This God-given land is all that stands between us and the wilderness from which we were returned after thousands of years. This time it will be either victory or annihilation.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Withholding fundsSir, – With regard to “Israel freezes PA tax funds to protest ICC application” (January 4), freezing the funds should not be a matter of “they did this, so we will do that.” Long ago we should have stopped supplying the terrorist in a suit, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with funds that enable him to continue his incitement. In any case, as has happened before, after a very short time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s weakness will come to the fore and the funds will once more start flowing.Similarly, filing counter-suits against the PA for war crimes is pathetic. Had Netanyahu accepted that Abbas and Hamas were of the same ilk, and had he not legitimized the fake Palestinians as a people with legitimate rights to our lands and then annexed them, as per the Levy Report (which Netanyahu himself authorized), all of the above problems would not exist.This God-given land is all that stands between us and the wilderness from which we were returned after thousands of years. This time it will be either victory or annihilation.Which one will we choose? EDITH OGNALLNetanyaSir, – The recent decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop transferring money to the Palestinians shows he has sunk to new depths of pettiness, even for him.If the background to the story is correct, Israel is guilty of theft. In addition, Netanyahu’s fear of being taken to the international court indicates that there is some substance to the possible charges.The most negative outcome of his behavior is that he has alienated many overseas supporters of Israel and only strengthened the views of its critics. The best hope for the future of Israel is that in three months’ time he will have been replaced as prime minister.STANLEY CANNINGKfar HamaccabiSir, – The Jerusalem Post quotes chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat as having said that Israel’s action is “robbery and an act more appropriate to pirates and not governments.”Sadly, he’s not wrong.Israel’s leadership has co-mingled issues that have nothing to do with one another. To the detriment of the country, Israel’s leadership has lost its bearings as to what constitutes an enlightened response. While referencing the PLO application in the same article, PLO envoy Riyad Mansour is quoted as saying: “[Ours] is a peaceful option, a civilized option.” I hope the insensible and backward option embraced by Israel’s leadership is reconsidered.DARRYL PITT New YorkSir, – The PA applying for membership in the International Criminal Court is like Charles Manson applying to be warden.IRWIN DIAMOND Downsview, Ontario Tibi’s parade Sir, – The thought of MK Ahmed Tibi walking on the Temple Mount with a Palestinian flag makes me very upset – and that is an understatement (“Tibi raises PLO flag on Temple Mount,” January 4). Has the holy mountain of the Lord become a political football for Tibi and his Palestinian secularists? The Temple Mount will remain holy, even if it is desecrated. It is revered by Jews and other faiths.Everyone should be able to pray there although the Muslims forbid Jews from doing so.Dr. Tibi can play football up there, picnic, throw bones around and also carry signs of incitement.The Wakf Muslim religious trust, if it had any spiritual sense, would castigate him. The police should have arrested him.TOBY WILLIGJerusalemAvrum’s anticsSir, – Former Knesset speaker Avrum Burg has said and done many weird things in his time, but last weekend’s performance was simply mind-boggling (“Former speaker Burg joins Hadash,” News in Brief, January 4). After traveling to the party’s election rally on Saturday, this kippa-wearing man informed his audience that he had joined them on the strength of pikuah nefesh, a life-saving measure overriding the Sabbath.Dr. Yosef Burg, the late NRP leader and minister of the interior (and Avrum’s father), had a wry sense of humor. He probably would have made some caustic remarks about his son’s religious posturing and anti-Zionism.I can’t help wondering how Dr.Yossi Beilin views the antics of his erstwhile Labor Party colleague.GABRIEL A. SIVANJerusalemCooks to crooks?Sir, – With reference to “From crooks to cooks – Israel’s incarcerated gourmands” (January 2), prison serves no purpose if it releases convicts only to see them return, clad in orange jumpsuits again, for yet another offense. To break this beastly cycle, there must be additional programs offered in prison that aid them in breaking free from their past activities.Programs should work with inmates individually to help them with their personal delinquencies, to keep them out of trouble once released. I believe this should be implemented in addition to culinary classes. What good is a violent chef? TOVA SCHUR Jerusalem Short memory Sir, – With regard to “Returning to negotiations” (Encountering Peace, January 1), Gershon Baskin speaks of ironclad security mechanisms based on Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.How short is Baskin’s memory? We tried that once. We armed the Palestinians and formed joint patrols with them. Without any qualms they turned the arms we supplied them against their patrol partners.There is a saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” It’s a pity that many Israelis haven’t learned this and are hell-bent on committing suicide.Remember, one rocket falling near Ben-Gurion Airport will stop all foreign airlines from coming to Israel. One rocket on Tel Aviv will stop all foreign investments and business projects here.SHLOMO BAR-MEIRTel AvivTenuous branch Sir, – Regarding Ruthie Blum’s “Exposing the ‘pinkwashing’ lie” (Right from Wrong, December 29), it is about time we understood that the reason radical gays and feminists bash Israel and support Palestinian movements in spite of the terrible situation of homosexuals and women in the Palestinian territories is very simple: It is because all those groups benefit from the same politically correct philosophy that when any community is weak, it deserves to receive preferential treatment.Political correctness treats misery as a proof of victimhood. If a group is miserable, it is necessarily a victim, the corollary being that if it is not miserable it cannot be a victim. That is why Jews – not being miserable thanks to their resiliency – are not considered victims in spite of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, while Palestinians, who are the cause of their own misery, are considered as such.Why should groups defending the rights to special prerogatives for themselves as “victimized communities” give up on political correctness by abandoning the principle that if a group is unsuccessful it can never be criticized? In Marxist terminology, gays, feminists and Palestinians are objective allies.Our fight should be against political correctness, which basically states that if for any reason you are assigned to a victimized community, you will be deserving of sympathy and indulgence no matter what your personal circumstances, and the victimhood character of your community will be solely determined by the superficial impression of the misery it makes upon simple people.Accordingly, if you belong to one of these groups, you defend all the others (even if hostile to yours) because you do not cut the branch of the tree you sit on.JACQUES PICARDModi’inCORRECTION The photo accompanying “MK Ghattas sets his sights on becoming leader of Balad” (January 5) was of UAL-Ta’al MK Masud Gnaim, and not as stated. The Post regrets the error.
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