Now we must make Tnuva, Strauss, Tara and all the other dairy producers recognize that we will not pay the prices they have dropped upon us.
By JERUSALEM POST READERS
Cheese it!Sir, – “Netanyahu receives ‘expensive gift’ in plenum: Cottage cheese” (June 16) makes it sound as if our MKs Are really working hard to get dairy prices rolled back. Wish it were so! Boycotting an item in the market is something the masses of Israelis have failed to learn. The Association of American and Canadians in Israel began a boycott in the mid- 1980s against the spiraling prices of tomatoes. AACI members were steadfast; our fellow Israelis, both native and olim, then followed.Together they raised the slogan “Leave the tomatoes on the stands – we can live without them.” After a standoff of a month, the prices dropped to where they should have been.Now we must make Tnuva, Strauss, Tara and all the other dairy producers recognize that we will not pay the prices they have dropped upon us. Let us rise in protest – then our prime minister and MKs will truly hear.DAVID GEFFENJerusalemWork planSir, – So nothing can be done about illegally employed migrants until the proposed detention center is built (“Gov’t: Number of African migrants reaches high for 2011 as plans for ‘housing facility’ released,” June 16).How about taking some of the 35,000 migrants to start building the facility? This would give meaningful employment and at last get things going.ROSE BARRMoshav ShoreshEarly warningSir, – I was pleased to see the beautiful June 16 picture and information regarding the recent eclipse of the moon. I would have been more pleased had you published information regarding the eclipse in advance so that I could have seen it myself.M. VEEDERNetanyaAny friend is goodSir, – The abusive, ad hominem attack by Larry Derfner (“Godspeed to Jerusalem, Glenn Beck,” Rattling the Cage, June 16) on the entire Right in America is characteristic of a movement that cannot use logic to defend its paucity of thought.Derfner decries just what? That the Right loves Israel? That it decries the post-modern democratic view of foreign policy, which seeks to obliterate values because they clash with the overwhelming violence and population statistics of Islam? Or is it simply that it does not tow his surrender-everything mindset? I welcome all visitors to Israel, but particularly those who support us rather than seek to destroy us.CHAIM A. ABRAMOWITZJerusalemSir, – Larry Derfner’s latest comments do a great disservice to all those Jews in America and Europe who are happy to see someone stand up for Israel. He trots out all the usual name-calling that is a trademark of the Left. He calls right-wing Americans “meshuggenehs” and implies that they are stupid and rotten rather than patriotic Americans who are devoted to America and her one friend in the Middle East.Derfner says that Glenn Beck is going to make Israel an embarrassment for American Jews and will make no new converts for Israel’s cause. Liberal Jews are already embarrassed by the fact that by accident of birth they are Jewish, so anything Beck might do or say will not add to their shame.At this time in our history we need those American Jews and Christians who see Israel for what it is, and are proud to stand up and say they love and support us.M. WILLIAMSJerusalemSir, – Larry Derfner does illuminate a serious issue in his column – that Glenn Beck and other members of the Christian Right are routinely dismissed.Recently, a friend of mine advised her American mother to take a look at a YouTube video of Glenn Beck. Her mother replied, “You mean that right-wing extremist?” But she was sufficiently open-minded to do just that and found a man who talks straight-forward sense.We all need to discount the labels instead of the people and judge their words purely for content.Anyone who considers himself open-minded will be willing to read articles of authors possessing opposing world views and judge them on their own merit, and occasionally be able to see that there are valid points even in the opposite camp.SHARON LINDENBAUMRehovotSir, – Frankly, I usually shudder listening to the self-righteous comedic exhortations displayed by Glenn Beck and would definitely prefer a more sophisticated and subtle approach to promoting and defending Israel and Zionism.However, delegitimizing and demonizing our country needs to be challenged forcefully, and sadly we do not have many friends in the world eager to champion our cause despite the fact that we are in the front line defending democracy and Western values.GISH TRUMAN ROBBINSPardesiyaSir, – We have the impression that Christians want us all to return to Israel so that their Messiah will come and convert us. I have learned recently that this is not true. Our Christian friends believe that if they do not stand with Israel the wrath of God will fall upon them, as quoted in the Five Books of Moses.Whatever their reasons, I thank them and bless them for standing with us, showing us that we are not alone. Hopefully, thousands of people will make the trip to Israel, and not at a small expense, considering the economic situation in the world.JILL SINIGAGLIAMeitarSir, – Most Israelis and most of the non-Jewish supporters of Israel in the US, whether energized by religious or historical motives, are by no means crazy or deranged.Our view of our role in recreating the Jewish state that belongs here in Israel is so well-seated in reality that we are not about to initiate any Armageddon.Though it is true that some Christian evangelicals see the return to Zion as a step toward the end of days, a majority of the non-Jews who support Israel and our cause are not focused on the apocalypse. They see commonality in our moral and ethical framework, and appreciate the recent history of the Jewish people.MENACHEM GORENPetah TikvaSir, – Since The Jerusalem Post once favored British spelling, it is indeed shocking that Larry Derfner deftly has been turning it into an American slang/bi-lingual paper by opining about distasteful “machers” and “meshuggenehs.” He voices “hell,” “damn,” “lousy,” “wacko,” “hardass” and other terms better suited to the gutter or Vegas or the Catskill borscht belt. Our real existential challenges are lifethreatening and tragic (shlemiel?).Derfner is no Jackie Mason, Jack Benny or Sid Caesar and would receive an immediate pink slip from the Yiddisher Forward.ESTER ZEITLINJerusalemStatistics don’t lieSir, – Regarding “Bright spots and dark horizons” (Reality Check, June 13), Jeff Barak criticizes the government and the media for singling out the Arab population for unfair criticism regarding its respect for the law.He cites a case where a hit-andrun scooter driver, identity unknown, ran over and badly injured a pedestrian.The truth of the matter is that Arabs have caused numerous accidents, especially fatal ones, far in excess of their proportion of the population. Many people believe that the reason could be that Arabs, resentful of what they perceive to be their inferior status, deliberately flout Israel’s laws, particularly on the highways, causing death and injuries to Jews.Statistics don’t lie. The Arabs proportionately far exceed the Jews in auto accidents. But Barak persists in blaming the Jews for “intolerance.”ELIEZER WHARTMANJerusalem
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