Funny how these allegations happen when the Left’s agenda is threatened.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORUpdated: MARCH 17, 2016 20:49Letters(photo credit: REUTERS)Left in IDF Regarding “Rape allegations against Buchris bring on battle of the lie detectors” (March 17), since the rise of national-religious officers to the upper echelons of the IDF, there have been developments, including the sex allegations against Brig.-Gen.Ofek Buchris, that make me wonder whether it is still a people’s army or just a left-wing-people’s army.Funny how these allegations happen when the Left’s agenda is threatened.The likelihood of a kippa- wearing officer of general rank has put the fear of whatever deity they believe in into they Left.Heaven forbid there might one day be a kippa-wearing chief-of-staff, which would make it a “Jewish army.” Bad enough to have one of them as chief of police! In addition, when the IDF started its campaign to enlist haredi soldiers, some said the army would not be able to accommodate their needs, which it strongly denied. Now that many haredim have joined up, we suddenly hear that the military insists they get rid of their beards – which is a central part of their beliefs. So where is the accommodation? Further, the IDF has decided to remove responsibility for “Jewish” education from its chaplaincy branch, transferring it to the education branch. Is it afraid that some soldiers might suddenly show an interest in their Jewish history and customs, as against just their Israeli history and customs? As far as I know, it is the chaplains who see to the religious-side of military service in all western armies.EMANUEL FISCHERJerusalemThrill-seekers Another Israeli has died in a high-risk activity abroad (“Israeli tourist killed in Peru,” News in Brief, March 15). Sadly, among tourists from Western countries, Israelis are disproportionately such victims – and this is only among five million Israelis because haredim and Arabs generally do not figure in these fatalities.The notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj roamed southeast Asia preying on Western tourists; one of his victims was Avoni Jacob, drugged and murdered in Calcutta in 1975.While driving through Texas in 2003, Ran Mesika gave a lift to an escaped convict – when everyone knew how dangerous it was to pick up hitchhikers.The convict murdered him. In 2008, five Israeli tourists were killed while driving in Bolivia’s Salt Desert, where the highway is flat with unobstructed views. And in the 1950s, Israelis tried to sneak into Jordan’s Petra, which was enemy territory; some never came back.Recklessness among grownups is a sign not of courage, but of immaturity.JACOB MENDLOVIC TorontoBlood libel“From metaphysics to murder?” (Comment & Opinion, March 13), by Eugene Korn, who is described as academic director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, is simply a blood libel.Citing two horrific crimes against Arabs by young Jewish misfits, and adding some manipulation of Maimonides and Yehuda Halevi, the piece rapidly inflates, climaxing in the accusation that there is rampant, widespread, Nazi-like hatred and physical persecution of gentiles by Jews in Israel, specifically by “hyper-Zionists” and ultra-Orthodox Jews (even some from the US).An assault like this would be unremarkable in a publication of the Ku Klux Klan or similar hate group.If the Center for Jewish- Christian Understanding and Cooperation is really interested in furthering understanding and cooperation, it should simply disband.BARUCH SCHMIDT NetanyaCLARIFICATIONThe headline “Elharar: MKs should voluntarily declare any conflicts of interest” (March 17) was not meant to imply that Knesset State Control Committee chairwoman Karin Elharar wants lawmakers to have the option to do so, rather that they be required to do so without waiting to be asked.We regret any misunderstandings this might have caused.
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