November 5: Self-interest

There is no legal basis to ban the gay parade. The gay community has every right to show itself. But to what purpose?

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters to the editor 88 (photo credit: )
letters to the editor 88
(photo credit: )
Self-interest Sir, - Re "Dichter hints police weighing canceling J'lem gay parade" (November 2). There is no legal basis to ban the gay parade. The gay community has every right to show itself. But to what purpose? With such widespread opposition, the Jerusalem gay parade has already garnered extensive media exposure for the community. But is publicity what it's all about? As I understand it, this minority group is interested in gaining the acceptance and respect of the majority. However, the parade will only add more dissonance to an already divisive society. The gay community should not cancel the parade because haredim are rioting. It should call it off because it is in its own self-interest to make a mature and responsible decision. LINDA WOLFF Sha'are Tikva Terrible mistake Sir,- Debra DeLee's op-ed ("Where is the outrage over Lieberman," November 1) has rightly challenged American Jewry - and Jews everywhere - to express their condemnation over the Avigdor Lieberman appointment. Meretz USA, in its public statement of October 24, spoke not only to Lieberman's abhorrent public demand for ethnic cleansing of Israel's Arab citizens, but as well to his aggressive militarism which your editorial "The problem with foreign forces" (November 1) has errantly inverted and endorsed. The Lieberman appointment will prove itself a hundredfold plague against the house of Israel, starting with the loss of judgment of the prime minister, the Knesset, The Jerusalem Post, and the laryngitis of Jews everywhere. Hopefully Israel will clear its head sometime soon, and find its voice before it pays through the nose for this terrible mistake. CHARNEY V. BROMBERG Executive director Meretz USA New York Never mind Sir, - "Where is the outrage over Lieberman,?" Debra DeLee asks in righteous indignation. She deserves an answer. After all from an office or living room some 8,000 miles away this seems like an important question to her. Never mind that she has chosen to express her outrage over the appointment of a member of our Knesset to a ministerial position and not over the fact that the Palestinian Authority government with which she desires us to make peace swears its eternal emnity to our very existence. Never mind that Hizbullah is gearing up for an other round with us under the eyes of an ineffectual UNIFIL. Never mind that the president of Iran repeatedly assures our enemy that the day we shall be wiped off the face of this Earth is fast approaching. Never mind that Israeli Arabs rejoiced as rockets fell on our northern cities this summer. I, for one, am outraged that someone who doesn't live here, someone who doesn't walk in our shoes or send her son to our army has the affrontery to demand world outrage over the appointment of a minister in our democratic government. I repectfully request that instead of beating the bushes for outrage, Delee should attempt to start a Peace Now office in Gaza, or southern Beirut, or Teheran. Her time would be better spent. BERNARD SHEPEN Caesarea Horrible PR Sir, - The problem with MK Avigdor Lieberman is not his ideas, but his open and honest expression of them. While it is fine to believe that the existence of Arabs in Israel is the biggest problem Israel has - and by the way, I don't agree with that thinking - voicing that opinion is highly objectionable. Not only is it not becoming of a member of the Israeli Knesset, but the last thing Israel needs is more horrible PR. It may very well be that, crazy as his ideas sound, his methodology will bring positive results. But I find it hard to believe that God really truly wants to see a Jew stand up in front of the world, insult an entire people in the name of Israel, and push for ways to judge a whole ethnic group simply because so many terrorists happen to be Arabs. I guarantee there are more Arab non-terrorists than terrorists, and while it is action-packed and exciting to go to war, it is probably a much better long-term strategy to find a way to work with the non-terrorists than to find new, more radical ways to work against the terrorists. JASON JOHNSON New Orleans, Louisiana They hate us Sir, - Re "Father of Daniel Pearl identifies historical narrative as a threat to civil society" (November 1). I must disagree with some of Pearl's comments. He states that Muslims perceive Israel as an outpost of European imperialism, and that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ignorant of the fact that Jews originated in the Holy Land. I believe that what divides us are not differing historical narratives, but rather simply Arab and Muslim hatred of Jews. They deny our history not because they are ignorant of it, but because they hate us for it. They hate us because we have survived and flourished despite millennia of attempts by their forbears in the Arab and more recently Muslim world to subjugate and extinguish us. They hate us for our contributions to the human race and Western society. They hate us because while they have stagnated under their own dogma, we have thrived and succeeded against all odds. For these reasons and many more they seek to deny every fact of our history. Like the proverbial ostrich who hides his head in the sand, they pretend that we don't really exist now and that we never existed in the past. ANDREW BLUMBERG New York