Murderous intent
Regarding “India is the solution” (December 10): In 2005, Israel carried out Disengagement 1.0 and dismantled 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip. It relinquished the land but allowed thousands of workers to cross the border to work in construction and agriculture.
Hamas took control two years later and thousands of rockets rained across the southern half of Israel over the next 16 years culminating in the October 7 massacre. We now know that many of these workers spied on their employers and passed the information on to the terrorists.
As Ori Wertman and Oshrit Birvadker write, it is time to reassess our use of a labor force from Judea and Samaria to provide workers in Israel. The risks of their spying as their brothers in Gaza did, might lead, God forbid, to a similar outcome as occurred in the kibbutzim. Disengagement 2.0 would see Israel retain security control of the territory from the river to the sea, but ban the use of their workers, the reverse of what happened in Disengagement 1.0.
As the writers of this opinion piece point out, workers can be allowed in from India, but I would add also from Thailand, Vietnam, Africa and any population which does not have the murderous intent of our Palestinian neighbors, who overwhelmingly approved of the pogrom. It may be economically disadvantageous, but security is paramount in the decision-making process.
FRED EHRMAN
Ra’anana
Nuances of antisemitism
In “More equal than others” (December 10), I found Pini Dunner’s comparison of the testimony before Congress of three prestigious US Ivy League presidents – one who has since resigned – regarding antisemitism on their campuses, with George Orwell’s fictional Animal Farm to be particularly apt.
Indeed, I felt that I was watching fiction on TV when the presidents replied to the question of whether their universities opposed genocide of Jews by offering almost identical answers that it would depend on the context.
These are universities purportedly devoted to academic freedom and enlightenment, but they seemed to be parroting Orwell’s: “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”
I later read in The New York Times that one law firm prepared both the Penn and Harvard presidents for the hearing prior to their testimony.
That news was even more disturbing because in the early years of the rise of Nazism in Germany, the Nazis called upon the lawyers to rationalize and give legal credence to every anti-Jewish act that was passed, up through the Nuremberg Laws.
We must be ever vigilant to the nuances of antisemitism wherever they appear. As often quoted by Santayana: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
MARION REISS
Beit Shemesh
Largely peaceful
Regarding “In search of ‘settler violence’” (December 7): Josh Hasten is certainly correct in writing that “the more than 500,000 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are largely peaceful, law-abiding, and loyal citizens of the State of Israel.” However, I believe that he is unfortunately wrong in downplaying the number of settler attacks on Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and their potential negative impacts.
As indicated in “Rights groups: Settler attacks increase against Palestinians” (November 2), between October 7-22, there had been over 100 attacks on Palestinians by settlers in at least 62 towns and villages in Judea and Samaria, and at least 13 Palestinian communities there have been deserted due to settler threats.
Responding to such events which have continued since then, your editorial, “The third front” (November 12) points out that “not only is Jewish terror... simply wrong and not only does it have no place in the Jewish state, it also tars and delegitimizes Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding citizens.”
Very unfortunately, a Google search for “settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank” reveals many articles about the increase in such attacks.
Of course our main focus now must be on eliminating Hamas and bringing all the hostages home safely. But we should also be very concerned about these recent despicable attacks against Palestinians by extremist Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria.
Besides violating basic Jewish laws and values, these actions increase the likelihood of even greater violence against Judea and Samaria residents and other Israelis. It could also lead to increased worldwide antisemitism and a widened conflict with Hezbollah.
Following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s positive example of saying, “I condemn this and we will act against it,” it is urgent that Jewish leaders, including rabbis in Judea and Samaria, speak out against these appalling rampages and threats. Those responsible need to be brought to justice without delay so that similar events do not occur again.
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ
Shoresh
Military knowledge
Rafael Medoff (“‘Creating terrorists’?” December 7) criticizes both US Defense Secretary General Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown, and rightly so.
Both absurdly challenge the IDF war plan to rid the region of Hamas, the vile offshoot of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. Their premise is that extensive Israeli bombardment of civilian infrastructure used by Hamas to shield military emplacements, resulting in civilian casualties, is turning Gazan civilians into terrorists.
Besides Medoff’s destruction of their argument, there is another issue. Both General Austin and General Brown negate the need for Israel to employ sufficient strength necessary to prepare the battlefield in Gaza. How can we explain this temporary lapse of military knowledge?
Of course, they haven’t forgotten the basic military principle of preparing the battlefield. However, they are subordinate to a civilian authority, the Biden administration, which shoves aside operational logic, replacing it with election logic, pacifying the Democratic Party’s left wing along with Muslim, progressive, and young voters.
It is election season and battleground states are more important than battleground Gaza.
BERNARD SMITH
Jerusalem
Indisputable facts
David Weinberg’s “The myth of escalating settler violence” (December 8) is must reading for anyone interested in learning the truth about the extent of settler violence. In short, Mr. Weinberg has assembled the indisputable facts from official statistics obtained from the Shin Bet.
The facts show that the level of violence this year as compared with last year is about the same. There has been no upsurge in violent attacks by so-called hilltop youth or extremists. This is contrary to the narrative that many media outlets, the UN, anti-Israel NGOs, and US Vice President Kamala Harris have tried to sell the world. Shame on them for pushing falsities for political purposes.
Of course, the extremists who commit such attacks on Palestinian communities must be found, prosecuted, and jailed. One attack is too many. The Palestinians living in the West Bank also deserve to live in peace.
I suggest that Mr. Weinberg forward his findings to B’Tselem, Yesh Din, and the relevant US and UN authorities for their education. Unfortunately, I am not sanguine that they will desist from the narrative path they have chosen.
ROD MCLEOD
Timrat
The civilized world’s fight
Regarding “US says Israel must do more to reduce civilian Palestinian death toll in Gaza” (December 7): America knows that Israel is doing everything it can to curtail Palestinian deaths. American military observers are all over Israel’s campaign and are still approving Israel’s calls for weapons such as bunker-busting bombs.
America also knows that Israel is fighting the civilized world’s fight against the spread of jihadism.
Unfortunately, this reality has not yet sunk in to the political class that can’t tolerate an Israeli victory.
So on behalf of these people, the US is publicly demanding that Israel do something it knows cannot be done as long as Hamas uses civilians to protect its terrorists from Israeli bullets.
LARRY SHAPIRO
Calgary