Readers react to Tel Aviv terror shooting and aftermath

Since the terror attack in Tel Aviv – and in general after such attacks in Israel – there are people who praise the way we return to normal so quickly.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Once again, our people are murdered, this time sitting in a cafe in Tel Aviv, and your June 13 editorial “Israeli resilience” says that “even before they could get over the shock of innocent citizens being shot down in central Tel Aviv, Israelis were refusing to give in to fear.”
I find it hard to find merit in this claim. In fact, I think it borders on insanity, that instead of taking to the streets and breaking down the doors of the prime minister and defense minister, screaming for the destruction of our enemies and sovereignty over the Jewish land, people think the answer is to accept the ongoing destruction of our people and land as “the way it has to be.”
It is not how it has to be, was meant to be or should be.
For years, we have been hearing how Hezbollah has strengthened itself, and now we are told: “This Iranian backed Shi’ite terrorist army is gaining battlefield experience in Syria that IDF soldiers are not able to receive even in the most rigorous combat training programs. Today, Hezbollah is the most heavily armed, trained and capable fighting force threatening Israel” (“The IDF is ready for another conflict with Hezbollah at a moment’s notice,” June 13).
Why does no one question the fact that our enemies have been allowed to grow from a handful of hooligans into formidable and lethal armies with the ability to reach every part of our land, and still the word seems to be “containment”? And we wonder why the world does not accept Jewish sovereignty.
YENTEL JACOBS
Netanya
Since the terror attack in Tel Aviv – and in general after such attacks in Israel – there are people who praise the way we return to normal so quickly.
You agree with this idea.
You claim that life is stronger than nihilism. While this is true, I have heard many people complaining that there is a lack of sensitivity in having coffee in a place where four people were murdered.
Couldn’t they have waited until after the funerals? There is another point. By going back to normal so quickly, could we also be giving a message that it is okay to kill us? Isn’t it accepting the fact that we can never expect to live as normal people, where killing does not go by without a response? We are always thankful that we have our own state, are not at the mercy of others and do not accept pogroms without a reaction. Well, where are we, and why aren’t we standing up and saying enough is enough? I would like to see one day, or even one hour, of the country coming to a stop to show solidarity with our fellow Jews, and to tell the government that we will not just go back to our routines in the face of murder.
NANCY CHERNOFSKY
Jerusalem
Like the whole of Israel, I was in deep shock when I heard of the terrible Tel Aviv shooting. I was also shocked when I read your June 10 article “Tel Aviv cop let terrorist into his apartment, left him with his wife and in-laws,” because there I saw photos of the terrorists – two very nice-looking young men who should have been looking for nice partners to raise a family and have all the things that nice, young, normal men do.
Who is to blame? I believe that they are the product of incitement, probably since their first day in school, when they learned to march up and down while shouting “Kill the Jews!” Throughout their lives, such young people are indoctrinated in this matter by their teachers and preachers, and through incitement that is rife on the Internet.
Israel somehow has to find a way to stop this incitement. It didn’t happen overnight that two such young men became men able to be so blinded with hate as to carry out such shootings. To be able to act like successful businessmen, eat and look relaxed, and then carry out an attack such as this requires first-class training.
No one who saw them or sat near them had an inkling of what would happen. Frightening! I hope Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman will be man enough to sort this out.
LINDA HIRSCH
 Netanya
The comment about the Sarona Market attack by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai (“Tel Aviv mayor says attack result of Israel’s ‘occupation,’” June 10) was not only immoral and unjust, it was – even worse – stupid.
In every conflict, there are two sides. Has the mayor not asked himself why the occupation is still in force in 2016? Perhaps he does not remember that in 2000, then-prime minister Ehud Barak, and in 2008, then-prime minister Ehud Olmert offered the Palestinians some 95 percent of the territories, with other land from Israel proper to cover the difference. Perhaps he forgets that neither Yasser Arafat, who in 2000 was president of the Palestinian Authority, nor Mahmoud Abbas, president in 2008 and until this day, deigned to discuss these offers and make counter-proposals, much less accept them.
Hasn’t the mayor noticed that most of the terrorists who carried out attacks since October 2015 said they were motivated by the “threat” to the Aksa Mosque, and not by the occupation? The mayor implicitly justifies the killings. Does he not ask himself whether these murders, which have increased fear and distrust among Israelis, will produce the opposite effect?
DAVID MANDEL
Savyon
I find the remarks of Mayor Ron Huldai and others to be utterly reprehensible, irresponsible, unacceptable and – clearly and sadly – politically motivated. Thus, it must be rejected by those of us who, in our quest for peace, still seek an accommodation with the Palestinians, and even with Hamas.
If we are to believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – yes, I know he makes it difficult sometimes, but in this instance I do – then a simple, unequivocal declaration by the Palestinians accepting Israel as the eternal home of the Jewish people will be enough to bring Israel to the negotiating table without preconditions.
The problem is that there is no Palestinian leader with the courage to make this declaration, and so we shall continue to witness our neighbors rejoice at the death of Jews by the hands of terrorists – which is no path to peace.
This is not the result of the occupation, but the lack of true Palestinian leadership and years of an education system that continues to teach hatred and violence. No amount of political hand-wringing by the Israeli Left can disguise this fact.
To Mayor Huldai and others I say shame on you! Stop, stop, stop politicizing the death of innocent Israelis! Instead, I suggest you use your energies and time to persuade the Palestinians to cease their acts of terror and start building bridges of peace through education and, above all, acceptance of Israel as the home of the Jewish people, forever.
ARNOLD EPSTEIN
Jerusalem
This former “bleeding-heart” liberal strongly supports reader Aviva Adler’s recommendations (“Readers react to terror Tel Aviv shooting,” Letters, June 10), except for the first, in which she calls for us to “[k]ill all terrorists immediately and... not return their bodies to their communities for martyrdom.”
The time to implement new strategies is long overdue.
RIVKA ZAHAVY
Jerusalem