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I believe that until the Star of David replaces the flag of Islam, with zero presence by the Wakf Muslim religious trust, there is not much to celebrate on Jerusalem Day.EDITH OGNALLNetanyaCORRECTIONIn “High Court allows Jerusalem Day march through Old City’s Muslim Quarter” (May 12), all acts or quotations attributed to Supreme Court President Miriam Naor should be attributed instead to Supreme Court Vice President Elyakim Rubinstein. We apologize for the reporting error.Eternal capitalWith regard to “Government okays 900 homes for J’lem’s Ramat Shlomo” (May 8), once again, various members of the “united nations against Israel” are complaining in their usual threatening manner.Those countries seem to forget that Jerusalem was already the Jewish people’s capital at least 3,000 years ago, after King David made it so. At the time, other capitals (including Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, Oslo, Vienna, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Algiers, Tripoli, Riyadh, Johannesburg, Cairo, Nairobi, Canberra, Buenos Aires, Beijing, Ulan Bator....) were non-existent.In the Jewish people’s hearts throughout all the grim centuries of life in the Diaspora, Jerusalem continued to be their capital, despite it often being under foreign occupation. Today, Israel has the right to continue to expand the city to its heart’s content.TRUDY GEFENKiryat OnoSore loserDov Lipman’s view of Israel’s Knesset, sans his presence (“Clear and present danger: Netanyahu’s new gov’t,” Observations, May 8), is “sad” and even a “travesty.” He, along with the opposition parties, believe war must be declared on the prime minister that a million Israelis voted into power.Lipman’s reaction is truly that of a sore loser. It’s time for Israel’s losers to learn from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: It’s not enough to win – one needs to know how to lose.Unlike Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog and others, Netanyahu knows. When the election results of 1999 were clear, he didn’t wait for a phone call. He stood on the podium with his wife, acceded to the will of the people and resigned as head of the Likud. It is done that way in democratic countries, and that is how it should be.Lipman, a Johnny-come-lately immigrant from the United States, should have the sense and the good grace to deal with his loss privately, without attacking the prime minister and his coalition partners from every podium and media site that will allow his vilification of the results.The people expressed their will, and their will must be respected.FAIGIE HEIMAN JerusalemElection lessonsThe losing side in the British elections becomes the “loyal opposition,” the loyalty presumably being to the nation. When our own opposition declares in advance that its only goal is to topple the government, it loses its right to the adjective and becomes just an opposition.This is a shame, as a loyal opposition is a benefit to society. Its absence is a loss.SIDNEY HANDELTel AvivAs the dust settles in the UK after the latest election, ex-Labor leader Ed Miliband would have been wise to listen to the advice of Winston Churchill, who in 1907 said to Manchester Jewry that they should be good Jews. He explained that in his view, a Jew could be a good Englishman unless he is first a good Jew.Mr. Miliband, eating bacon sandwiches in public and marrying out cannot be classified as being a good Jew!EALLAN HIRSHFELDRa’ananaInvisible FrayI believe that Martin Sherman, who writes the “Into the Fray” columns that appear in your Friday newspaper, is not held in high esteem by the editors of The Jerusalem Post. It is rare that I see opinions in letters concerning his columns, so I don’t expect to see this letter either.I think Mr. Sherman’s columns are of very unusual quality and filled with ideas that generally go unreported by journalists and unstated by military strategists concerned with the Arab-Israeli conflict. From time to time there is something a reader is allowed to say, but it seems to me that there are many more readers who have opinions of his work who are not recognized, for a reason that is unknown to me.Mr. Sherman’s views of the Arab-Israeli dilemma, I think, are put forth with a clear vision of history and military strategy. The question is: Why are the Post’s editors seemingly oblivious to readers’ opinions of his writing?MICHAEL TAL JerusalemLousy PRPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies have made good use of street propaganda – proclaiming to all and sundry, loudly and clearly, as to how evil we are – killing babies, children and women without any reason other than that they are Arabs; stealing their land; and all the other hateful lies they shout out so as to stir up anti-Israel and anti-Semitic feelings.I am Jewish. But if all I heard as a simple man in the street, of which there are millions, was the above, and nothing to refute it, then I, too, would be an anti-Semite.Our public relations efforts in this connection are pathetic (if they exist at all)!M. POPPERHerzliyaMust face justiceI am a dual citizen of Australia and Israel. I ask that Attorney- General Yehuda Weinstein do everything to allow the extradition of Malka Leifer to Australia to face that country’s justice system for the alleged crimes she committed while principal of the Addas Yisrael School in Melbourne from 2001 to 2008.As someone who was living in Melbourne when Leifer fled the country in 2008, I saw first-hand the damage she caused to Addas Yisrael and the city’s wider Jewish community. I strongly believe that she needs to face justice.In the event that she is not extradited to Australia, I hope that Israel will put her on trail for those crimes, as it did Samuel Sheinbein, who was sentenced to 24 years in an Israeli prison in 1999 for a murder he committed in the Untied States.HOWARD SHROOTJerusalemPriority is given to letters that are brief and topical, and which bear the writer’s name and place of residence, as well as the name and date of the Post item being referred to. They may also be edited and shortened.letters@jpost.com
May 14, 2015: Not much to celebrate
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