What part of “no” don’t they understand? We all saw the headlines like the one in the Jerusalem Post May 15,”55 dead in Gaza...” The State of Israel has been warning the Arabs in Gaza for weeks already - DO NOT APPROACH OUR BORDER. We’ve said it in print in Arabic, in radio broadcasts also in their language, any way we thought we could get the message across. Did they think we were kidding? Did they think we would allow them to invade our country – all those “peaceful demonstrators” carrying wire cutters and pipe bombs?
Every time the news goes on today, the farce just gets more farcical. This morning we heard that the Erez crossing was out of commission again. That’s the place where the fuel pipes cross into Gaza. The Arabs torched it (spectacularly, of course because of all the fuel stored there) for the umpteenth time. Later in the morning the announcement was that the Arabs were preventing supply trucks from crossing into Gaza. At mid-afternoon of May 15, the day after the big hullaballoo, the Hamas began whining that they couldn’t possibly cope with all the casualties – that they themselves caused.
This reminds me of the old story of the guy who murders his mother and his father. Then he throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.
But this is not a joke. The ongoing tragedy in Gaza is entirely of their own making. Is the world to stupid to see this glaring fact?
THELMA JACOBSON
Petah Tikva
Ungracious word choice
It is no surprise for readers of The Jerusalem Post that Susan Hattis Rolef is not a fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. Nonetheless, in “Netanyahu has good reasons to gloat,” (May 14) she several times gives him credit. These include for the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the JCPOA, his decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the announcement by several other countries of their plan to move their embassies, and Netanyahu’s relationship with Russia’s President Putin, likely a factor in Russia’s noninterference with Israel’s strong response to Iran’s missile attack on May 10.
However, she marred what otherwise would have been a gracious gesture by using the word “gloat,” both in the article’s headline and within the article as well. Merriam-Webster define gloat as follows: “to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction, gratification, or delight.”
Did Rolef observe such “malicious” behavior? I doubt it. Her article would have been more to her credit had she used the words, “feel grateful” instead of “to gloat.” The definition of grateful is “appreciative of benefits received.” That would have been a more accurate description.
LEWIS ROSEN
Jerusalem
Just askin’ Baskin
In “Memories and the future”(May 17), Gershon Baskin writes of “the longing for a Palestine that no longer exists.” Can Mr Baskin please tell us when it did exist? When was there a homeland called Palestine?
If the people from Gaza are looking to return to their homeland, they could look to the Arabian Peninsula, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt from whence many of their ancestors came in the last two centuries. There is no language known as Palestinian, or any Palestinian culture distinct from that of all the Arabs in the area. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians.
I suggest that Baskin appeal to the rulers of Jordan to allow the discontented Gazans to join their kin there where they could live in peace, and freedom in the largest part of the “Palestinian homeland.” Shooting at soldiers and residents of Sderot and other border communities does not equate with defending a lost homeland.
KAREN PISK
Netanya
Usually I don't read Gershon Baskin's articles. They express a monotonous obsession with, what he calls the “occupation" and a touching belief that if and when the occupation ends, we will enter a Messianic era of peace and good will.
When I read the title of his recent column "Encountering drama and lies," I was sure that he would denounce the vile antisemitic speech of Mahmoud Abbas, as everybody in Israel, from the left to the right, has done.
Alas, it was not to be. Although Baskin usually writes only about the "occupation," and rarely, if ever, about the Iranian threat, when confronted by the Palestinian Authority President's hateful and evil speech, which shows the real obstacle to a real peace, he did not find in himself the will to even say "nu, nu, nu" to Abbas.
There are two ways to know a person. One is by what he says. The other is by what he doesn't say.
In Baskin's case, his failure to criticize Abbas for his antisemitic speech and his falsifying of history is more revealing that his columns.
DAVID MANDEL
Savyon
If you will it
I was amused to recognize, attached to the worthy opinion article by Aviad Hacohen, “If you will it – she is free!” (May 21), on the painful issue of get refusal, a photo of the elegant Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. While headless, the photo shows Kate Middleton’s distinctive hands – bearing her late mother-in-law’s sapphire engagement ring – in distinctive pose clutching her purse. A cursory search of the Web reveals numerous photos of her in similar mode.
SHIRLEY ZAUER
Jerusalem
Superfluous Trump bashing
I spent seven years in the New York Public Library as I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees and I was instantly attracted to Hannah Brown’s article “Taking the lid off the library” (May 17)
What fond memories of wondering the stacks and reading old crinkly papers.
Then I reached the 15th paragraph and its unnecessary and fraudulent attack on US President Donald Trump. Are the views presented anything more than liberal gibberish to mock the president?
“All the things the library does are the opposite of what Trump preaches.” This quote from Toni Morrison is fatuous and certainly not researched, even if it comes from a Princeton professor.
Of all the weeks to lambast the president, this was wrong one.
STEPHEN JEROME KOHN
Ra’anana Israel
Going postal
I love the Israel Postal Service! I am so happy with it. The parcel I posted registered mail to New Zealand arrived yesterday; I posted it on November 2 last year! My husband’s cousin was here from Holland last month. He is one of those old-fashioned people who still insist on sending postcards home to his friends. We posted 10 cards at Qiryat Amal on April 18 and two more at the airport on April 24. He reports from Holland that NONE of the cards have arrived. Talk about snail mail!
GERALDINE THEMAL
Qiryat Tivon
A word of thanks
Thank you so much on current news from holy Israel. God is with the Jews. I pray for the Jews and all Israel. Thank you for all you do.
JERRY WAYNE HAIRE
USA