The people who should refuse to accept how the talks will end are us. Has a people ever been more humiliated by its own prime minister?
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )Words of wisdom Sir, – Your article “First group of PA prisoners to be released mid-August” (August 4) includes the latest words of wisdom from our justice minister, Tzipi Livni: “My impression was that... the Palestinian party did not enter the room in order to blame Israel.... This will be their test; anybody who enters the room knows roughly how [talks] should end.”Certainly, the Palestinian Authority and US Secretary of State John Kerry know how the talks should end, and if they have anything to do with it, which they will, Jerusalem will cease to be our eternal and undivided capital, there will be a terrorist state known as Palestine that will eventually take over all of Israel, and Jews once more will be forcibly expelled from their homes to become refugees in their own land.The people who should refuse to accept how the talks will end are us. Has a people ever been more humiliated by its own prime minister?YENTEL JACOBS Netanya Sir, – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government should be ashamed and condemned for the reckless decision to release murderers to appease US and Arab interests and coax Israel’s antagonists to talk peace.Unless they find a way to cancel this abomination and blight upon Israel’s conscience, many more innocent Israelis will face death at the hands of terrorists as our enemies become emboldened to continue their violent opposition to any Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.YITZCHAK BEN-SHMUELModi’in Sir, – US President Barack Obama has pushed and pulled and exerted his charm and enormous pressure. He has met with success, getting Israel and the Palestinians to meet together.These negotiations will be the fulfillment of Obama’s dreams – he will have earned, finally, the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him at the start of his first term.He has given the negotiators nine months to come up with the plan he wants so much. Of course, that would bring the plan to the public before the 2014 mid-term US elections, and the president will campaign for others on the fact that he was able to do the impossible and make his ideas acceptable to the Israelis.I cannot foresee in any way that Obama’s ideas will bring peace and security to Israel. Perhaps we in Israel had better prepare ourselves for the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to make Israel less secure, a less viable country and less able to defend itself by agreeing to Obama’s visions.The question for all of us is why?TOBY WILLIG Jerusalem Shades of gray Sir, – Martin Sherman (“Resign, just resign!” Into the Fray, August 2) thoroughly castigates our prime minister for either failing to implement the policy the writer believes in or implementing a policy he does not believe in.In Sherman’s world, once a political position has been taken, you are stuck with it.Alter your posture, adapt to changing circumstances and you have betrayed your principles.But the world of politics is not black and white. It is many shades of gray.Basic principles are one thing, political tactics quite another.Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared that the security of Israel and its citizens is a basic principle he would never compromise.But he is astute enough to see where he needs to bend a little in Israel’s best interests.Sherman has no means of knowing where Yitzhak Rabin would stand, were he alive today, nor indeed how the forthcoming peace negotiations will develop. Is he fearful that if a peace accord is finally hammered out and put to the Israeli electorate in a referendum, Netanyahu will receive the majority support he seeks?NEVILLE TELLERBeit Shemesh Haggadah flubSir, – On Sunday, August 4, you reprinted a partial Haggadah for the Passover holiday in the second section of the newspaper (“‘Dry Bones’ goes to the Seder”).In doing so and leaving the original content in Hebrew with the name of God spelled out, you created a holy document that cannot be taken into a bathroom or thrown out with the garbage. Pages on which God’s name is spelled out in Hebrew must be collected for proper burial.Please do your best to avoid this problem in the future.YECHIEL AARON Hashmonaim The Editor responds: We regret the inclusion of holy texts in the section on the Dry Bones Haggadah and apologize if the pages offended readers.Subjugation Sir, – In your August 1 issue there were two items with the same astounding theme.The first (“Non-Muslims banned from Mount till after Ramadan”) said that a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount during Ramadan and even Tisha Be’av might irritate Muslim bullies.So, barring religious people from the area on religious holidays applies solely to Jews.The second (“The Shfaram case,” Editorial) described the judicial travesty of consistently treating Muslims who murder Jews with leniency by calling intentional murder manslaughter and passing lesser sentences. Of course, the unstated implication is that a just verdict would cause Muslims to react violently.The thematic message is that Jews are intimidated by Muslims and bow in subjugation merely to the threat of violence, regardless of the subversion of justice and denial of equal rights for the country’s Jewish citizens.The frustration and outrage stems from the fact that we are teaching Muslims the very lesson they teach their children – that it is acceptable for Muslims to bully, attack and even murder Jews.Why do we tolerate compliance in our own demise?STEVE BAILEY Jerusalem Sir, – I was most interested in the Haifa District Court’s ruling on the Shfaram case (“Four Israeli Arabs convicted of attempted manslaughter in lynching of Jewish terrorist,” July 30).On the one hand, Eden Natan Zada was a murderer. On the other, the mob that killed him was set on vengeance. The report crammed a lot of important distinctions into too little space.The court is quoted as saying: “Vengeance is for God, and punishment is the function of the state.” We see all around us the results of past and ongoing beliefs in the legitimacy of vengeance. I would really appreciate some discussion of this in both Jewish and Muslim thought.HELEN LEVENSTON Jerusalem CORRECTION The Jerusalem Wine Festival (“Raising a glass to Israeli wines in Jerusalem,” Arts & Entertainment, August 4) will take place August 5-8, and not as stated.APOLOGY The Jerusalem Post regrets the inclusion of factual errors and misrepresentations in “IDF soldier goes from cleaning boots to wearing them” (July 29).• The subject of the article was Noami Silberman, not Silverman.• Contrary to what was written, Silberman spoke, read and wrote Hebrew when she made aliya; she was never required to take Hebrew lessons in order to serve in the army.• Silberman never indicated that serving in the air force had been “too difficult.” She wanted the opportunity to be a combat soldier.• The article erroneously referred to a 5,000-kilometer run. It should have been 5,000- meter run.• Silberman never denigrated her tasks in logistics and never indicated that she had been treated like a “Cinderella” or that the work she did had been demeaning.Our apology extends to Naomi Silberman, her unit, commanders and family.
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