November 11: Shameful, dangerous

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Shameful, dangerous
Sir, – With all due respect to Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, regarding his comments at the funeral of Shalom Aharon Ba’adani (“Jews on Temple Mount causing bloodshed – Yosef,” November 9), he is playing right into the hands of our enemies.
Using the chief rabbi’s argument, we should leave the Cave of the Patriarchs and all other places that Arabs believe we “defile” with our mere presence.
I, for one, do not go to the Temple Mount for religious reasons (though I fully support those who do) and understand the halachic reasons that support that view.
Rabbi Yosef is using political means to support his religious ideologies, which I find shameful and, more concerning, extremely dangerous.
AVI SCHREIBER Hashmonaim
Truth in labeling Sir, – Regarding “Right-wing protesters march to Temple Mount (November 7), I fail to see the relevance of a “wing” to a protest against the cold-blooded shooting of a man of the spirit.
What exactly does “right-wing” mean in this context? Is it those people who still care about stuff like Jewish identity and tradition? Does that in turn define “leftwing” as not caring about those things the Jewish people have held sacred for thousands of years? It insults the intelligence to reduce a cultural schism of this magnitude to facile political labels.
The champions of human rights on the Left should in fact be the first to protest that one group of people is not permitted to pray at a sacred place at the behest of another group, as if their prayers somehow defile the holiness of the site. This flies in the face of the ideals of equality and mutual respect that they claim to represent.
That this denial of the humanity of the “other” is used to “contextualize” acts of murder is obscene.
Shame on The Jerusalem Post for conflating politics with such a profound affront to the basic human values that precede all conflicts of ideology. One does not need to be “right-wing” to be appalled by this abnegation of the natural right of all people to worship where they please.
ELIYAHU SIDIKMAN Jerusalem
Stepping up
Sir, – When Bassem Eid asked young men why they were throwing stones (“Step up to the plate, Mr. Mayor,” Observations, November 7), he was told that it was in response to grievances with the Municipality of Jerusalem.
Did it occur to Mr. Eid to inform these hard-done-by youth that they lived in a democracy and that inherent in such a system is the right to peaceful demonstration in order to publicize and repair such grievances? Did it cross his mind as a human rights activist to remind these young men that where they live is the only place in this area where such a privilege exists, and that if they were to attempt this kind of behavior anywhere else in the region they would no longer be alive? Perhaps Mr. Eid could also be put upon to enlighten the residents of Jerusalem’s east side that the more damage they do to city property (not to mention the threat to life and limb), the less money the city has to spend on improvements there.
Of course, I am sure that I am not alone in wondering what rioting on the Temple Mount has to do with the municipality ignoring the needs of the eastern part of the city. Seems to me that Mr. Eid has his own stepping up to do.
BOB YERMUS Jerusalem And don’t come back Sir, – Regarding Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz’s statement that he “won’t be part of a government” whose prime minister is “held captive by the most extremist trends...” (“Peretz: I won’t stay in this gov’t,” November 9), is that a promise? What the State of Israel needs desperately is leadership to regain sovereignty over all the Land of Israel, especially Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.
NORMAN DEROVAN Ma’aleh Adumim
Lest we forget
Sir, – While everybody has been celebrating 25 years since the downfall of the Berlin Wall, your newspaper completely forgot what happened on the same date 76 years ago.
Is it really time to forget Kristallnacht? I will not forget. My father was taken to Dachau and I had to leave Germany on a Kindertransport.
It pains me to see this happen in Israel.
RENATE FISCH Petah Tikva
What’s in the way
Sir, – Appreciated are the positive and friendly words expressed by Lubomir Zaoralek (“Czech foreign minister: Unilateral recognition of Palestinian state is noneffective,” November 6) – until he stumbles over the mantra of “viable Palestinian state.” He adds that this state “must have enough territory for a workable economic structure” while saying that Jewish settlements did not allow for this.
The honorable Czech foreign minister as well as the new EU foreign policy head would undoubtedly feel uncomfortable emphasizing that scattered Arab/Beduin settlements do not allow enough territory for a sustainable Jewish state! KARL HUTTENBAUER Berlin Seizure of power Sir, – The Jerusalem Post’s October 28 editorial “Dangerous solution” has it all wrong.
The proposed law by MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) would selectively enable the Knesset to override certain High Court of Justice decisions. It was prompted by the court’s decision to declare the Prevention of Infiltration Law unconstitutional, claiming it infringed on the human rights of illegal aliens.
Of the three main branches of a democracy, the judiciary is the least representative of the nation since its members are chosen by a small group of officials. Furthermore, the liberal bias of the Israeli judiciary is discordant with the vox populi. Annulling laws legislated by a democratically elected Knesset is an affront to our system.
The judicial activism of the justices prioritized the rights of illegal African non-citizens over the legitimate security needs of citizens in south Tel Aviv and Eilat.
A balanced system in which all three branches share equal power is the most likely way to bring “liberty and justice for all.”
ROBERT DUBLIN Jerusalem
A lamented void
Sir, – For several weeks I have been able to go to bed at night with a smile on my face, indeed sometimes trying my best to suppress a loud giggle despite the endless stream of bitter propaganda, hatred, political grandstanding and other forms of vile commentary that grace your pages as “commentary” or “opinion.” The reason for my nocturnal good temper is that I have been indulging myself in a reread of the wonderful columns published in The Jerusalem Post many years ago by Alex Berlyne.
When reviewing the latest submissions of material for your paper, why not face some essential, um, fax: Nothing has changed in the dynamic of Israel versus Palestine for at least a decade. Every column you publish essentially says something that was said before, in most cases many, many times. Isn’t it time you gave us something else? Berlyne was fully aware of what was going on in this country but he managed to bring sunshine and light into our lives with a steady wit, sharp eye and magnificent sense of the ridiculous that made him an equal to the other masters of this craft, Alan Coren and P.G. Wodehouse.
Please, Mr. Editor, bring us back a writer like him. Enough already with the self-inflating, self-important, self-justifying proponents of doom who seem to have sole rights to your pages these days.
HENRY KAYE Ashkelon