LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Not from desperation.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Not from desperation
You report that “[Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deplored efforts to explain Arab terrorism as a result of despair and frustration” (“PM: Thirst for destruction has been driving the force of Arab terrorism for 100 years,” February 29).
He is right. Citing desperation in any context for the use of terrorism only serves to excuse it and encourage more.
Being “desperate” means you have no choices, no options. The Palestinian Arabs have had, and still have, many reasonable and fair options for peace. Truly desperate people have no choices or options; these include the Tibetans, who would give their souls in exchange for even one-tenth of one peace offer refused by the Palestinians.
The Palestinians have used jihad and intifadas against Israel since it became a nation, vowing to wipe it off the face of the earth. To date, they have refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
They are given billions, yet they use the funds for waging war, not building communities. Many vote for Hamas, an Iranian- backed jihadist group whose charter clearly states its goal of destroying all Jews.
Yes, they are “desperate.” But their desperation comes from corrupt leaders who steal millions from them and do not help them move toward democracy, creating instead an additional generation of professional refugees.
They are in desperate need of true leadership that will serve them rather than exploit them for their own gain.
If you want to help these “desperate” people, call upon them to take responsibility for their situation instead of blaming Israel.
Call upon them to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Call upon them to give up the unreasonable right of return for millions of second- and third-generation “refugees,” whose presence would eliminate Israel as a Jewish state. Call upon them to stop the Jew-hatred being taught in their schools. Call upon them to give up jihad and work toward peace. And call upon their malignant leaders to step down.
GINETTE WEINER Scottsdale, Arizona
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu notes that the late Yitzhak Shamir saw Palestinian terrorism as a continuation of the Arab hatred and violence extending back to the wave of Jewish immigration in the 1920s. He says that “the incitement continues and the waves of terrorism come and go, come and go.” Yet this does not stop him from making concessions to the Palestinians and surrendering more of our land, as well as helping them build new cities, with all the amenities.
If, as he says, “their terrorism has accompanied us for almost 100 years,” what makes him think that offering them a state within our land will stop them? “We did not give in to terrorism during Shamir’s days, and it is clear we won’t today either,” he says. Correction, Mr. Netanyahu: Shamir did not give in to terrorism.
You did and still are.
EDITH OGNALL Netanya
Lose the ‘McCarthyism’
With regard to “Cultural justice” (Editorial, February 28), your writer needs to dial the rhetoric down.
The writer wildly conflates denying state grants with imprisoning people for their opinions.
Can he or she really not tell the difference between outlawing speech and not paying for it, between freedom of speech in Israel and in neighboring countries? It’s like reading about Israel’s “genocide” of the Palestinians.
All that was missing was the term “Nazi,” thrown in for spice.
Personally, I don’t see this as starting down a slippery slope (or, as the writer would probably have it, halfway-down already), but if that’s the case he or she wants to make – and it’s about the only case to make – then do it without the overheated references to “McCarthyism” and whatnot.
MICHAEL BERKOWITZ Alon Shvut
A media trial
In August, my grandson, Meir Ettinger, received an administrative detention order for six months. In February, it was extended for another four. Neither he nor his lawyer knows what the charges are – but the public is certain it knows, and that he is guilty, because of leaks to the media.
On August 3, Channel 2 aired a report about Meir that was intended to forestall public criticism of his detention order.
Among the slanted inaccuracies, it claimed that he was suspected of writing a document found in his computer titled “The Uprising.”
Even had this been true, it would have been a purely ideological statement.
On February 12, the weekly magazine Olam Katan revealed that there was another document, written by someone else who has no connection to Meir.
That document, “A Guide to Harming Arabs,” calls for violent acts against Arabs. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) knows who wrote it. This person is in prison, being held until his trial ends. But the Channel 2 report deliberately described its contents as if they were part of the document found in Meir’s computer.
A steady stream of rumors has been leaked to the media, possibly by the Shin Bet, to demonize him. Instead of a court trial, with its rules of evidence and procedure, he is the victim of a media trial.
LIBBY KAHANE Jerusalem
Just imagine
One might imagine that if the Palestinians could be convinced that the Land of Israel is a Jewish possession, and has been for at least the past 2,000 years, this would be good hasbara (public diplomacy). It would seem a formidable challenge, but if sufficiently talented scholars were assigned such a task, perhaps they could succeed.
One might imagine they would make use of the idea that the Jews have a longer continuous presence in the Land of Israel than any other extant people, and that although the land was frequently invaded and occupied, the Jewish people never surrendered or abandoned their homeland. It would thus appear that according to the UN idea of indigenous peoples’ rights, the Jewish people could claim many rights in their homeland that would buttress the idea that the Land of Israel has always remained a Jewish possession.
If the Palestinians were made more aware of the Jewish priority in the Land of Israel in such a definitive work, it is possible that they would be more amenable to a reasonable solution to the existing conflict and view the dispute with an entirely different frame of mind. If the Europeans were made more aware of how their own forces (the Crusaders) decimated the then-existing Jewish community, they might be more sympathetic to the current Jewish challenges.
One might imagine that Israel should adopt the narrative that best enhances its position in the world.
LARRY FELDMAN Toronto
Repeated thanks
I would like to thank The Jerusalem Post, and specifically Sagit Cohen from your subscritions department, for the amazing gesture of donating two two-week subscriptions for our wonderful adult volunteers from the Hesed Project, sponsored by the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.
For the past two weeks, Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot has been hosting these dedicated people. They work alongside hospital staff doing all types of manual labor, including dishwashing, landscaping, gardening, cleaning medical equipment, painting furniture and rooms, and working in the laundry.
They work wholeheartedly, asking for nothing in return.
The volunteers’ reaction on receiving the papers was joy, joy and more joy! Thank you, thank you and more thank you! LYNN URAM-KALLUSH Rehovot  The writer works at the Kaplan Academic School of Nursing.