Letters to the Editor June 15, 2020: Feel the burn

As rioters in USA cities burn, torch and loot in demonstrations against police brutality (“Louisville demanded justice after police killed Breonna Taylor” (June 14) there seems to be a common thread in the unwarranted deaths of several blacks. 

 

Make no mistake, they did not deserve to die and the policemen involved should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But George Floyd was a former nightclub bouncer. In his early 20s, he did time for theft with a firearm, then had various arrests for possession of cocaine. In 2007, he and five other men forced their way into a woman’s house, held a gun to her stomach, ransacked the house, looking for money and drugs. He served five years for aggravated robbery. Then, before his murder, police attempted to arrest him for passing what looked like a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was a big powerful man, two meters tall and over 100 kilograms. He fought the arrest and the handcuffs, refused to get into the squad car. 

 

A few days later, Breonna Taylor was shot to death in Louisiana. Three policemen men (in street clothes) burst into her home in a perhaps mistaken drug bust. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, reached for his licensed handgun and started shooting, hitting one officer in the thigh. The policemen responded with fire. 

 

In another incident, a black restaurant owner (with a violent lifestyle as a youth) exchanged shots with the police and was killed. The common thread is that these incidents did not involve racist police officers driving around, looking for blacks to kill. They involved violent people, resisting arrest or trigger-happy. 

 

As in all matters, we should know the whole story before making judgments. Who would want to be a police officer in the USA these days? Public safety may soon be long gone.

 

The worldwide protests following the tragic death of George Floyd are rapidly devolving into nihilism and anarchy. This is manifested by revisionist history (“US protests refighting the Civil War narrative,” June 12) as well as the removal of statues that have been repainted with the brush of racism (”Statue of scout founder Baden-Powell to be taken down in Britain,” June 12).

 

What they are promulgating is the concept that a just future can be achieved only if you first totally deny and destroy the corrupt past. This is antithetical to traditional Jewish thinking, which holds that our vibrant living past serves as a guide for our future survival.

 

An open letter organized by three Jewish activists and signed by 52 people affiliated with Jewish organizations is calling on the Jewish community to take a number of actions, including endorsing Black Lives Matter (“Open letter calls on Jewish organizations to endorse Black Lives Matter,” Jpost.com, June 13). 

 

Yet a Black Lives Matter protester vandalized the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square. He explained his motives: “I tagged up the statue of Churchill because he’s a confirmed racist. He fought the Nazis to protect the Commonwealth from invasion – he didn’t do it for black people or for people of color or for people of anything. He did it sheerly for colonialism. People will be angry – but I’m angry that for many years we have been oppressed”

 

In 1999, Charles Krauthammer wrote:

 

“Person of the Century? Time Magazine offered Albert Einstein, an interesting and solid choice. Unfortunately, it is wrong. The only possible answer is Winston Churchill. Why? Because only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. Without Churchill, the world today would be unrecognizable – dark, impoverished, tortured. Take away Churchill in 1940, on the other hand, and Britain would have settled with Hitler – or worse. Nazism would have prevailed. Hitler would have achieved what no other tyrant, not even Napoleon, had ever achieved: mastery of Europe. Civilization would have descended into a darkness the likes of which it had never known.”

 

Jewish organizations are willing to endorse Black Lives Matter, whose members desecrate the statue of the man who saved civilization from the “darkness the likes of which it had never known.” This is shameful! They have forgotten our collective history.

 

In “Difficult times for Jews in America” (June 10) Micah Halpern writes of the external threats that beset the American Jewish community during these turbulent times. Overlooked is the refusal of some in leadership positions in the Jewish community to acknowledge the blatant Jew-hatred and demonization of Israel emanating from the Black Lives Matter movement. 

ZOA president Morton Klein, who has been unabashedly outspoken about the inherent antisemitism of BLM, is under attack by none other than Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Reform movement, who is seeking his and the ZOA’s ouster from the Conference of Presidents for refusing to bow before the idol of political correctness. 

 

Has Jacobs appointed himself chief of Thought Police for America’s Jews?

 

Jerusalem

 

I found Ruthie Blum’s language in “Sovereignty trumps intersectionality” (June 12) disturbing. The writer has every right to agree or disagree with people holding different positions, but to conclude the article by labeling those who attended the Rabin Square rally against the proposed annexation or “observed it on TV from the comfort of their couches” as “extremists” is alarming from the pen of a seasoned journalist.

 

According to a recent poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, some 50% of the population are against or have serious doubts about annexation. Are they all “extremists?” Blum further offends by writing “they need to have their heads examined.”

If suggesting that half the Israeli population is “crazy” were not bad enough, it gets “light years” worse! Blum concludes her point describing the legitimate protest as a “disgusting show of insurrection.” In other words, she suggests the protesters, including those in their living rooms in front of their TVs were performing acts of treason!

 

When esteemed journalists in respected newspapers can get away by describing legitimate protest as treason, we need to fear the country’s slippery path towards autocracy.

 

This is the perfect opportunity for Israel to show the intransigence of the PA to the world. The Arab nations, for the most part, realize the benefits of peace with Israel and are slowly edging in that direction. For them, Palestinian issues are generally for show.

Israel should agree to postpone sovereignty if the PA agrees to negotiations with a finite end date. Israel negotiates in good faith and the PA – who knows? 

 

No deal: Israel reacquires its historic heartland. Deal: Peace in our time.

 

Win - win.

 

Former top Foreign Ministry lawyer Alan Baker correctly notes the hypocrisy of the international community, including the EU and UN, for failing to criticize the Palestinian leadership for refusing to negotiate over the Trump Peace plan. 

 

Therefore, he concludes that the PA leadership and international community cannot condemn Israel for exercising those parts of the proposal beneficial to it, nor should the PA be able to exercise an indefinite “right of veto over peace negotiations.”

 

Yet, the EU and UN do condemn Israel, regardless, and thus the Palestinians have had their cake, and can continue to have their cake and eat it, too. They’ve been feeding at the European money trough for years.

 

We can either let the EU determine our fate (as their forbears did not too long ago) or decide to act in what will hopefully be our best interests.

 

It has been stated many times by our opponents, enemies and Israeli politicians, that if the PA collapses, we will be obliged to take over administration of all the duties of the PA. Why? Aside from the fact we are a state of freiers, why are we obliged to maintain and sustain a people raised from birth to hate us? Fortify and seal the borders, and leave them to their own devices.

 

If they want to go into Israel or access to the world, we will be happy to negotiate. Otherwise, best of luck in your future endeavors.

While we’re at it, this is the same attitude our leaders have towards Gaza. We simply cannot go in and crush Hamas and then leave. We must take care of them afterwards. Why?

 

Never in human history has a state provided water, food, electricity and goods to an enemy sworn to its annihilation.

Nation of freiers, indeed !

 

Regarding “COVID-19 surveillance nixed” (June 10), there is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of cellular phone location data by the Shin Bet for identifying people who have been in contact with verified corona carriers/patients.

 

The New York Times describes an alternative being put into practice in South Korea:

 

“South Korea on Wednesday began requiring gyms, nightclubs, karaoke bars and concert halls to register visitors through smartphone QR codes, in the country’s latest effort to fight a new wave of coronavirus infections linked to entertainment venues.” 

Perhaps use of this technology would be more agreeable to those Israeli citizens who are concerned that the Shin Bet’s efforts are an intrusion on our democracy and right to privacy.

 

Whatever technology is used to identify possible coronavirus spreaders, it is my opinion that in doing so, the government is fulfilling its most basic responsibility: protecting its citizens lives.

 

Jerusalem

 

Got you covered

 

“Put on a mask” (Wednesday, June 10) was important and timely.

 

A meta-analysis of worldwide mask research found that using face masks reduces the chances of COVID-19 infection by 85% when encountering a person infected with the virus. Also, Israeli serology tests have shown that up to 90% of those infected with coronavirus were found to be asymptomatic. This means that numerous individuals one encounters are unaware that they are carriers and can infect you, and that if you are asymptomatic you can infect others – including the vulnerable elderly – if masks are not used.

 

I would add to this that masks are effective only if worn correctly. When masks do not cover the nose as well as the mouth, they cannot be relied on to protect the respiratory system from infection. Too many Israelis wear their masks below their noses, even when in close quarters in stores and other indoor spaces.

 

Hopefully a preventive vaccine will be available soon and bring an end to this pandemic that is so damaging to lives and economies. Until then, we can all help to minimize health risks and economic pain by being smart and following Health Ministry guidelines, particularly regarding the wearing of masks. This is not a time for everyone to be his or her own epidemiologist.

 

Regarding “High Court nixes Settlements Law” (June 10), Joint List leader Ayman Odeh is quoted as calling it “an important victory... whose land was stolen by the settlers.”

 

Rashi, the famous commentator of the Bible, asks why the Torah, as a book of laws, begins with the story of Creation as opposed to teaching the first law to the Jewish people. His reply is that when the nations of the world cry out that the Jews have stolen the land of Israel, we are reminded that God created the world and promised to give the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.

 

I don’t expect Ayman Odeh or the nations of the world to believe this. But there is no excuse for a majority of Jewish judges who sit on the Jewish High Court of Justice to deny their God’s promise!

 

Regarding “Dershowitz on Netanyahu trial: ‘Israel should be deeply ashamed’” (June 5), Law Professor Alan Dershowitz argues that the four cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be dismissed , as prior to the alleged offenses, there were no clear and precise criminal statutes defining Netanyahu’s conduct. Dershowitz further claims that in the US, Netanyahu would not have been charged in any of the four cases. 

 

As a Houston trial attorney for over 30 years, I could not be more in disagreement with the esteemed and distinguished Harvard law professor. In all four cases, there is a beneficial, financial or otherwise, quid pro quo for Netanyahu. This establishes, whether in Israel or the US, the criminal fraud and breach of trust allegations.

 

However, I am sure that Dershowitz would agree with me that the evidence is so weak that any competent and brilliant attorney would succeed in obtaining a “not guilty” verdict from a duly constituted United States jury.

Zichron Yaakov

 

A case of Sino-sitis

 

Regarding “A lingering challenge for American and British universities: Sinophobia” (June 8), batting around the word “Sinophobia” cannot alter facts.

 

No one doubts that the coronavirus pandemic originated in China. If the virus escaped from a research lab, the Chinese are guilty of criminal carelessness in handling the virus. If it originated in a wet market, the Chinese are guilty of failing to control such markets.

Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor, sounded an alarm about the coronavirus. Instead of alerting the world, the Chinese silenced him and forced him to sign a letter, accusing him of making false statements. This suppression of the facts had the effect of exacerbating the spread of the virus.

 

No amount of spin can alter the fact of Chinese culpability.