September 11: Sauce for the goose

If Aryeh Deri's request is granted then all immigrants to Israel should today have the rights Israel gave them the year they made aliya.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters good 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters good 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Sauce for the goose Sir, - If Aryeh Deri's request is granted - "Deri asks special permission to run for J'lem mayor" (September 10) - based on the fact that when he was convicted the law did not require a seven-year waiting period before criminals whose crime involved moral turpitude could run for municipal office - then all immigrants to Israel should today have the rights Israel gave them the year they made aliya. This would include all the tax breaks and incentives that were the law when they arrived in Israel, not subject to change every time the government decides to cut those benefits. REBECCA RAAB Ma'aleh Adumim Sir, - Anybody who has been convicted of a crime ought never to hold a public position again. Our country is trying very hard to improve the situation concerning crime, etc., and it would be going contrary to these efforts to allow someone with a criminal record to run for mayor of Jerusalem. Those empowered to make the decision, please think about this. HANNAH BRAMSON Haifa Sink or swim Sir, - Your editorial "Goodbye, goodfellas" (September 10) on having the police go after the mob families was great. Your last line was a classic: "Let's make the syndicate an offer it can't refuse: Get out of our lives, or swim with the fishes." AVIGDOR BONCHEK Jerusalem Sir, - Perhaps newspapers could dig into their archives and publish some of the old photos showing politicians and other celebrities rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ze'ev Rosenstein at their bar mitzvas, weddings and parties. It might in some small way help both the battle against crime and against the corrupt in our elite. JEREMY GRAUS Oranit Gouge, ouch! Sir, - I am a senior citizen, and have just completed a comparison of the charges by my bank for certain services. I am in receipt of a small pension from Canada, which I transfer to Israel by check from time to time. The pre-July fee for my current (checking) account was a flat fee of NIS 15 (a 50% discount). My fee for July was NIS 40.75 (a 172% increase) and NIS 47.60 for August (a 217% increase). The minimum charge for depositing a check in foreign currency was US$6.75 in July. It is now $8.50 (a 26% increase). The charge for converting foreign currency was .19%. It is now .49% (a 158% increase). The charge for money wired from America was .20%. It is now .4426% (a 121% increase). I have not ordered new checkbooks yet, so I am unable to make a comparison. It costs the same for a bank to convert foreign currency whatever the amount, so why do the banks take a percentage? My bank's charge recently for a wire transfer from the US to my account was $26.50, more than double that charged by the wiring bank ($13). The remitting bank is the one that has to pay the wire costs. All my bank had to do was credit my account. My bank uses the Bank of Israel Representative rate (sha'ar hayatzig) to convert its dollar fee on dollar conversions. In effect, the rate is closer to .50% than the .49% noted above. Why are the fees based on dollars, anyway? The governor of the Bank of Israel is urging Israelis to stop using the US dollar as a basis for transactions. Does this not include the banks? As my bank has discontinued the flat fee for operating my current account, and even though I still receive a discount on certain transaction charges, as a senior citizen my current fees have increased more on a percentage basis than those of regular customers, due to the "minimum transaction" requirement. The only reduction I obtained was the cancellation of NIS 24 a month I was paying to keep two foreign currency accounts open, whether I used them or not. On behalf of all bank customers, I demand that the Knesset Finance Committee put a stop to the bank cartel's gouging fees from us, and refund us the excess charged over the last two months ("Banks' shame," Letters, September 4). EPHRAIM JONAH Jerusalem Painful experience Sir, - Re "Clalit strikes back at violent attacks" (September 9): A look at the other side of the coin may take the steam out of some irresponsible hotheads. My daughter, a teacher, was taken from her class to Ziv Hospital in Safed with acute stomach pain. She was put on an IV and painkillers. It took a day and a half to discuss what tests should be done to find the source of the trouble, and none was implemented. She was put on antibiotics. Her husband tried to speak to the medical personnel about what they intended to do. Nobody responded very seriously. On the first evening, the infusion ceased dripping. Nobody answered the summons bell, so my daughter phoned us and we returned to the hospital. Only then did a nurse arrive to find that there was a blockage in the infusion tube. I would never even dream of taking the law into my own hands. But isn't there somewhere to voice complaints, an ombudsman? YAN SEVER Kibbutz Moran Health reporter Judy Siegel-Itzkovich responds: Every hospital has a complaints department, and you could easily lodge a complaint at Ziv's about the treatment of your daughter. Your complaint sounds justified, but the hospital may have an explanation. In any case, the more information hospital personnel provide to patients and their families, the better. Sometimes one has to demand it. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Health Ministry in Jerusalem, as Ziv is a government-owned hospital. Life of the Palmah Sir, - I would like to correct a point in "In the underground" (UpFront, August 29) Alexander Zvielli's review of First Tithe, the memoirs of a decade in the life of Dr. Israel Eldad between 1938-1948, ably translated by Ze'ev Golan. Zvielli wrote: "Lehi was finally dissolved together with the Irgun and the Palmah on May 29, 1948, and most of its members joined the IDF and the Herut political party." In actuality, units of the Irgun and Lehi maintained an independent existence in Jerusalem until September 19, 1948, two days after the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, at which time they were dissolved. The Palmah, however, continued to operate autonomous command groups within the IDF for two more months, and this throughout the country. It wasn't until November 7, 1948, that David Ben-Gurion asserted the state's authority over what had become the armed socialist militia of Mapam-Hashomer Hatza'ir. It would have been interesting for your writer to explain how, in his opinion, Eldad "unjustly denigrates other existing Jewish youth movements" in the pre-war period. Betar members suffered severe discrimination at the hands of the Jewish Agency's immigration officers regarding their preparatory hachshara period, receiving certificates and, once in the Mandate, obtaining employment. YISRAEL MEDAD Shiloh Spray 'em Sir, - Re: Nachama Kanner's "More cures for deficient drivers" (Letters, September 10) suggesting pop-up, illuminated signs in one's rear window alerting the driver behind you that he's tailgating, I offer the following idea that's worked for me over the past couple of years and even gets a grin from the tailgater: I put on my window shpritzers. Usually they're strong enough to reach the car behind me, and achieve greater distance between us. STUART PILICHOWSKI Mevaseret Zion