Letters to the Editor May 12, 2021: An Ilhan wind blows

Regarding “IDF braces for combat as rockets target Jerusalem” (May 11), as I write this letter, Hamas has fired some 300 rockets into civilian areas in the past 24 hours, causing injuries, property damage and fear. Like many Jews in my region, my family spent a somewhat restless night – punctuated by explosions – in a bomb shelter last night.

The reasons Hamas has so far failed to kill innocent people include: 1) the Iron Dome 2) citizens reacting responsibly by staying in protected areas and 3) prevention (by intercepting the Karine A weapons ship, for instance) of some of the most advanced weaponry from reaching Hamas terrorist hands.

As no country would tolerate having their civilians be randomly targeted and exploded as Hamas is doing to Israel, one would expect all nations and individuals to condemn this obvious war crime/ crime against humanity. But no. Scan Twitter and you will find that many people are perversely outraged at Israel, falsely accusing it of terrorism, genocide, apartheid, colonialism – and just about every other evil imaginable. 

Prominent US Democrat Ilhan Omar calls to condemn Israel! She just tweeted, “Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid,” ignoring facts such as: 1) Only Gazans are shooting rockets at civilians and 2) Israel developed its Iron Dome for defense from rocket terrorism.

Arabs rocketing Israeli civilians brings to mind Nazis in World War II rocketing British civilians. Hamas has tens of thousands of missiles; Hezbollah has hundreds of thousands of rockets – and then there are millions of people and even leaders like Omar who begrudge Israel the basic human right to defend itself. 

Israel is at a severe disadvantage. Hopefully it will find a way to achieve resilience and prevail.

As rockets from Gaza pound Israeli homes, schools and more, totally disrupting our lives and serenity, the Arabs know that any Israeli military response will only work to their benefit in the propaganda war to demonize Israel. They win no matter what.

One wonders whether the Israelis should do something totally unexpected in return – nothing!

Maybe we should go to the United Nations and our allies in the world and say, “The Arabs are doing this evil thing to us. We have the capability to deliver a devastating response, but we will refrain entirely to give you a chance to stop the rain of terror from Gaza. We will give you several days to force them to stop and impose suitable condemnation and punishment on an international scale. 

“If you fail to do so, we will have no other option than to conclude that we have no choice but to act militarily – but do not dare to criticize us when we do.” 

Two of the many disturbing pictures in the paper from Jerusalem Day (May 11)? 

1) The Jewish man trying to defend himself from a Palestinian lynch mob after his car was attacked and 2) Arabs cheering the rockets as they are fired at civilians. 

We gave away all of Gaza and this is what we got. What sane person could possibly entertain the thought of giving away even more of our homeland?

Emily Schrader’s article (“How Palestinians lost Jerusalem,” May 11) keeps repeating that the Palestinians never had Jerusalem. Of course not. They did not exist and remain a bogus “nation.” 

Just as the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem were illegally occupied by Transjordan, so was all they grabbed of Judea and Samaria. No part of the land or city belonged to the so-called Palestinians. 

Schrader’s article suggests that those intransigent Arab leaders who instill hatred in their children, pay their people to slaughter Jews, stir up revolts like the present one in Jerusalem, fire rockets into civilian territory, and refuse any compromise with Israel because they insist that all the land is Arab land, have “rights” to the land they occupy. Not one inch of the land is theirs, not even Gaza, and they are no better than squatters. While Israel is willing to come to peaceful terms with them, they remain intractable.

Shame on our American allies for siding with these people. Do the Democrats want to lose their friendship with Israel? That, I’m afraid, is where they are heading.

Was the headline “Kanievsky: Meron tragedy due to women’s immodesty” (May 5) written under pressure of a tight deadline? 

As the headline actually contradicts the content of the article, one has to believe either that 1) the headline writer didn’t have time to carefully read the article or that 2) The headline was written intentionally inaccurately for a reason we can only guess at. 

I have long ago given up on journalists being exact in their reporting if not outright distorting the “news” for their own interests. The Post’s bias against many topics (from Netanyahu to certain religious streams) is evident and now there is nothing to expect in the lost field of objective reporting of events. 

Therefore I was not surprised by the headline “Kanievsky: Meron tragedy due to women’s immodesty” (May 5), a case study in how a paper can distort statements and events to achieve a desired results. I must give credit to the reporter for accurately quoting what Rabbi Kaneivsky actually did say which was”…a decree from Heaven and we cannot know the considerations of Heaven.” 

As always, when we receive a “slap” from Heaven we automatically try and use the “slap” to better ourselves in serving Hashem and therefore the rabbi was asked “what needs to be rectified” – how can we better ourselves in serving Hashem – and the rabbi answered that each should strengthen their fulfillments of their obligations which is studying Torah for men and modest clothing for women. 

I do not expect your journalists to understand this because 1. This is not the way they think or relate to anything that is publicized in the haredi public and more importantly 2. It just is not interesting for them or for your readers, so the truth must be distorted to elicit strong reactions. 

Nevertheless, I must protest the injustice, the bias, the inaccuracies and the downright purposefully distorting of statements and events just to drive an agenda.

Regarding “Jerusalem Day: Temple Mount to be closed to Jewish visitors” (May 10), I could, perhaps, understand closure of Har Habayit (The Temple Mount) to Jews – if it were closed to Muslims as well.

Regardless of the fact that this might save lives, in what tortured-logic universe is the trouble-maker rewarded and the blameless punished?

This situation is just one more reason to question the notion that these are people with whom a peace deal could ever be made.

Regarding “A dangerous left-wing gov’t” (May 10), I always enjoy Susan Hattis Rolef’s articles. I learn a great deal from them and always accept her invitation to “Think about it.”

I was fascinated to read about the origin of the expressions Left and Right in politics. Unfortunately, there is a loose end. When Sulla and Marius were squabbling about how best to run the Roman republic, about a century before Julius Caesar, Sulla was designated “right” and Marius “left.” The Latin for left hand is sinistra, the root of the English word sinister. Apparently, this is not an accident. To tie this to the French Revolution requires time travel, which involves science fiction.

Rolef also emphasizes the connection between social democracy and the welfare state. While this is true, one should also give credit where credit is due. The first modern welfare state was introduced by that arch-conservative Otto von Bismarck. He had a good reason, which he explained by the following quote: “Give a working man a pension and he looses his interest in revolution.” Bismarck’s system is the model for all the modern Western European welfare states.

I have read that socialist thinker Karl Marx did not like these nasty reactionary tricks since they delayed his expected proletarian revolution.

In the front-page article “Israel on high alert following weekend of violence” (May 9), the US State Department referred to Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan without mentioning their Hebrew names, Shimon Hatzadik and Kfar Hashiloach, respectively (though they did use “Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount”).

My recollection is that The Jerusalem Post itself rarely uses the Hebrew names of these two areas. Why not? It might even start referring to the Hebrew names of Yehudah and Shomron, instead of the term “West Bank,” a relic of Jordan’s illegal occupation of those areas.

As a publication that is read widely outside of Israel, surely it is incumbent on it to adopt this practice.

Regarding “Some sanity re: Hannity” (Letters, May 5), to think for even one second that Sean Hannity is an antisemite is irresponsible and ridiculous. 

Hannity is a known supporter of Israel – in fact more supportive than many American Jews. Just because he is critical of Bernie Sanders’s communistic approach does not make Hannity antisemitic. 

Don’t fall into the PC trap of other news organizations and adopt the liberal narrative; look at the facts and actions of Hannity.

Your newspaper delivered a major insult by accusing Sean Hannity of antisemitism. It is quite the opposite. Hannity has always been a defender of Israel. Thank God for his presence in the US media. 

The real antisemitism comes from “Bolshevik Bernie” Sanders and there is absolutely nothing wrong by stating what that Vermont senator is and stands for. 

Currently in the US there seems to be a limitation on free speech thanks to Sanders, the media and big tech. I just hope Israel does not copy the current painful trends in the US. That would be a disaster for the Jewish state. Freedom of speech is in the US Constitution although there are some who want to change this. 

Israel should cherish Sean Hannity, who is better to the Jewish people than many Jewish people are to their own!

Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau should study Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, an international treaty that his country and every other one of the 193 members of the United Nations is bound by. (“Canada, Quartet Slam Jerusalem Violence, Int’l Pressure Grows On Israel,” May 9)

Article 80 preserves rights granted to the Jewish people under the British Mandate and recognizes what today is Israel as the reconstituted homeland of the Jewish people, including Jerusalem, going back 4,000 years. The charter is an international treaty and supersedes any vote of the UN Security Council or the General Assembly, and is therefore the controlling international law. Article 80 prohibits the UN from transferring this land to a non-Jewish entity. This land is vested in the Jewish people. Article 80 protects Article 6 of the mandate, which authorizes Jewish people to establish settlements thereon.

If the Canadian foreign minister is going to cite international law, he should be citing Article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Regarding “Sensing victory, Jerusalem ‘shabab’ turn Sheikh Jarrah dispute into major crisis” (May 9), over 4,000 Arabs have bought homes in Jewish Jerusalem suburbs such as Ramot Eshkol, Armon HaNetziv and French Hill and no one cares, but if a Jew moves into a predominantly Arab neighborhood, then left-wing radicals are roused to action.

Property ownership is based on title. The Arab neighborhood of Silwan, was originally Kfar HaShiloah or Shiloach, a Jewish Yemenite village founded in 1882, long before any Arabs lived there. It housed 150 families until Arab riots wiped most of them out in the 1920s and 30s. In 1938, British police, who did nothing to protect the Jews, forced out the remaining Jesish families and Arabs moved in.

In both Shiloach and the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood, now called Sheikh Jarrah, Jewish title is clear.

Today Jewish life is growing in Jerusalem’s Old City, the City of David, the Mount of Olives, Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.

Conversely, under PA law, it is a capital offense to sell land to Jews, few would deny Jews the right to live in peace among their Christian and Muslim neighbors in any part of Jerusalem.

No international laws have been violated – except by the Arabs who have been illegally squatting on Jewish property and the PA, which punishes Arabs who dare sell to Jews.

In “Meron tragedy underscores dangerous divisions in Israel” (May 6) Dan Perry uses the loss of 45 lives as a hook on which to hang hatred of haredi Jews. Yet it is he who is advocating division! He writes, “Secular people... cannot truly be expected to respect the haredi way.” He uses broad brush strokes in his condemnation of all “ultra-orthodox” and totally distorts the lifestyle of his fellow Jews. 

“They simply do not care essentially about the other” he claims, when Torah-observant Jews actually live by the mitzvah “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Talmud teaches us how to disagree without being disagreeable. It reminds us that we do not have to say everything we think out loud; out of respect for others it is sometimes more appropriate to remain silent. The Talmud also suggests that even while respecting others, we can still turn our heads away from opinions we do not accept; we can show both respect and also discretely and politely remain true to our own beliefs.

We must seek to expand the definition of “we” and shrink the definition of “they.” We must examine our own faults and shortcomings before searching for them in others. Perry would be well advised to remember that the antisemitic world does make a distinction between one Jew and another.

He also alleges that haredim have “contributed to one of the highest infection rates in the world.” He is experienced in disseminating fake news, having been chief of the associated press in the Middle East. Actually the yeshivot (haredi study institutions) became centers of herd immunity.

No anti-haredi subject is spared, even the birthrate, which he suggests will in a few generations bring about the collapse of “the house of cards” – an apparent metaphor for the State of Israel.

He belittles the Meron disaster by quoting some who did not place any importance on “Israel’s national tragedy” but place more importance on the stampede at the Mecca haj and the European soccer stadium accident. The article is dripping with hate.