October 28: On message

If Tzipi Livni continues to fight haredi blackmail, Kadima has the right campaign message.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
On message Sir, - If Tzipi Livni continues to fight haredi blackmail, Kadima has the right campaign message. She can point out that Shas is all about bankrupting the taxpayer to support non-workers. She can point out Binyamin Netanyahu's hypocrisy, since he's the one who made the child support cuts, yet Shas wouldn't have pulled out of the coalition if it wasn't sure Likud would restore the cuts if it won. She can run as an honest politician who is different from the old guard ("Livni's so high above the fray, she's out of the game," Herb Keinon, October 27). DAVID TEICH Rehovot Vote, then work Sir, - Everyone is wringing their hands over the NIS 2 billion price tag of the forthcoming elections, but there is a simple way to cut down on it. The lion's share of the outlay - about NIS 1.5b. - goes on the cost of Election Day being a vacation day. Voting, as we well know, doesn't take more than a few minutes. So why shouldn't we do our duty as citizens either before or after work - and help the economy, and ourselves, at the same time by not taking a day off? That's really being a good citizen ("Early elections to cost economy NIS 2b.," October 27). HOWARD BURG Netanya A road named common sense Sir, - Trust someone in Israel to come up with a hi-tech solution to road death and serious injury ("GreenRoad Mobileye help protect drivers from themselves," October 26). The same people who have researched the issue ad infinitum know full well that there are basic steps which should and could have been taken at least 15 years ago - steps which would have drastically cut the burden on our economy and health and social services caused by recklessness, human error, bad road furniture, bad signage and lighting, etc. The majority of the enlightened world have already realized this. After 15 years of 24/7 commitment to the issue in Israel, we in Metuna know that very little has changed despite untold thousands of shekels spent on advertising and in other directions. For the first time in many years the "newly formed" National Road Safety Authority seems to have the right intentions, supporting hands-on road safety projects in towns and neighborhoods. This has enabled a significant reduction in pedestrian casualties and improved the behavior of young people. Let's not detract from the basic issue - increasing and improving the function of the police and reforming the judicial system while drastically reducing the budget of the Road Safety Authority. There's no substitute for common sense. ZELDA HARRIS Metuna Tel Aviv Outlaw super-speed Sir, - It is true that we have a culture of lawlessness on our roads. However, if the powers that be were serious about changing this, they could start by outlawing ads for cars that stress their power and the speed at which they can accelerate - a message that contradicts the driving culture we are aiming for. What, in fact, is the sense of selling cars that can reach speeds of 50-90 kph faster than the legal limit on our fastest highways? No matter how drunk or drugged a driver was, he or she could not crash into an intersection at 160 kph if cars could go no faster than 120 kph. In a country with as impressive a technological record as we have, one would think we could enforce a limit on the mechanical ability of cars to reach super-high speeds. Until our regulations act to enforce the changes we need to make, it is hard to believe that anyone is serious about reducing the danger on our roads. TOVA GOLDBERG-CLEIN Jerusalem Higher education| Sir, - Safe driving habits should start with educating the educators. Driving instructors should be made to retake a test every two years, and there should be random checks made during the course of those two years. At present it seems that driving instructors teach their pupils how to pass the driving test, but not how to drive once they have passed. On many occasions I have seen learner drivers, out with a driving instructor, fail to stop at a pedestrian crossing or at a stop sign at a junction. I have seen instructors busy talking on their mobile phones, paying no attention to their pupils or the way they are driving. At the moment, the main skill that seems to be taught is how to avoid getting caught in a traffic infringement. The owners of licensed weapons are retested periodically. Surely a vehicle is no less a lethal weapon than a loaded pistol? YEHUDIT COLLINS Jerusalem Hurting... Sir, - When the news came that the Swedish company Assa Abloy will move from Ariel because of political reasons, a helplessness came over me. Please, please, Sweden: Learn! learn! learn! and just don't follow the most easy way ("Swedes relocate West Bank firm to within Green Line," October 24). I am so very ashamed of how my country acts toward Israel. I don't know what to do... all the journalists, the church and many others of course already know that the reason peace is not coming is because of the "Israeli occupation." My heart is hurting because I feel that Israel is so very much misunderstood. EWA JONSSON Grenna, Sweden ...for Israel Sir, - If Mul-T-Lock is bowing to leftist and international pressure to move its factory out of the Barkan industrial zone in Samaria, it is incumbent on all Jews in Israel and around the world to boycott the company and not buy its products. There are other lock companies in Israel. Let us show the world that we can also exert financial pressure. CHAIM GINSBERG Ma'aleh Adumim Oh, Lord! Sir, - The report that President Shimon Peres is slated to receive an honorary appointment to the Order of St. Michael and St. George ("Arise, Shimon Peres, knight commander?" October 24) reminded me of the explanation given by Bernard Woolley, the private secretary in Yes, Minister, of what the initials KCMG stand for: Kindly Call Me God. SANDRA MISHALOV Tel Aviv Kids in care Sir, - Re "Activists say social workers are too quick to place kids into care" (October 24): I have only one comment. Better too quick than too slow. Better a child returned to a safe home in the event of a "false alarm" than no child, or a badly damaged one, being returned to anywhere. JUDY GOLDIN Kiryat Ono Long time, no see Sir, - And I thought the pen pal age had gone to join the Ice Age! Yet, voila, three people are looking for pen pals! (Letters, October 22.) That gives me the opportunity to say thanks for my pen pal, whom I met back in 1962 through The Jerusalem Post. He was a journalist writing about the Eichmann trial. SHIVTA WENKART Arad Man of truth Sir, - Further to the letter from Yisrael Medad ("Involved and unafraid," October 27): It must be put firmly on record that Rev. Leslie Hardman was an outstanding nationalist Zionist whose oratory at public meetings was an inspiration to the audience and whose firmly held views regarding the whole of Eretz Yisrael belonging to the Jewish people were widely expressed both in public and in private. On the basis of his experiences during WW2, his clarion call with respect to events in Israel was that we should attempt to ensure that the truth be told to the world when so many of the non-Jewish media and some of the Jewish and Israeli media were turning a blind eye. I well recollect that at the Jerusalem Day ceremony held in London this year, addressed by Uzi Landau, Rev. Hardman told me personally: "We must not give up; we must fight them because that is all we have." COLIN L LECI Jerusalem