By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Water libelPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas seems to have retracted his vile repetition of the accusation from the Middle Ages that Jews poison wells (“PA president retracts charge that rabbis called to poison Palestinian water,” June 26). Nevertheless, he achieved his vicious objective of painting the Jewish people as murderers.His remarks were made to the European Parliament and – surprise, surprise – they were received with delight, followed by a standing ovation by the Europeans, whose forbears were the very authors of this libel. It was just what they wanted to hear.No retraction by Abbas will be heard or reported by Europe’s liberal anti-Israel media, so that is another plus in the PLO’s war against Israel.In addition, Abbas’s refusal to meet with President Reuven Rivlin in Brussels was greeted by silence from Federica Mogherini, the EU’s official in charge of foreign affairs. Can you imagine what she would have said had it been Rivlin who refused to meet with Abbas? We are so used to the hatred and double standards meted out to Israel that we have come to disregard them.CYRIL ATKINS Beit ShemeshMahmoud Abbas’s performance in Brussels clearly brands him an unlikely peace partner.Not only did he refuse to meet with President Reuven Rivlin, who called him a friend and publicly announced his desire to meet with him while in the city, but he also had the temerity to try to instigate a blood libel against Israel.I doubt if any of the delegates to the European Parliament were shocked by his diatribe.We should point out that today, nearly all Palestinians in the West Bank enjoy plentiful water of good quality, much of which is pumped directly from Israeli sources. Their own water supply network is assisted by Israeli know how. It should also be known that sewage from some Palestinian cities finds its way into Israeli waterways, where it has to be treated.Mr. Abbas and his coterie should be grateful for the benefits of being a neighbor to one of the world’s leaders in water management.They can rest assured that should a water crisis arise, Israel can be relied on to assist.SHLOMO MANNSTel MondNo ‘phobia’I must take issue with Muddassar Ahmed’s contention (“Europe’s first Islamophobia summit highlights European- wide problem,” Comment & Features, June 26).A phobia is an irrational or unreasonable fear. With terror attacks in the name of Islam perpetrated against innocent civilians throughout the world with despairing frequency, and with Islamic State claiming that it is planting terror cells throughout Europe among the Syrian refugees, this certainly isn’t an irrational or unreasonable fear.Quite the contrary. There is a real and present danger almost everywhere.How are we to distinguish peace-loving Muslims? It’s not as if they have a sign on their forehead (or burka) indicating so.Where Islamic terrorism exists, there can be no Islamophobia.They are mutually exclusive. Mr.Ahmed would be better off representing an Islamic conference whose aim is for Islam to rid itself of terrorism.MALCOLM MANDELRa’anana MuddassarAhmed, spokesperson for the first European Islamophobia summit, details the problems encountered by the Muslim community in Europe.But the Muslims’ problem is quite the opposite.Europe is being overwhelmed by waves of migrants of unparalleled proportions. Country after country is being inundated with Muslim vagrants who utilize the liberty status afforded by the European Union, and it doesn’t appear that this will end soon.No wonder people in Europe have begun to feel threatened, especially when realizing that none of these migrants will ever return to their homes.What worries the EU countries is how many jihadists have managed to sneak in among the multitudes.The UK has voted to leave the EU. One of the reasons was a desire to control any further migrant activities. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that other EU countries are contemplating a similar course.ISSY RIEBACKKfar YonaDitch JTAYour June 24 news item “PAC wants US to call West Bank ‘Jewish homeland’” includes a grossly misleading statement used by the JTA: “Judea and Samaria are the biblical names commonly used to designate the West Bank, an area where Israel has expanded Jewish settlement over the decades....”On the contrary, the names Judea and Samaria remained in use all through the post-biblical centuries, including by the United Nations itself in its partition resolution of 1947: “The boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea begins on the Jordan River....” The term “West Bank” was invented by Jordan in 1950 for the same reason the Romans renamed Judea Palestine – to disassociate the Jewish homeland from the Jews.The Jerusalem Post should not use Jewish news agencies that purvey misperceptions like this.JEROME VERLINElkins Park, PennsylvaniaKids left in cars The recurrent tragedy of young children dying after being forgotten in closed cars (“2 toddlers die after being left in car,” News in Brief, June 23) is heartbreaking.Here is an easy, lo-tech solution to the problem.Attach a small paper clip to your keyring with a short piece of thin string. After securing the child or children in the car, start the engine. Put the clip on the ignition key. When you grasp the ignition key to turn off the engine at the end of the journey, you will feel the clip, and this will remind you of the children.If you have a modern ignition key, the shape of which makes it difficult to attach a clip, obtain a clip that fits on the driver’s door handle.GERRY MYERSBeit ZayitReader Linda Silverstone (“Kids in hot cars,” Letters, June 26) discredits parents who forget their babies in cars. She claims they should face manslaughter charges and be incarcerated.Thank heavens, law enforcement and the courts are a bit more humane. Those of us who don’t have babysitters or nannies around the clock tend to get overwhelmed and exhausted.There is no reason to further hurt those whose existing hurt one should wish on no parent.MOSHE-MORDECHAI VAN ZUIDEN JerusalemRed flags I fail to comprehend and am utterly perplexed by the coincidental failure of American intelligence authorities regarding the Orlando massacre, and Egged’s personnel department regarding driver Haim Bitton and his history of reckless driving (“Egged driver indicted for fatal crash,” June 23). Red flags were blatantly ignored in both cases.Notwithstanding the carnage, pain and grief suffered by innocent civilians, final responsibility must be brought to bear on those who blatantly disregard background checks. Just don’t hold your breath.GISH TRUMAN ROBBINS Pardesiya Pro everything else Noa Fleischacker, an activist for J Street (“Hateful extremism will not be tolerated,” Comment & Features, June 22), is not pro-Israel, as she claims. She is concerned about the ideals of justice, equality, tikkun olam, peace, Palestinian rights and hateful extremism as a result of J Street’s “criticism of Israel’s policy.”What she doesn’t realize is that J Street itself is guilty of lies, hateful speech and incitement of Arab terror groups.IRA NOSENCHUK JerusalemCORRECTIONThe last name of the Russian prince involved in the assassination of Rasputin was Yusukov, and not as stated in “Seeing Russia through new eyes” (Travel Trends, June 26).
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