Why should foreign bodies that are hostile to us and work actively to destroy us be allowed to wine and dine MKs?
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Inviting scorn What I feared has come to pass: A perceived “friend” in the White House has resulted in shameful behavior motivated by a desire to please on the part of our prime minister (“Israel, AIPAC reluctant to endorse Taylor Force Act,” May 11).Preferable are the days when we hold our own and hang tough in the face of an adversarial relationship. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions since the US presidential election are shameful and invite scorn, not respect, whether self-respect or respect from the outside.SUSAN WEINSTEIN-CRAFTNetanyaIBA shutdownThe sudden and brutal closing of Israel Radio and TV is not only an obvious violation of conventional wisdom, as described by Greer Fay Cashman in “Rivlin lauds Reshet Bet and Channel 1 after abrupt end” (May 11), it flies in the face of any logic or professional competence. The public is literally left with no broadcasting or programming, even if it is a just a temporary hiatus.Quick on-the-hour news broadcasts with nothing more than music in between seems more like something out of a totalitarian regime than a mere technical aspect of moving from one communications organization to another. This incredible situation illustrates more than anything else how little anyone in the government knows – or even cares – about what is supposed to happen, not to mention the obvious narrow-minded and petty, personal and political motivation of the prime minister on down for initiating and implementing the entire process.It has actually been difficult to follow the whole fiasco, since those who originally fought to close down the Israel Broadcasting Authority for ostensibly financial, professional and ethical issues suddenly became its greatest defenders, even willing to go to new elections for their “altruistic” and public-minded principles.Leaving any democratic country – especially Israel – with four full days of nothing on both radio and TV is scandalous, crazy, worse than incompetent and even dangerous.GERSHON HARRISHatzor Haglilit What a shame that there will no longer be English news on TV or radio. It was a wonderful service – well researched, well presented and greatly appreciated.The way things are, there should be more English news, not less. Does nobody have the intelligence to realize this?RAYMOND APPLEJerusalemThe treatment of newscasters from the English-language programs – who could not even say goodbye to their audiences – was shameful, to say the least (“The news in English... is over,” May 11).What is also shameful is that political leaders like Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi), Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) did not make any effort to save the English-language news. They all made a big deal about wanting to draw English speakers into their parties; it seems they just want our votes but won’t go to bat for us like Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman did for Russian- speaking Israelis.Our government is shortsighted.A good English-language newscast can be picked up worldwide on the Internet.It is an opportunity not only to serve a large portion of the Israeli population, but also to present an outlet to tell the world our side of the story.It is time to look at the big picture.KURT SIMONJerusalem Way past PurimPlease tell me that your May 11 newspaper accidentally included articles that were meant for the Purim edition – because if they were serious, it means my tax shekels are supporting a bunch of yokels who seem to have no interest in the welfare of our country.First I read “Foreign Ministry workers threaten to disrupt Trump visit,” which says the ministry wants to make a mess or even cause the cancellation of the visit of the president of the United States.Is this what we are paying NIS 1.5 billion a year for? To embarrass us? To cut dialogue? To alienate the first friend we have had in the White House in a long time? To make it look like the Arab countries that are going to welcome President Donald Trump very warmly are much more civilized than we are? I am just wondering if anybody in the Foreign Ministry deserves his or her job because if they have so little regard for the public image and foreign relations of our country, I can think of a lot better things to do with NIS 1.5b.Then I read “Most of Knesset ethics panel threatens to resign over proposed travel ban,” which states that Likud MK Yoav Kisch proposed that NGOs that reject Israel’s right to exist, lead to Israelis being put on trial for war crimes or deny the Holocaust should not be allowed to fund foreign travel by our lawmakers.Why should foreign bodies that are hostile to us and work actively to destroy us be allowed to wine and dine MKs? To defend the right of our MKs to be hosted on such trips abroad by saying it is protected by their parliamentary immunity is even more absurd! I have never quite understood why our lawmakers are held to the lowest, rather than the highest, standards of integrity.Why exactly are they above the law? Why are they allowed to do things that the rest of us would stand trial for? The prime minister is scrutinized for every action he takes, but MKs can act with impunity and without any oversight! Bravo to MK Kisch for proposing that we put an end to allowing our enemies to have so much access to our decision- makers.MIRIAM REINFELDJerusalemWhat price shopping?Shoshana Rabinowitz worries that retailers will be hurt, as will customers, by a proposed amendment to the Consumer Protection Law concerning sale prices and duration (“The end to end-of-season sales” Comment & Features, May 11).According to Ms. Rabinowitz, “Israeli law is extremely strict on marking of prices [and] each product must bear a price ticket.” Our experience in multiple markets is that this rule is generally ignored. Many times, one looks in vain for even a price sign on the shelf.The crux of the matter is a lack of enforcement. Exactly who could possibly police the sales histories of the multitude of products on offer? My educated guess? No one!STEVE KRAMERAlfei MenasheButt out, ErdoganWith regard to “After Erdogan rant, Israel protests to Turkish envoy” (May 10) and Minister Ayoub Kara’s statement about neither Israel nor Turkey wanting to allow this “spark to turn into a fire,” how many more times will Ankara make sparks? The Mavi Marmara was one, and now this! Why does Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not mind his own business and leave us to sort out our own issues without foreign interference and wrath from the rest of the world? Only when we control some commodity do outsiders become our sudden “best friends.”When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an innocent election-day observation that the “Arabs are flooding to the polls,” he was pilloried.When Erdogan calls for Muslims to hurry to the Temple Mount, there’s complete silence.The world has failed to criticize Turkey for not acceding to a long-awaited Kurdish state, which the Kurds certainly deserve. An apology to the Armenian people would also be good.S. GELGORTel Aviv
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
