Readers respond to the latest 'Jerusalem Post' articles.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Pre-election dirtSir, – With regard to “Meni Naftali seeks police protection” (February 23), Mr. Naftali, previously the manager of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence, has found a quick way to fame – just publicize all the minute infractions he claims took place at the aforesaid residence.I wonder: Who among us counts all the little agorot that go in and out? How much ice cream does the average Israeli have in his freezer at this very moment? Of course, we do not have to entertain bigwigs from abroad. Netanyahu does. Perhaps Mr. Naftali thinks such and other diplomatic requirements unimportant.Just to make sure that we agree with his demands for financial compensation for reasons real or imagined, he has hired a high-powered lawyer and threatened to sue. All this would be extremely funny if it were not sick.And I wonder: Where does Mr.Naftali get the money for all this? Could it not be that someone is paying him for throwing all this dirt and making all these threats? Just a thought. After all, much dirt has been thrown in Israel before elections, and someone must be financing it.RHEA ISRAELRehovotSir, – Surely, if Meni Naftali has been offered immunity from prosecution in return for evidence against his former boss (“Disgruntled former PM staffer granted immunity,” February 20), this implies some degree of wrongdoing on his part.To me it smacks of entrapment. In fact, there is a distinct whiff of something not very nice about both the offer and the timing.YEHUDIT COLLINSJerusalemOne vote for sureSir, – A mayor who protects his citizens with his own bare hands (“J’lem mayor tackles terrorist seconds after suspect stabs Jewish man,” February 23). That’s what I call being safe and secure! I have a photo of Mayor Nir Barkat congratulating me on my 83rd birthday. It only proves my sense of feeling protected, being a Holocaust survivor from Poland.Such a mayor will always have my vote.HILLEL GOLDBERG JerusalemUnwanted opinerSir, – I couldn’t have been more surprised when I started reading “Speechgate and its message could gravely jeopardize the security of Israel” (Comment & Features, February 23) by James Adler. This man, who once wrote that Israel occupies the land of the “indigenous” Palestinians, now has the chutzpah to lecture us about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to US Congress next week, citing “offense” of President Barack Obama as the sole reason. President Obama might supply us with military aid, but he shows outright disrespect and contempt for our prime minister.How convenient that Mr. Adler doesn’t live in this neighborhood and feels so comfortable in his self-righteous ramblings about Iran not wanting to nuke us off the face of the Earth. After all, the Iranians just want to use their nuclear capabilities for “peaceful” purposes in the name of Islam.I’ve invited him before and will again: Come live here for a short time and see the country for what it really is: peace loving, Jewish loving and, most of all, democracy loving. Then go write your venom.DEBRA FORMANModi’inSir, – After reading James Adler’s piece, it seems to me that he would be much better suited and far more richly rewarded as a scriptwriter for Hollywood fantasy and science fiction movies. He obviously has in large measure some of the skills these people need, such as a belief that the good guys always win in the end, no matter how stacked the odds.Mr. Adler also writes as if he has some form of mystical insight into the Iranian mullahs’ psyche. He says he knows the mullahs are not looking to destroy Israel, that they don’t in fact believe to the very core of their souls that it’s better to die for the glory of Islam than to live in a world populated by Jews, and that every Muslim killed in the process of eradicating the Zionist plague will be richly rewarded in the next world.He can even rewrite history. In his view, there’s no alternative to letting Iran get the bomb since sanctions cannot work “against a large country on the other side of the world with many trading partners.” Ahem! Ever hear of South Africa, Mr. Adler? In his eyes, letting the Iranians get nuclear weapons is okay because they are the “baddies.” Therefore, they will always lose and we are panicking over nothing. I think it’s time Mr. Adler moves off and writes his script.HENRY KAYEAshkelonSir, – For the past 20 years I have subscribed to The Jerusalem Post, believing that there was one paper that unashamedly and proudly defended Israel and its Jews. I believed that there was a basic fairness and level of honesty that meant reporting, not picking sides, was the paper’s agenda.With James Adler’s opinion piece, I am appalled at how you seem to be following the agenda of some of the country’s Hebrew-language papers and non-Likud parties, and doing your best to denigrate and demean Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those in the present government who are right of Center.Is Netanyahu perfect or without flaws? Absolutely not. Is he better than someone who gamed the system, as did Isaac Herzog? Is he better than Tzipi Livni, whose price we know but whose behavior we don’t label? Do you educate your readers as to the background of those who are hounding and trying to destroy Netanyahu? Don’t we get enough criticism and anger and hate without seeing it again in the pages of the Post? Reporting on the hate is one thing. Promoting it is another.SONIA GOLDSMITHNetanyaReason for tearsSir, – Seth J. Frantzman’s trenchant analysis of the US president (“The rise and fall of Barack Obama,” Terra Incognita, February 23) quotes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who wrote of the election of an African- American president as leaving one “teary-eyed.”Tragically, Obama’s pathetic, false-agenda-ridden performance has probably set back the noble cause of racial equality by at least 50 years.LOUIS GARBJerusalemIts real goalsSir, – Frances Raday’s contemptuous and mind-boggling condemnation of life here (“Sectarian religious values threaten Israel,” Comment & Features, February 19) says more about the true nature of the New Israel Fund than it does about Israeli society.According to Ms. Raday, a member of NIF’s international council, Israel’s rampant, runaway Judaism is threatening the very fabric of the country. To her the idea of a Jewish state is anathema, as religiosity “undermines all... pillars of human flourishing.”What is truly incredible is that in a world where dozens of countries will not at all tolerate the presence of those not practicing the official religion, she seems to think that Israel is the greatest threat to secularism.Ironically, her criticism comes at a time when many minorities are embracing Jewish sovereignty through Zionism: the first Muslim woman to run on the Bayit Yehudi list; thousands of Christians joining the IDF; the first member of the Druse community commanding the Golani Brigade; a Muslim Supreme Court justice issuing a ruling on the current elections.The “majoritarian democracy” that Ms. Raday condemns for embracing religious values should be well advised that the real agenda of the NIF is to end Israel’s status as a Jewish-democratic state and replace it with a secular state of its citizens.MATAN PELEGJerusalemThe writer is CEO of Im TirtzuPriority is given to letters that are brief and topical, and which bear the writer’s name and place of residence, as well as the name and date of the Post item being referred to. They may also be edited and shortened.letters@jpost.com
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