May 11: Farfur's fate

Farfur, a lovable creature who preached violence on PA-controlled children's TV, has been taken off the air.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters good 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
letters good 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Farfur's fate Sir, - Farfur, a lovable creature who preached violence on PA-controlled children's TV, has been taken off the air for "review" ("After furor, Hamas pulls Mickey Mouse lookalike character urging Palestinian children to fight Israel," May 10). Knowing Farfur's creators, one assumes the rodent will not renounce terrorism, but Palestinian children will be told to avenge the death of the martyr Farfur, who has received 72 virgin mice in heaven. YONATAN SILVER Jerusalem Statue, shmatue Sir, - Michael Freund's campaign against the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon in Brussels reminds one of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. As a schoolboy in Antwerp a few years before World War II, I remember repeatedly visiting Brussels. We of course learned of the horrors of the Crusades, but the statue of Bouillon was never mentioned in a country strewn with all kinds of monuments regarded merely as boring relics of past "grandeur." Is there nothing more pressing to agitate about these days? ("Evil and the passing of time," May 9.) W. J. STRAUSS Jerusalem Language lesson Sir, - As the son of an American World War II veteran, I completely identified with Nelly Gootin's frustration over the different war narratives as understood by Israelis and the rest of the Diaspora ("The Russian Mimouna," UpFront, May 4). One could easily go through Yad Vashem, or listen to the stories on Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, without realizing that the Holocaust was ended only by the military defeat of Nazi Germany. (Quite possibly, it has been the Israeli Left that suppresses this fact, since one of its core beliefs is that "violence only begets more violence.") Be that as it may, we in Israel should be celebrating V-E Day, whether on May 8, as in the US, or May 9, as in Russia. I would like to offer a suggestion to prevent the celebrations from becoming a Russian-only holiday, as Ms. Gootin fears: Just as Soviet soldiers stretched out their hands to American GIs when they met at the Elbe River, the Red Army veteran organizations should welcome World War II veterans from the US, Canada, Britain, Free France, Australia, New Zealand and other nations to join in the parades and parties. Let them drink vodka and sing together, like our fathers did 62 years ago. I'm sure they'll find a common language - and perhaps every Israeli will understand it too. DOUG GREENER Jerusalem 'Post' stimulates Sir, - One of the most intellectually stimulating features of Jerusalem Post articles is their wide diversity of opinion. For example, on May 4, Naomi Chazan discussed in UpFront the importance of "joint Palestinian-Israeli initiatives [such as] the Geneva Initiative," while Sarah Honig ridiculed this document as the "delusional Yossi Beilin Geneva Accord." Chazan wrote that "new diplomatic possibilities have emerged… in the contemporary peace landscape." However, Dan Schueftan, in an April 6 interview with Ruthie Blum, dismissed such optimism because "Whatever we do, we will not get peace." The Post requires the reader to make up his or her own mind, which is always a desirable situation. NATHAN AVIEZER Petah Tikva