The 'A' word Please heed Danny Danon (“Don't call it annexation,” July 6) and cease from playing into the hands of Israel's enemies by referring to applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria as annexation. As the major, if not only, daily print media in English in Israel also read by people worldwide on line, especially diplomats, you are misinforming the public. AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN Ganei Modi'in In “PM to lose annexation if elections held first” (July 7), the writer casually interchanges the words “annexation” and “sovereignty” with seeming casual abandon. They are two totally different concepts and to co-mingle the words does not allow the reader to understand the writer's position. I would encourage the writer to look into the history of Israel's claims to the land under discussion. The San Remo Conference, was approved in 1922 by The League of Nations Mandate, preserved for the future the Jewish legal rights to the land – all of it. Nothing the UN has voted against has or ever will supersede those rights granted in 1920. So Israel, by definition, is just reapplying sovereignty to the land that was once ours. Annexation has no place, meaning or truthful context in these discussions. Words matter. M. LEVENTHAL Jerusalem Why is the US encouraging Israel to give the Palestinian Authority more control over the parts of Area C not immediately falling under Israel sovereignty? Given the PA's history of inciting its people to violence against Jews (and rewarding those who answer the call), it seems to me that it would be wise to discourage Palestinian building in Area C and trying to, in fact, create a largely uninhabited buffer zone between Israeli territory and territory being administered by the PA. Anyone who is denouncing unilateral moves should be encouraging the Palestinian leaders to resume negotiations, with the understanding that they (and not just Israel) will be expected to make concessions to achieve an end to the conflict. Arab nations should encourage the Palestinian leaders by ceasing their own anti-Israel incitement and announcing their willingness to work to end the generations-long “suspended animation” in which the Palestine refugees have been trapped, offering them the chance to rebuild their lives in the new Palestinian entity or in other Arab countries. It should be clarified, once and for all, the Jordan's illegal occupation of Judea and Samaria did not establish a Palestinian claim to that land; that the illegal occupier had no right to grant any of that land to the Arabs who were living there; and that those Arabs, by failing to build on the land, use the land, and pay taxes on the land, did not legally accept the land that the occupier was trying to pass to them. COGAT's acceptance of the Palestinians' spurious claims to private ownership of the land that Jordan had no right to give them is, perhaps, the strongest argument for Israel to transfer Jewish communities in Area C to civilian law now. TOBY F. BLOCK Atlanta, GA The writer of “If we are only for ourselves, what are we?” (July 6), is a “freelance reporter based in the Washington DC area.” No doubt he gets his insights into the current state of affairs in Israel straight from publications like the Washington Post and New York Times. But to prophesy the end of the State of Israel due to our extending sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria? This is the same false prophecy that was issued when Israel annexed eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Does the writer know anything about Jewish history? Has he read the Bible? To him, the land of Israel is just another plot of land, nothing special to the Jews at all. More land or less land, what's the difference, right? The writer should stick to what he knows about – “international higher education, legal, technology and business issues for numerous publications,” whatever that is. NORMAN DEROVAN Ma'aleh Adumim Regarding “If we are only for ourselves, what are we?” Is the writer serious? No other country does more to “repair the world” than Israel. The writer should understand we would not be “annexing” anything, but exercising our sovereign right to apply Israeli civil law to parts of Judea and Samaria. For him to use Hillel's words to censure us is shameful. We could apply Israeli law to the whole area if we wanted to do so, and still not be thinking only of ourselves. For 72 years, we have been offering our hands in peace to the Arabs squatting on land that is legally ours, even offered to give them a state within our borders, which they constantly rebuffed, insisting that Israel is occupying Arab land, all of which belongs to them 'from the river to the sea.' Are we seeking conquest? Are we seeking even war with our adversaries who have but one goal – to wipe us off the map? We do need the Jordan Valley as a buffer against the very real possibility that Hamas will take over Judea and Samaria from the PA and rally the Jordanians and other Arab nations to take another stab at destroying our state. Until our adversaries cease their terror attacks, end the pay-to-slay policy, etc., whatever we do is in self-defense. EDMUND JONAH Rishon LeZion There has been such a to-do, with very few explanations, about the question of sovereignty in the West Bank. Various proposals for its implementation have been suggested. One of the more popular ones is essentially annexing under Israeli law the first 10% in Stage One, looking around to see world opinion and estimating the anticipated diplomatic damage in the international circles, and then deciding whether to proceed with the remaining 20%. While this approach has gained a good degree of popularity, I believe it is the weakest possible way of handling the current opportunity to legally control what is rightfully ours. Most of the momentous decisions in the international arena have been made by courageous men unafraid of public opinion, fully aware of the need to take decisive decisions and act on them promptly. Men such as former prime minister David Ben-Gurion and US president George Washington, to name but two, acted with bold determination, sure of their cause, and history has accordingly granted them their rightful places as heroic leaders of their people. Perhaps our government should heed the words of William Shakespeare (Macbeth, Act I): “If it were done when 'tis done Then twere well it were done quickly.” DR. MOSHE DICKMAN Jerusalem Trump's super powers “Trump's brilliant scare tactics move” (July 6) seems to ascribe super-human abilities to US President Donald Trump – that he has somehow orchestrated all the terrible events that have overtaken Israel's major ally in order to secure his re-election. The horror of George Floyd's murder is a symptom of the racism in America. Race riots go back more than 50 years. Also then there was the indiscriminate looting, arson and insurrection that have occurred across the country, and the tearing down of monuments by hooligans. Gone with the Wind is now verboten; the police series Cops is cancelled; Huckleberry Finn is racist. There are dozens of mob-instigated murders in Chicago in a single weekend and no one seems to notice. The recent illegal occupation of a central part of Seattle resulted in murders and rapes: the mayor typified it as a social experiment, a “summer of love” a la Woodstock – until the mob reached her home, when she quickly ended the debacle. In New York, the police have been vilified for years, with physical abuse heaped on them by citizens, to which they are unable to respond. Now the famed NYPD has been defunded; the city council took $1 billion from their $6 billion budget. AOC, part of Joe Biden's campaign team, says this doesn't go far enough, and other cities are calling for the total elimination of police forces. Yet, in a recent event with Biden, former president Barack Obama amazingly characterized the rioters as “peaceful demonstrators” and said that there was a “great awakening going on around the country.” The article concludes that Biden and the Democrats need to distance themselves from all of the horror going on, but their prolonged silence and Obama's declarations tell the true tale. DAVID SMITH Ra'anana COVID: The exercise loophole Regarding “Deadly COVID blunders” (July 6), I am a healthy 80-year-old who walks 10K a day. I keep a mask on while exercising, and I point out to those not using masks that they should be using them. Their response typically is, “I am exercising and I do not need a mask!” This loophole is a joke. I see overweight 50-year-olds taking a casual walk, others who wear their masks on the wrists, or in their pockets or dangling around their necks. And then the real exercisers run by without masks breathing heavily and also endangering anyone nearby. COVID-19 is spread by droplets from the mouth and nose. And just like a game of catch, it is inhaled through the same organs. During the current epidemic, masks must be mandatory in every public situation and violators fined. Yet during those 70K that I walk every week, I have never seen a person receiving a summons. STEPHEN J. KOHN Ra'anana Regarding “Deadly COVID-19 blunders (July 6),” stopping COVID-19 is not the only thing that matters. At this time, only 30 people are on ventilators. Meanwhile, because of the lockdown, we have 20% unemployment! This is harming families. People are out of financial reserves, and we will soon see riots here. COVID-19 is a bad flu. Shutting down the country has significant costs for health and well-being. The panic and overreaction to COVID-19 by the government and elites have caused tremendous harm. Think about how these restrictions are hurting the poorest people in Israel. Put yourself in their apartment, at their kitchen table, with no work, bank loans and a new lockdown coming. NATHAN WIRTSCHAFTER Rehovot Regarding “Gantz: Trump plan should be paused during pandemic” July 6), to paraphrase the words of former prime minister David Ben-Gurion (“We shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war; and we shall fight the war as if there were no White Paper”), we shall fight coronavirus as if there were no attempts to deprive us of our rights to Yehuda and Shomron; and we shall fight for our rights to Yehuda and Shomron as if there were no coronavirus. JACK SHEBSON Jerusalem Vatican Rat Line Regarding “Vatican summons US, Israeli envoys over annexation moves” (July 1), the Vatican's dressing down of Israel's ambassador over the proposed extension of sovereignty was a missed opportunity to demand answers from the Vatican over one of many war crimes committed against the Jews, one which has received little attention and certainly no explanation: the Rat Line. Between 1945 and 1950 the Vatican helped hundreds of accused Nazi war criminals escape to South America. This was called the Rat Line. It is well known that Pope Pius XII did nothing to help the Jews – but also nothing to help Catholic Italians imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the Nazis occupying Italy. But after the war there is no explanation why the Roman Catholic Church would spend its money and influence smuggling mostly non-Catholic accused war criminals out of Europe – many of whom were accused of committing atrocities against Catholics. For example, SS Officer Erich Priebke was smuggled to South America even though he admitted responsibility for the murder of 335 Italian men and boys at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome in 1944. That this war crime has been ignored, by Israel as well, is a travesty to those who were murdered by these criminals-Jews and non-Jews. Israel should demand the Vatican apologize and answer for this crime as well as the scores of others it has perpetuated against the Jews and mankind. JOSEPH J. KEMP, MD Cincinnati, OH God TV? Oh, Lord As an Orthodox Jewish convert from Christianity, I am thrilled that the TV license for the Christian channel will not be issued and HOT will not request a new revised license. (“Israel cancels God TV's Evangelical Christian channel,” June 28). This is a victory for the spiritual soul of the Jewish state, although I am somewhat disturbed that the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting not only did not fully investigate what content the TV channel intended to broadcast, but failed to fully understand the ethos and fundamental beliefs of Christianity. After speaking to a number of fellow Jews, there is a somewhat naive view of the doctrines of other faiths and the threat they pose to our Jewish beliefs. I am also shocked that further newspaper space was given to the TV channel (July 1) to not only openly threaten legal action, but using the platform to continue in claiming their “spirit of love” and how “messianic Jews” love Israel and how persecuted they feel here. I would like to see them trying to broadcast their doctrines or even live openly, as they are allowed to do here, in a Muslim country! Let's call a spade a spade here, there is no religion of “Messianic Judaism.” You can be born a Jew and follow the Jewish faith of the One God (which is stated three times a day in the Jewish prayers), or you can be born a Jew, but choose to leave that path and become a Christian and believe that God is a trinity. You cannot have your cake and eat it and call yourself a Jew. Let's hope that there can be good resulting from this whole episode, and Jews will be more aware that there are not only physical attacks but also spiritual attacks – even from those inside the house of Israel. MIRIAM CROSBIE Petah Tikva
