March 5,2018: Why all the fuss over Prince William?

It is clear that UK Prime Minister Theresa May is once again attempting to display an even-handed British policy in the region – at our expense.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Concurrent visit an insult
The euphoria with which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, the Israeli media and the UK Jewish community received news of the impending “royal” visit (“Prince William to visit this summer for first formal visit by royal family member,” March 2) is ingratiating and to be decried.
Had the “royal” come to visit just Israel, the euphoria would be acceptable. However, he is to visit the Palestinian Authority as well. In its online coverage, the pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph headline spelled this out clearly: “Prince William to make first official Royal visit to Palestinian Territories.”
It ignored the visit to Israel! At the same time, the prince is to visit the puppet kingdom of Jordan, created by Winston Churchill when he reneged on the Balfour Declaration and gave away 77% of the Land of Israel to create a brand new Arab emirate. Strange that Queen Elizabeth paid a state visit to Jordan in 1984 and has honored Jordan with two reciprocal visits to the UK.
It is clear that UK Prime Minister Theresa May is once again attempting to display an even-handed British policy in the region – at our expense – by tacitly giving recognition to the PA as a sovereign entity. Such policy is not acceptable.
It is akin to the request made during World War II for the Allies to bomb Auschwitz: The response was that it was too far, yet they sent their bombers to strike the adjacent butyl rubber plant at Monowitz.
On occasion, when politicians wanted to visit Israel and the PA concurrently, our government made it abundantly clear that such a visit was unacceptable and beyond reproach. The same should apply to this royal visit.
I call on Prime Minister May to cancel the forthcoming visit to both the PA and Jordan as it is an insult to the Jewish people.
COLIN L. LECI
Jerusalem
Teva is no ‘biotech’
In “Warren Buffett wagers big on Teva, and on Israel” (March 2), you say that Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway investment fund has “historically been averse to investing in biotech stocks.” This implies that by investing in Teva, this has changed.
If only Teva’s business model were such that it could be described as a biotech stock. The reason it has failed its shareholders and Israel’s research scientists is because it was never a biotech stock.
No doubt Buffet has his own reasons for investing in a generic pharmaceutical company, but nobody should believe that all of a sudden, after closing its research units in Israel, Teva is about to become a major biotech company.
PETER SIMPSON
Jerusalem
Makes no sense
As a pediatrician for over 43 years, I was privileged to employ and work alongside several nurse practitioners, three of whom still work in my clinic in the US (“Physicians clash with IMA on nurse practitioners,” March 2).
Nurse practitioners are dedicated professionals who are capable of expanding the work product of doctors. They come from a background in the noble profession of nursing and have pursued additional education and training.
Most medical practice in primary care as well as in specialties is work that can be done by well trained NPs who are supervised by MDs.
I have observed in my nine years here that doctors are unhappy with the excessive workload and bureaucracy. NPs are an obvious solution.
They are less expensive to train, are pleased with their increased responsibility, tend to be more careful than doctors, and are less troubled by often senseless regulations and paperwork. Doctors should be freed up to some degree to do what they do best, which is caring for patients.
It is discouraging that the medical establishment, Israel Medical Association chairman Leonid Eidelman and the IMA itself seem to be more interested in protecting turf, which makes no sense in the present situation, which involved the scarcity of medical personnel nationwide.
MOSHE KUHR
Jerusalem
Bring them home!
I read again with a mixture of sadness and frustration about the plight of the Falash Mura and their burning wish to return home to the Land of Israel (“Jewish community remaining in Ethiopia calls on Netanyahu to allow its aliya,” March 1).
What puzzles me is the attitude of some of our fellow citizens, both in and out of the government.
That attitude focuses on caring for those who have come here illegally to seek a better life. While that is an admirable ambition, our priority has to be taking care of our own.
While we as a people seem care for the oppressed and downtrodden as part of our DNA, my understanding is that it is our halachic responsibility to expedite, encourage and support our brothers and sisters who languish in a land not their own.
As we approach Pessah and recall our time in a strange land, I implore Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to bring home the Falash Mura ASAP, if not sooner. We have the opportunity to save Jewish neshames (souls); let us not delay any longer.
STEPHEN GARDNER
Jerusalem
Sweet side of Sara
I would just like to let you know that it was in the worst of taste to publish the article about the bakery that pokes fun at the prime minster’s wife (“What’s in a Sara Netanyahu macaron?” Arts & Entertainment, February 27).
It is all very well to have fun on Purim, but I feel that to poke fun at somebody, especially the prime minister’s wife, who has not been spared scandalous publicity at her expense is inappropriate.
The worst aspect is that The Jerusalem Post gave the bakery free publicity. Disappointing!
RUTH FEIGLIN
Ramat Gan
This is out of order.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the powerfully active wife of US president Franklin Roosevelt, would have shut down that bakery in 10 minutes or less.
Sara Netanyahu has a tough job. Let her do it with dignity, and let the baker bake.
SARA LEE WOOLF
Beit Shemesh
Skewed figures?
Some of the arguments put forth by Prof. Alon Tal, as reported in “Current birth rates unsustainable, says expert” (February 21), are flawed.
Regarding the belief that Jews must have higher birth rates than Arabs to ensure that Israel retains a Jewish majority, your reporter writes that “Tal said that race has already been won. ‘That used to be an absolutely valid argument, but today Arabs are averaging roughly 40,000 births a year and the Jews are averaging over 100,000. So if there was a demographic battle, it’s over.’” This ratio implies that within roughly one generation, Israel’s Jewish majority will drop from the current 74.5% to 68%, while the Arabs’ percentage will rise from 20.9% to 27%. If this trend continues with every successive generation, the Jewish percentage will further drop until Jews become a minority in Israel.
This is nothing short of a calamity of historic proportions for the Jewish people. Given the cataclysmic loss of one-third of world Jewry in the Holocaust, and with Diaspora Jewry fast dwindling due to assimilation, intermarriage, postponed childbirth and an extremely low birthrate, it is uniquely Israel that can sustain the Jewish people and ensure its future.
Israel’s national project should be a sustainable expansion of infrastructure, not the imposition of limitations on childbirth.
PNINA LUBAN
Ames, Iowa