I encourage all Catholics to learn about the WWII genocide of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies in the Independent State of Croatia and the Catholic Church's role in it. To fully atone for the sins of their predecessors, Catholic leaders should open up the Vatican's files on this issue (they include the "ratlines" established by the Vatican to help Nazi war criminals escape justice after WWII). The truth must be allowed to come out. MICHAEL PRAVICA Henderson, Nevada ...that Jesus would have abhorred Sir, - Since the pope is the head of the Church and, to all intents and purposes, represents Christ on earth: Would Jesus have approved the silence of the pontiff while God's chosen people were being exterminated by a godless Nazi regime? It beggars the imagination to believe that Jesus, himself a Jew, who uttered not a single sentiment in favor of killing even one innocent person, would have approved the pontiff's obstinate neutral stance. Certainly not while millions of defenseless men, women and children were being put to death by the enthusiastic followers of an evil coterie of German leaders. If Jesus would not have passed over the pontiff's silence, how can Benedict XVI? JOCK L. FALKSON Ra'anana Sweeping statements Sir, - I really tire of Shmuley Boteach's sweeping generalizations about how the whole of Western society has a certain problem. In his most recent diatribe, the rabbi claimed that "the Western world's principal problem today is... that it no longer knows how to sustain a relationship" ("Up against a wall (Street)" October 19). I am pretty sure divorce is more rampant now in the US not because people have changed, but because women are more independent and no longer have to put up with lousy behavior from their husbands. There are laws that the courts use to force husbands to pay alimony; this may not have been done in earlier times because of sexism. I also tire of anybody claiming that Jews are responsible for dispelling anti-Semitic beliefs that others hold. MATTHEW BERMAN Herzliya Balancing act in Beersheba Sir, - I read with interest Inbar Bercovitz's "The south shall rise again" (Billboard, October 17) about the new concert hall in Beersheba for which we have waited so long. Having just been there for the first time, I have to say that building it at an angle was a serious design fault. We had seats in the balcony. The lift took us to the second floor, from where we had to climb up a series of flights of steps without a handrail. One felt unbalanced, as if one might fall sideways at any moment, so this was not pleasant. Everyone I saw on their way to their seats felt similarly unbalanced and people were holding onto whatever support they could grab. There was no toilet on the balcony, and it was suggested that patrons use those on the entry floor. Since most of the audience that night were not young, this was hardly a convenient option. After the performance we exited right, thinking there would be an elevator on that side of the house to match the other. There wasn't. This meant again walking down steps without a handrail, until the main staircase. I wonder, did the architect test out his ideas on actual people before he built this structure? BARBARA FRIEDMAN Ome