So, Mr. Ban, if your facilities are being used by Hamas to store and fire rockets on IDF soldiers, you expect no retaliation because they belong to the UN.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)UN under fire Sir, – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says: “Let me be clear. The suspicion of military action does not justify jeopardizing the lives and safety of many thousands of innocent civilians” (“Ban: Hamas rockets don’t justify attacks on UN facilities in Gaza,” August 7).So, Mr. Ban, if your facilities are being used by Hamas to store and fire rockets on IDF soldiers, you expect no retaliation because they belong to the UN. I would say that your organization is committing a war crime for allowing rockets to be stored.Indeed, on three occasions rockets were found in your schools and you yourself expressed great outrage.You cannot have it both ways.MICHAEL PLASKOWNetanyaSir, – With regard to “UN chief accuses Israel of criminal activity in Gaza” (August 4), Ban Ki-moon should look in the mirror to see who really is guilty of criminal activity.I accuse the secretary-general of storing arms for terrorist purposes in UN schools – an international crime. I accuse him of permitting terrorists to fire rockets at Israeli civilians from in and around his schools – a war crime. I accuse him of gathering innocent civilians in places where any reasonable man would know they’d be fired upon – an international crime. I accuse him of not building shelters to protect civilians – an international crime.I suggest that Ban and all his envoys at the UN and UNRWA not enter any country that permits citizens to file suits against war criminals.LEWIS ALSTERRa’ananaCome to terms Sir, – In “The aftermath” (Encountering Peace, August 7), Gershon Baskin says he loves Israel. I am sure he does.But he doesn’t seem to realize that our war against Hamas is nothing less than existential.We are fighting for our very existence.The declared policy of Hamas is to kill the Jews and destroy Israel – and we have seen that it is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve this. Would Mr. Baskin be happy to live in an Islamist state, that is if he’s allowed? In actual fact, the Palestinians living in Gaza have only themselves to blame. They killed the PLO officials in Gaza and now they are paying the price. If they are against the activities of Hamas, why don’t they – 1.8 million of them – rise up and kill Hamas’s leaders and go back to PLO rule? To be humanitarian is one thing. All Israelis support that.But the actions of Hamas are anything but humanitarian.Think again, Mr. Baskin, and come to terms with reality.MIKE AYLAshkelonSir, – In an ever-changing world, both Gershon Baskin and Douglas Bloomfield (“Unanswered questions,” Washington Watch, August 7) can be counted on to be islands of stability.No matter what happens they will tell us how we have to keep trying to make peace.Quite frankly, this is an attitude worthy of a Russian grandmother I once observed. Her grandson was enjoying himself with his friends, but Bubbe decided it was time for him to eat. So there she was, a bowl of food in her hand amid playing children and trying to get the kid to stand still long enough for her to get a spoonful of food into his mouth.Never mind the offers we’ve made over the years, and never mind the most generous offers made by prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, all of which were turned down. Israel has to keep doing “more.” What about the Palestinians? What do they have to do? The Palestinians know where to find us when they are ready for peace. We have to stop running after them trying to force it down their throats.JOEL BLOCKHaifaAs with antibiotics Sir, – Hamas has been a blessing in disguise.I believe the “moderate” Palestinian Authority shares its stated goal of eradicating the State of Israel, although the PA speaks with a “forked tongue.” It publicly pronounces all the politically correct platitudes but indoctrinates its citizenry, especially impressionable children, with its true message of hate.Hamas, however, is transparent, and its actions, which speak louder than words, have garnered for us whatever global sympathy we have.Thankfully, I do not sit in the prime minister’s chair, but in my opinion stopping the incursion into the Gaza Strip was premature.If a the doctor prescribes an antibiotic for 10 days and the patient quits after five because he feels better, the infection is likely to return, perhaps stronger and more resistant than before.DEENA SPIGELMANJerusalemIdeological syndrome Sir, – I often am asked to speak about the situation in Israel.The Western mind cannot comprehend teaching children hate and wanting them to grow up to be martyrs. It cannot comprehend parents putting their children in harm’s way. I have tried to find ways to explain this and I think I finally came up with something: It’s as if they suffer from suicidal tendencies, abusive tendencies and something I’d call “ideological Münchhausen by proxy syndrome.”In Münchhausen by proxy syndrome, a parent or caregiver causes injury to a child for the attention. “Pallywood” is clearly guilty of fabricating the killing of Arab children, who actually are able to walk away. But other children, due to “ideological Münchhausen by proxy syndrome,” do not have that luck.So, yes, it is possible for people to be so depraved that purposely killing children (or anyone) to achieve the sympathy they want is entirely a reality.ETTA KORENMANRa’ananaStill overwhelmed Sir, – The day after Tisha Be’av I was still overwhelmed with sorrow.To quote the prophet Jeremiah, “My eyes shed streams of tears” over the 64 of my sons and grandsons who gave their last ounce of devotion in defense of our people and homeland, the three innocent non-combatants killed and the three who were cut down in the flowering of their youth. May their memories be for a blessing and the Almighty avenge their innocent blood.I was disconsolate over the hundreds of my sons and grandsons who have been wounded, a number of them in very serious condition. May the All Merciful grant them a speedy and complete recovery.“Over these things I weep” (Jeremiah), seeing that our brothers and sisters in the South refuse to return to their homes for fear that somewhere one of the tunnels from Hell has yet to be discovered, seeing our brethren everywhere pursued, accosted and attacked by the unholy alliance of anti-Semites while we here are cowed.In everything we do we are the object of taunts and are besieged by outrageous accusations from the den of cutthroats that is the United Nations’s Haman Rights Council.Our enemies rejoice with glee at our timidity in not following through with our objective to ultimate victory. We flee with no one pursuing us and are afraid of what the nations of the world will say. Our strength is sapped in vain while our enemy celebrates, its weapons held high.Yet I believe and I have complete faith that the day will yet come when the Almighty, in His own time, will inflict punishment upon our tormentors. He will break their pride and haughtiness, pursue and destroy them from under His heavens. And at last, He will remember and establish the ancient covenant He made with our forefathers regarding our rightful place in this, our holy land.AVRAHAM SCHONBRUNNPetah Tikva
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