Letters to the Editor: It’s the policies

Might doesn’t make right, but weakness doesn’t either – sometimes the side that loses deserves to lose, even if it is the weaker party.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
More than money
It would be nice if, as Lawrence Grossman envisions (“Follow the money!” Comment & Features, June 20), foreign donors stopped supporting the Palestinian Authority’s terror mongering.
But it’s hard to see how “prospects for peace would improve” if a suspension from terrorism comes not from a change of heart, but from an empty budget.
Would it really be so easy to fool Israel into thinking it has a partner for peace when all it has is an enemy whose checks are bouncing? MARK L. LEVINSON Herzliya
A Glick fan...
Once again, Caroline B. Glick hits another one out of the park (“Livni and dangers of peace theater,” Our World, June 20).
Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni is Israel’s Hillary Clinton. I don’t know whom I an insulting more with this comparison, but it doesn’t matter. And both refuse to go away.
I have a fourth possible explanation as to why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly wants to revive Livni’s political career. Perhaps this is a trial balloon sent up to test the waters of bringing her back. If that’s the case, we must inundate Bibi’s phone lines and emails with a resounding No! Please, just “livni” her out of the government.
NORMAN DEROVAN Ma’aleh Adumim
...and not so much
Caroline B. Glick embarrasses herself with her advice to US President Donald Trump (“Mr.Trump is in Washington,” Our World, June 13).
I understand that she feels the president favors Israel more than his predecessors did (although this might not be true, since Trump favors only what he thinks is best for Trump). But by advocating the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and by putting halos on the Republicans and horns on the Democrats, she shows a total lack of knowledge of what is going on in the United States.
Her desire to have an investigation of former president Barack Obama stems from her total distaste for him. (See virtually all of her comments about him during his entire tenure.) Ms. Glick, stick to Israel. Until you gain some knowledge, pipe down about the US.
JAY RIEMER Stamford, Connecticut
We deserve better
 In the 1970s, when it was announced that DDT posed human health risks, a list was published that gave the average level of DDT in the body tissue of residents of different countries.
The worst applied to India; Israel was the country one above.
At that time, The Jerusalem Post published a letter from me in which I suggested that this indicated Israel had the second- worst health ministry. Now, “Health Ministry lags behind Iran and PA in iodine fortification of salt” (June 19) suggests that in the decades since, it has not improved its ranking.
As noted in your report, our population is particularly vulnerable, since much of our drinking water is desalinated water that lacks this element.
Additionally, I note that the ministry does not require the addition of Vitamin D to all milk products, bowing to the pressure of milk companies. To this can be added the Remedia tragedy of May 2008, when Health Ministry officials were indicted for not checking the baby formula for Vitamin B1, leading to the death of three infants and harm for 20 more. There was also health minister Yael German’s decision to end the fluoridation of drinking water.
One can only echo the comment by Prof. Ted Tulchinsky, a former Health Ministry official, whom you quote as saying: “I don’t trust them at all.” Surely, the start-up nation deserves better!
GERRY MYERS Beit Zayit
It’s the policies
Regarding reader Sidney Handel’s letter (“Prize Grossman,” June 19), our acclaimed authors David Grossman and Amos Oz are not “quite critical of Israel.”
They are passionate and patriotic Israelis who are critical of some our current and previous government policies.
AMIEL SCHOTZ Meitar
Sorry we’re successful
With regard to “Israel’s image of war comes of age” (Middle Israel, June 2) and “Far-right Islamism is Europe’s new Nazism” (Terra Incognita, June 7), a careful reading reveals a common thread that could be the key not only to Israel’s image problem, but to the spread of militant Islamism and possibly even antisemitism.
Jews – and Israel – were popular in Europe when they looked weak, but not when they looked strong. For Muslims, the notion that Jews or Israelis might defeat them sends the same message: strong Jews vs. weak others.
Since the Left prides itself on standing up for the weak, opposition to Israel and hostility to Jews follows whenever Jews or Israel succeed.
Because we are a small people, Jews theoretically should not have the prominent presence in global civilization that we do. Our success acts as a reproach to larger and “more powerful” nations and peoples.
Ditto for Israel, which has become a significant player on the world stage. Success breeds resentment, especially if it’s the success of someone you think should be inferior or even subservient.
Europeans are hostile to Israel because it has shown a way that succeeds and differs from the path chosen by Europe. (Charles De Gaulle struck out at Israel when France was losing its prestige.) Muslims attack Israel in part because the status of the Muslim world continues to decline.
The path forward depends on a willingness, primarily on the Left, to look at the issues instead of the parties in a conflict.
Might doesn’t make right, but weakness doesn’t either – sometimes the side that loses deserves to lose, even if it is the weaker party.
The whole world might benefit by realizing that it has much to learn from copying what has made Israel succeed. But before it can do that, it must admit to itself that Israel is worthy of emulation even though this would destroy the self-image of its enemies.
YALE ZUSSMAN Framingham, Massachusetts
In praise of Dudi
With the approach of Wimbledon 2017, I believe it is appropriate to mark the occasion with an appreciation of Dudi Sela, Israel’s Number 1 tennis player for more than 10 years. He continues his remarkable career at the highest levels of his sport, and this year he is once again Israel’s only representative (man or women) in the main Wimbledon draw.
Dudi competes both on the ATP World Tour and on the Challenger Circuit, where his extraordinary record of winning 29 finals and being runner-up in nine is unparalleled by any other player in tennis history. He competes around the globe, and everywhere he plays he is recognized by his fellow professionals not only as a most meritorious and tough competitor, but for his exemplary behavior both on and off the court.
He is the current men’s national singles champion, and has been champion of Israel seven times. He has been the anchor for Israel in the Davis Cup, and under his leadership, the country has been in the top world group on four separate occasions – in the course of which he defeated many players ranked much higher, including several ranked in the top 10.
It is my hope that Dudi will gain the recognition he so richly deserves from the State of Israel, for which he continues to be the most worthy and supreme sporting ambassador.
ARNOLD EPSTEIN Jerusalem