By JERUSALEM POST STAFFSimple treason
Sir, - What kind of a criminal justice system exists in Israel? Tali Fahima has been granted a deal wherein "the most serious charge against her, assisting the enemy in wartime, as well as charges of supporting a terrorist organization and possessing weapons" is being dropped.
First of all, "left-wing activist" is a misnomer. The correct name for Fahima is "traitor." And a relatively light sentence only encourages other extreme leftists to aid our enemies. Secondly, why should a traitor be released at all unless the authorities are certain she has changed her attitude toward her own state and people? ("Fahima plea bargain deal allows her to leave jail in less than a year," December 1.)
RON BELZER
Petah Tikva
Safe in Spain
Sir, - Michael Freund is making a one-sided demand of Spain ("Confronting Spain's buried Jewish past," November 30). While we must not let the memory of the Inquisition be buried, we would do well to remember that in our people's darkest hour Spain and the Spanish-speaking world opened their doors to Jews seeking a haven from the Nazis. Just as we recall how the Muslim world welcomed Jews 500 years ago, let us honor that part of Christendom which showed mercy in the 1940s. We must not forget that a Jew who crossed the Pyrenees was safe in Spain - more than can be said of the Jews who crossed the Alps into Switzerland, only to be pushed back out.
My grandmother crossed war-torn Europe from Vienna to Spain, spent six months in a refugee camp and eventually made her way to Buenos Aires. While not forgetting what was done to us, let us remember what was done for us.
NAOMI LEITNER
Kfar Saba
Watch the centrists
Sir, - Caroline Glick lets her ideology determine her politics ("Post-Sharon Likud," November 24).
Ronald Reagan moved the Republican Party to the right but lost its moderate and liberal centrists. Bill Clinton also moved his Democratic Party to the right but retained its liberal supporters because they had nowhere else to go.
Sharon tried to move the Likud to the center but it would not budge, so he has formed a new center party, which has now attracted Shimon Peres and others Laborites.
If there is any comparison between Israeli and American politics it is that centrists determine election outcomes.
YALE RICHMOND
Washington
'Post' & the Brooklyn Bridge
Sir, - As a longtime, loyal reader of your paper I take exception to another reader's implying you should not print letters from critical readers who reside abroad, adding, "If they are so concerned, why don't they live here, vote in our elections and pay taxes here?"
(Letters, December 1).
Well, as they say in New York, "What does a letter to The Jerusalem Post have to do with the Brooklyn Bridge? A Zionist Jew is a Jew wherever he lives, and has the moral right, and duty, to suggest ways of improving the lives of his brothers and sisters in the State of Israel.
Millions of people, including my three children and their families, would love to make aliya but cannot do so because of the lack of job opportunities here.
MIRIAM MILLER
Haifa