November 3: Growing gap

Larry Derfner's recipe for revamping the Democratic Party in the US is right on - but they're not going to buy it.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters to the editor 88 (photo credit: )
letters to the editor 88
(photo credit: )
Growing gap Sir, - Bravo to Larry Derfner ("Toward a new deal in America," November 2). His recipe for revamping the Democratic Party in the US is right on. But they're not going to buy it, unfortunately. It would mean losing power in the next election after waiting so long to recapture the Congress. To expect them to deliver a real platform, with all the realistic necessities that go with it is really asking an awful lot. It won't even go down in Israel, where goodness knows we are heading in the same direction as is the US. The huge gap between the haves and the have-nots in Israel is already so huge as to be readily noticeable, yet the Labor Party, for example, has no platform for "fixing" it. No, instead, we go right on making the rich richer and the poor poorer. What the US needs is a Bobby Kennedy (that's right, Bobby, not Jack), and what Israel needs is a new Yitzhak Rabin. JUDY PERES Evanston, Illinois The real threat Sir, - Samuel G. Freedman, in "Elephant in the room" (November 1), describes the animus that many American Jews have toward Republicans and the Christian Right because they fear the encroachment of religion into politics. Jews are correct to be wary, but the real threat does not come from Christians. Thanks to the Democrats and their open-borders policy on immigration, particularly from Third World countries, there are now at least as many Muslims in America as Jews, and the trend will continue. Eventually, Jews will face the same physical insecurities here as they do in Europe, and support for Israel will no longer be a vote getter. Meanwhile, pressure will build for adherence to Islamic legal requirements and sensibilities, straining the limits of free speech and multicultural tolerance. Let's remember that Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition sponsored a solidarity tour to Israel at the height of the Oslo suicide bombing fiasco in which visitors rode Israeli buses as a show of support. Meanwhile, Islamic-American groups are strong supporters of the Democrats in this fall's election. DAVID KATCOFF Jericho, Vermont Truly outraged Sir, - Thanks to Debra DeLee, president of Americans for Peace Now, for her article "Where is the outrage over Lieberman?" (November 1). Her anger toward a duly elected, controversial MK includes discriminatory terms such as "bigot," "provocateur" and "advocate of expulsion and intolerance." She charges him with "chauvinism and hate." If this is DeLee's starting point methodology for useful dialogue, understanding, compromise and peaceful solutions, truly one might be outraged. ESTER ZEITLIN Jerusalem I'm astonished Sir, - Since making aliya about 35 years ago, I have been astonished many times at Israel's zeal in bending over backward to prove its democratic values. But MK Ahmed Tibi's anti-Lieberman campaign ("Arab MKS launch global anti-Lieberman campaign," October 31) takes this freedom to new heights when an article on the same page reports that "Dalia Itzik intervenes to stop bill for axing 'anti-Israel' MKs." It seems to me that Tibi should extol a country that allows him to call a government official a racist and fascist and has this same government fighting for his rights as an MK to spout all kinds of anti-Israel rhetoric. Can one envision any other country in which someone serving in its government in any capacity could speak thusly against said country. NAOMI FEINSTEIN Givat Ada