Letters to the Editor: Palestinian Rage

With regard to “800 extra cops deployed in Jerusalem amid Palestinian calls for ‘day of rage.’”

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian rage
With regard to “800 extra cops deployed in Jerusalem amid Palestinian calls for ‘day of rage’” (September 18), one night about 25 years ago, I drove to Gush Etzion from Jerusalem to spend Shabbat. There was no tunnel bypass road back then, and I was accustomed to driving on the main road, through Bethlehem, to reach my destination.
As I passed the Dehaishe refugee camp south of Bethlehem, I suddenly realized that my windshield had been struck by a rock and cold air was blowing on my face. For a moment, I panicked and wanted to stop and run. But caution prevailed, and my seatmate convinced me to continue driving through the darkness to our destination.
When we arrived, I found my lap full of shards of glass. I also found the rock, which, thankfully, had not reached my head.
Nothing is new and nothing has changed since that time, except that we have built the tunnel road and many other bypass roads, all defensive measures that emphasize our inability to appropriately address criminal behavior. How tragic.
VICKY MANNIS Jerusalem
Looking at the photo accompanying “800 extra cops deployed in Jerusalem amid Palestinian calls for ‘day of rage,’” the one that shows our police lounging near the Aksa Mosque, I feel so confident about the safety of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
JUDY GOLDIN Kiryat Ono
Our own rage
With regard to “Abbas: We won’t allow Israel to desecrate holy sites” (September 17), why isn’t Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling US President Barack Obama, insisting that he condemn Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his constant lies and incitement, including his anti-Semitic statement: “Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
[Israelis] have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet.”
Where is Obama? Where is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon? When Netanyahu said one stupid statement during the last day of our elections, Obama, through his spokesman, harangued and condemned him for weeks on end.
But now, in the face of blatant, hate-filled lies and rants, Obama is silent. The best he and Ban can come up with is the lame statement calling for “restraint on all sides.”
Such statements further fan the flames and encourage the Palestinians to more violence. All our prime minister can come up with is stiffer penalties for rock throwers.
Wow! I bet that’s making Abbas shake in his boots.
Only when Netanyahu demands that world leaders publicly condemn Abbas and not try to be “even-handed” will the Palestinians finally start to get the message, if only barely.
It’s time we show our own rage!
LARRY BIGIO Zichron Ya’acov
Deri’s threat
Regarding “Deri threatened to topple coalition over rabbinical judge appointments” (September 18), personally, I’d much rather see the government fall than allow Arye Deri and his Shas party to assert more control than they already have over the religious nature of Israel. Any political coalition that sells out Israel’s future by including Shas deserves to be toppled anyway.
Deri, as a religious fundamentalist fanatic, has no choice but to try to enforce his religious prejudices on the rest of us. If he didn’t do that, he would not be an honest fundamentalist fanatic. That’s why he should not have any role at all in our government, where he serves as Economy Minister.
It’s bad enough that we have to face murderous Arab religious fundamentalist fanaticism; God help us if we have to deal with Jewish religious fundamentalist fanaticism ensconced in our own government! We lost the Second Temple because of people like that – are we to lose Israel now, too? When are we going to learn? If Deri has his way, he would try to keep Jews from freely being Jewish. I’d like to see the expression on his face some Friday afternoon at the Port of Tel Aviv, watching the free expression of Jews celebrating Kabbalat Shabbat.
BARRY LEONARD WERNER Netanya
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands strong against US President Barack Obama and other world leaders to protect us, and yet we have a two-bit politician, Arye Deri, who threatens to bring down the government for a measure that would divide the country even further – and merely to feed his own ego to prove how powerful he is. It is even more ludicrous when one considers Deri’s moral character and previous political manipulations.
It is necessary to call Deri’s bluff immediately! May our elected officials work together against our enemies to build a strong Israel, and not against themselves in looking out for special interests.
BRYNA FRANKLIN Jerusalem
Listening closely
In her column “Larger than life” (“My Word, September 18), Liat Collins rhetorically (and somewhat indignantly, it would seem) asks the question: “When was the last time you heard a public discussion on the right of Denmark to control Greenland, for instance?” Ms. Collins is right that public discussion of that issue is not audible. And here is why: Denmark does not claim a “right... to control Greenland.” Let me seize this opportunity to share a few facts.
Greenland’s status within the Kingdom of Denmark has evolved over time. For many years now, Greenland has exercised wide-ranging legislative and executive powers on the basis of the Act on Greenland Self-Government concluded between the Naalakkersuisut (Government of Greenland) and the Government of Denmark, as equal partners.
Denmark values this partnership highly. However, there is no doubt about Greenland’s access to independence, were the people of Greenland to desire this.
Any decision regarding independence shall be taken by the people of Greenland. And independence for Greenland would imply that Greenland assumes sovereignty over Greenland territory, as is clearly stated in the Act on Greenland Self-Government.
That might be why Ms.
Collins hasn’t heard a public discussion on the issue.
JESPER VAHR Tel Aviv
The writer is Denmark’s ambassador to Israel.
Trashing a prophet
I am saddened that Amotz Asa- El (“Good morning, East Europe!” Middle Israel, September 18) sees fit to describe the Prophet Jonah as “narrow minded” and assume that we Jews, in the days of Nineveh, believed we had a “monopoly on repentance.”
If he read the Book of Jonah (which is only 48 verses long), he would be aware that the exact opposite is true.
Even before setting foot in Nineveh, Jonah was instrumental in converting the sailors who threw him overboard into believers in the one and only God. He had two reasons for trying to escape God’s order calling the Assyrians to repentance: He foresaw that if they did, 1) they would cause the exile of the 10 tribes, which is what happened in the year 722 BCE, and 2) he would look like a false prophet if his prophecy did not come true.
Your columnist would be advised to read the first article of my book The Just Lives by His Faith. The article is only three pages long and titled “The Book of Jonah as an Indictment of the Jewish People.”
ELIYAHU MUNK Jerusalem
CORRECTIONS • The IDF unit mentioned in “188th Armored Division practices large-scale airlift of wounded soldiers in Golan Heights” (September 17) should have been referred to as the 188th Armored Brigade.
• The IDF unit mentioned in “IDF officer: ISIS’s Egypt ally likely to target Israel” (September 17) should have been referred to as the Sagi Brigade, and not battalion.