It’s clear that weather conditions were a big factor for the recent terrible fires, and, as Baskin mentions, Cypress and Greece also suffered.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Fire excuses...With regard to “Building a shared society” (Encountering Peace, December 1), Gershon Baskin’s one-sided conclusions are getting harder and harder to abide.It’s clear that weather conditions were a big factor for the recent terrible fires, and, as Baskin mentions, Cypress and Greece also suffered. But he explains that there were so many more fires in Israel because the pine trees we planted are extremely flammable. Without going into numbers, arson is basically dismissed, although it was indeed observed and established in some of the cases.Baskin mentions nice Palestinians offering their homes for Arab and Jewish fire victims, but neglects to mention nice Israelis (my family included) who did the same for the victims, whether Arab or Jewish. By the way, a friend of mine who volunteered in a hospital on another occasion watched tender loving care being given to a 10-year-old Palestinian boy who was subsequently asked what he would like to be when he grew up. A terrorist, he said. I guess he is not included among the vast number of Palestinians who, according to the writer, want only peace with Israel.While Baskin mentions the vast achievements made by Israeli Palestinians, would it behoove him to note the fantastic innovations of Israeli Jews under dire conditions of constant terror attacks and burdened by the time needed to spend on security issues? In general, his one-sided rhetoric is a little over the edge when in his own inimitable way, he shows vast understanding for any wrongs committed by Palestinian citizens until there is a peace agreement because, as he claims, they have to side with their own people.NAOMI FEINSTEIN Nordiya...and hopesOut of ashes ofEnemy fireBeautyWill arise.Out of the ashes ofThe terror firesThe beauty ofEternal JerusalemWill be established.Arise and shine forYour light comes.ELIANA DE BARONJerusalemBully pulpitI was amused to see Douglas Bloomfield’s queries regarding our government (“Israel’s dysfunctional government,” Washington Watch, December 1).Bloomfield’s column attempts to elicit negativity regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the way he directs the government, but what it really does is ask a question that should be of interest to you and your staff, namely: How often can a writer be dead wrong and still have access to the bully pulpit of The Jerusalem Post’s Comment & Features section? Bloomfield has been a hack for both US President Barack Obama and former US president Bill Clinton. His opinion, as reflected in his submissions for years, is that the Democratic Party and leftism are the twin pillars of the Jewish People. Is it not time to rethink that?CHAIM ABRAMOWITZJerusalemMore on int’l law Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit states clearly that the bill to legalize the status of Amona would blatantly violate international law (“Will Amona lead to a showdown with ICC?” Analysis, November 30). But the law he seems to rely on appears to be one that’s designed to implicate and castigate the State of Israel and no one else.Compulsory purchase of land and property with reasonable compensation has been practiced in the UK for decades, without any recourse to so-called international law. In the case of Amona, no definitive Palestinian claims to the land have been established.What was the reaction of the International Criminal Court when the Soviets annexed Crimea? Complete indifference and inertia.IVOR LEWIS NetanyaOn the night shift Regarding “Night-shift workers at higher obesity risk” (November 20), this article cites experts on diet and sleep, but I’m not sure if they themselves ever worked night shifts.Try telling a worker that after a nine-hour shift and an hour of travel in each direction, he must sleep for only four hours, and then another four before the next shift, or go to sleep as soon as possible after the shift but avoid physical activity for three hours before sleeping. Sounds to me like a contradiction.Many, if not most, shift workers do physical work. Should they stop working two hours before the end of the shift? Should they take a nap in a quiet room during the shift and hope no one misses them? Have these experts ever worked at a call center where you need permission to go to the toilet? There’s barely enough time for coffee. And consider workers outside a factory or office environment: security personnel, road workers, truck drivers.Where is there a toilet or cafeteria? As for rotating shifts by moving them forward, the recommended schedule in the article is more disruptive than a full week on the same schedule. Work is generally one weekday, then one night. For me, this is far less disturbing than continuous changes.I can plan doctor’s appointments and family visits. By Thursday, I know what I can plan for the following week. One needs that predictability.DAVID LUBOWITZKarmielA little help Allow me to help reader Brian Nathan (“Nothing new there,” Letters, November 30) explain to his non-Jewish friends why his Reform synagogue “in the Land of Israel” was “defiled.” It was the work of a couple of deranged individuals whose actions were rightly abhorred and deplored by the overwhelming majority of Orthodox Israelis and rabbis.I’m not quite sure how Mr. Nathan managed to integrate US President-elect Donald Trump into his letter, but since he did, it is worth noting that while Trump has Jewish grandchildren, I fear this is far more than the majority of grandchildren of today’s Reform Jews will be able to say about their own grandchildren.MALCOLM MANDEL Ra’ananaMiddle America The Jerusalem Post and The Jerusalem Post Magazine still appear to be smarting from US President- elect Donald Trump’s win, and are continually trying to denigrate his supporters by asking how they can ignore Trump’s character faults. Your writers seem incapable of accepting that there is a large group of people out there in the real world who don’t agree with their viewpoint.There exists a morality in “Middle America” that the media don’t understand and which is sadly lacking among Hillary Clinton’s politically correct supporters. This morality allowed Trump to win the presidency as the lesser of two evils.Middle America doesn’t think homosexuals should be persecuted for their lifestyle, but is still appalled by it and doesn’t want to be forced by law to support it.Equally, parents in Middle America are afraid of allowing their children to go to the toilet because the law says it’s acceptable for perverts to choose which toilet to use.Trump is accused of using foul language by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, but they allow their teenage daughters to have rappers sing obscene songs in the White House. Under threat of prosecution, bed and breakfast owners are forced to accept same-sex couples, and bakers are forced to bake wedding cakes for them, but Michelle Obama’s fashion designers are applauded for sticking to their principles by refusing to dress the incoming first lady, Melania Trump.The list goes on and on, and Middle America has finally decided it doesn’t like being told what is morally acceptable by an atheistic media. So please stop trying to prove your superior intellect by decrying theirs.BOB KNIGHTModi’in
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