Letters to the Editor July 7, 2021: ‘Go away, little girl’

Regarding “Can Israel shake its sexism?” (July 2), unfortunately left unmentioned in the examples of sexism provided in your article exploring the negative aspects of calling women – not just powerful ones – “little girls” was the vulgar lewdness of the former Shinui minister Yosef Paritzky, who in a Facebook post, suggested that the then-newly appointed Justice Minister, Ayalet Shaked might very well be the first justice minister whose photo can be found hanging on the walls of automobile garages. Shaked responded powerfully from the Knesset podium and there was some small backlash against Paritzky, but the matter was soon forgotten.

Which is why it gladdens me to see that the boorish “little girl” remark from MK Miki Zohar is not simply being chuckled over. A seemingly respected member of the Knesset should have better control of the connection between his brain and tongue, and cannot hide behind the “heat of the moment” excuse. Such disparaging and offensive remarks go well beyond the rights granted by freedom of speech and have no place anywhere in our society, let alone in the Knesset. I’ve no doubt that the wannabe machos in Zohar’s good ol’ boy network are smirking with satisfaction over how their champion put MK Idit Silman in her place, but will dare not publicly provide support or agreement with the insult. It seems that sexism, like bullyism, is nothing but an act of cowardice and insecurity.

It does appear, however, that the silence is most deafening from where there should not be any. Is Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu not in the least embarrassed by the crassness exhibited by a member on his party list? Surely, some sort of public dressing down would not be out of place, and would demonstrate that his quest to poison Bennett has not numbed his ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

This incident will soon be behind us and the more pressing issues will again demand our complete attention. I trust, though, that Silman’s mature and measured rebuttal to Zohar’s slight will be long remembered, and how she proved to be a far “bigger man” than Zohar will ever be.

 

“What’s in a name?” (July 4), sets out clearly why the area in Jerusalem, frequently referred to as “Sheikh Jarrah,” is correctly called “Shimon Hatzadik.” It explains that the area was subsumed under the name of the adjacent Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during the illegal Jordanian occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem.

One therefore wonders why the article is accompanied by a photograph that adds nothing to it, but occupies 40% of the page, and is captioned, “Religious Zionist Party head... and supporters visit Sheikh Jarrah in May.”

Why does the caption not say “Shimon Hatzadik?” Is it to indicate that you disagree (without any argument) with the article, or does it indicate you don’t bother to thoroughly read the op-eds you run?

Regarding “Home... and heart” (June 28), may I just point out to Ken Gruber that the very houses in Sheikh Jarrah/ Simon Hatzadik were once owned by Jews who were forcibly removed by Jordan in 1948. The West Bank and east Jerusalem and Jordan itself became Judenrein.

In Israel, however, those Arabs who wished to remain, stayed on in their towns to this day.

So please, don’t lecture us about losing homes. We have been displaced and dispossessed many times over.

The courts will decide the outcome of this dispute, but I do object to your “Home is where the heart is” applying only to the Arab population. In your view, apparently, even in their homeland, Jews have no rights.

Regarding “Chief rabbi pooh-poohs science, math studies” (July 1), I find it ironic that the Chief Sephardi Rav Yitzchak Yosef bragged about not finishing high school or any degrees and disparaged the learning of math and science, noting it to be nothing. Fascinatingly so, since the Chief Rabbi’s Gadol – The Gadol of Sephardic Jewry himself, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (The Rambam) – was an expert in math and science.

Perhaps Rav Yitzchak needs to brush up on his study of Rambam to learn about the emphasis that Rambam places on Torah u’maddah, hand in hand, while learning in a Torah world. Hopefully then he can encourage his own followers to emphasize what the Holy Torah does in fact teach, not to fail but to strive for excellence and in doing so can change the sad plight of many of his followers who suffer so from lack of proper education.

Regarding “Uri Geller to ‘Post: I saw aliens with NASA” (July 5), so Uri Geller can bend spoons and wedding rings, read minds, helped England with the Euro 2020 games and has seen NASA-hidden breathing metal of an unknown color from a crashed space ship and NASA refrigerated alien corpses from outer-space.

Who cares whether any of it is true or not, as has been discussed in countless articles and books with no clear decision. Geller has done an enormous service to millions of people who crave a little mystery in their lives. Good for him. Geller is 74 years old and we should all hope and pray that he is preparing an equally talented under-study to keep us amused, interested, bewildered and befuddled. Otherwise, the world will be a duller place.

By the way, I also found a mysterious large piece of dark metal in my backyard a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it was easily explained – debris from the air warfare with Hamas.

In “Israeli Arabs affected by the family reunification law” (July 3), Lana Khatib says, “We live life on the edge. We can’t plan a future as other families can.”

Sure, they can. Just not in Israel. There is a huge Arab and Islamic world out there (1.6 billion Muslims and almost two dozen Muslim states). Every family should be able to select somewhere they can be together.

Were Israel to accept every Arab that marries an Israeli to live in Israel, millions of arranged marriages will be announced. The PA plan to turn Israel into a Muslim-majority country will succeed within a decade.

This is not in Israel’s interest.

The article “Israeli settlements are legitimate under international law” (July 4) and its headline are wishful thinking.

On November 2, 1917 a copy of the Balfour Declaration was sent to Lord Rothschild. The opening paragraph states “I have pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following “declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations.” A declaration of sympathy is ambiguous and does not promise anything.

It then goes on to say that His Majesty’s government “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” 

The Balfour Declaration did not mention any borders, it did not mention Jerusalem, and never promised the Jews a state. It used the words “national home” in small letters. This is not the definition of a state. “In Palestine” could mean any part of Palestine. What the Balfour Declaration did was raise the hopes of millions of Jews that Britain had at long last shown some sympathy for the Jewish people. The Balfour Declaration was adopted by the League of Nations and subsequently by the United Nations. Some 31 years after the Balfour Declaration was approved, the State of Israel was established in a small part of Palestine.

In 1922, Winston Churchill was the secretary of the Colonies when he issued his famous White Paper. Churchill was familiar with the Balfour Declaration. Churchill clearly stated in the White Paper that Britain never promised the whole of Palestine to the Jews. In 1917 when the Balfour Declaration was published, between 60,000 and 70,000 Jews lived in Palestine. It would be farfetched to assume that Britain would promise the whole of Palestine to so few Jews. In fact, Churchill used this very reasoning to grant the area east of the Jordan River, part of the British Mandate area of Palestine, to the Hashemites. It was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

On December 23, 2016, UN Resolution 2334 was passed in the Security Council with America abstaining. The resolution condemns “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem, including inter alia the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions.” Resolution 2334 considers both east Jerusalem and the West Bank as Palestinian territory and Israeli settlements as illegal.

No matter what one thinks of Resolution 2334, it is reasonable to conclude that resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council are part of what constitutes international law. By not exercising a US veto of this resolution, President Obama showed his belief in what he considered the rights of the Palestinians to a state.

It is clear from the above that the status of Israeli settlements from an international legal point of view has never been finalized and are in dispute. Until this is clarified, one cannot claim that Israeli settlements are (or are not) legitimate under international law.

Israel’s Levy Report, published nine years ago, substantially reached the same conclusions as the article (that settlements do not violate international law). 

It was led by the late Justice Edmund Levy, with members Alan Baker and Tchia Shapira. Although not formerly adopted by the Israeli government, it was set as a framework for dealing with the sensitive issues in Judea and Samaria.

In “I am an Arab lover” (July 1) Gershon Baskin finally comes clean. Mind you, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” It’s just that Baskin didn’t make aliyah to Israel some 40 years ago, but he made aliyah to Palestine, a non-existent country that will hopefully never exist.

As a stockbroker for decades in Los Angeles before I made aliyah 11 years ago, I had quite a few Arab clients, including the Council General to Saudi Arabia. They are lovely people, as Baskin rightly says, extremely hospitable. One of my clients, a Syrian who lived in Montreal at the time, once offered to set me up in Alexandria, Egypt in the brokerage business there. When I said that I would rather relocate to Israel, he said, “Israel? it’s not so safe over there.”

Yes, the Arab culture is not like Western culture, as they are encouraged lie when expedient, and personal honor is extremely important to them to a fault... honor killings?

When we came on aliyah, we had the help of a wonderful organization called Nefesh B’Nefesh. If there was an organization to help Baskin when he came to live in Palestine, it would probably have been called Naqba B’Naqba.

“Israel digs in heels on Gaza” (June 30) says the UN “is also working on a mechanism for allowing aid to be sent to Gaza that would prevent Hamas from diverting material and funds to constructing weapons.”

Would this happen to be the same UN that funds UNRWA?

Enough said.

Regarding “Polish PM: We won’t pay one zloty for German crimes” (June 26), an open letter to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Dear Sir,

You say you owe us not one zloty.

My parents were born in the area of Lipno, Poland. They were 9 and 13 years old respectively, when WWII started. My father growing up in the town of Rajeow, experienced antisemitism his entire childhood and was treated with contempt by his teachers. All the Jewish boys had to sit in the back row of the classroom; they were considered second-class citizens.

My grandmother, who survived the Holocaust along with her two daughters, came back to her hometown of Skepe to see if maybe, by the grace of God she would reunite with her husband and son. It was not to be. They were both murdered. When she knocked on the door of her two-story corner house, (the biggest in the town), which bordered the town square, she was refused entry. The people who occupied her home, which she left fully furnished with everything she ever owned, threatened her life if she dared to step in.

Were these people German Nazis? Absolutely not. There wasn’t a German anywhere. They were Polish citizens who exploited the Jewish expulsion and couldn’t wait to steal everything they could from their Jewish neighbors and townspeople.

To add insult to injury, when my grandmother asked the squatters to pay for taking her home, they gave her $100 – which she discovered was counterfeit.

Does the nation of Poland owe my mother’s family and my father’s for the treatment they received and the house which was stolen? You bet they do. Not to mention, the headstones from the local Skepe Jewish cemetery which were stolen by the Poles and used as paving stones.

Wstydz sie!!! Shame on you!

It is fitting that “IDF paratroopers head to Europe to jump for Hannah Szenes’s 100th birthday” (July 5).

Szenes was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Hungary and enjoyed a fairly idyllic childhood there. Early on, however, she became aware of antisemitism in her school and was quick to speak up about it. It was no surprise that in her late teens, she rushed to make aliyah to Israel (then called Palestine) and happily joined a succession of kibbutzim, learning the rudiments of agriculture. She did not miss her former luxuries, and the only recorded thing she requested of her mother was a pair of waterproof boots for her farm work.

She expressed her joy in the land through her poetry, and her poem “Eli, Eli” became an iconic Israel song.

With the outbreak of WWII, she volunteered to fight with the British army, and was sent on her fateful mission. Parachuting with three others into Europe, she was soon captured, and being the one holding the radio equipment, she was brought to Hungary and tried as a spy. She refused to divulge any information to her interrogators, and one morning, while negotiations were going on for her release, and her mother was on the way to the prison, she was secretly taken out to the courtyard and executed. She was 23 years old. 

Her devotion to her people and to the land of Israel, and her selfless courage, make her indeed an appropriate subject of honor by the Israeli Defense Forces.

I read the letter from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the State of Israel (“Uygurs: Joyful and harmonious life,” Letters, July 5) with incredulity. 

The government of China’s treatment of the Uygurs is reminiscent of the Nazis. Does the writer refute a recent report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph that details the inhuman practices directed towards the Uygurs? Does he also refute the report that in order to gain freedom from the concentration camps in which they are forcibly held, they are coerced into signing a document agreeing to work in a Chinese factory for at least a year without pay, effectively slave labor?

I do my best to avoid buying Chinese goods whenever possible.

The Chinese Embassy letter to the editor in asking us to believe that Uygers live joyfully and harmoniously is obvious propaganda that insults the intelligence of anyone who saw the globally televised reports of Uygers being rounded up and shipped off to concentration camps.