If the Obama administration can’t tell the Palestinians directly to stop the incitement to violence against its ally, why should Israel rely on US promises regarding the Iran deal?
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Trusting America With regard to “Kerry ‘cautiously optimistic’ on end to violence after meeting with PM in Berlin,” October 23), when the Oslo process began, it was under the premise that the Palestinians were indeed interested in living in peace with Israel, and were no longer terrorists seeking its destruction. I think it highly likely they might not have changed their designs.Every offer of land for peace to allow a Palestinian state has been rejected. They want all post-1967 land as well as a right of return to pre-1967 land. And for weeks, while Palestinians have been stabbing Israeli men, women and children, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been putting all the blame on Israel.If the Obama administration can’t tell the Palestinians directly to stop the incitement to violence against its ally, why should Israel rely on US promises regarding the Iran deal?BEN KLEINNew YorkMostly loathingWith regard to “Fear and loathing in Beit Shemesh” by Sam Sokol (Reporter’s Notebook, October 23), I live in Beit Shemesh. I live in Gush Etzion. I live in Jerusalem, Petah Tikva, Ra’anana, Hebron, Kiryat Gat, Tel Aviv. Wherever there is a terror attack, I feel the fear, the anguish, the hurt, the loss.I pray for all. I am one of the Children of Israel. Who and where are you, Sam Sokol? HELENA ORENSTEIN Elazar Sam Sokol responds: I am appalled by any attack anywhere.I was trying to get across the ennui that takes hold in the face of sustained terror and the resurgence of horror that occurs when one’s home, which one had previously seen as safe and far from conflict, becomes a site of bloodshed.It’s back (sort of) After waiting weeks for the IBA English news to return, I was very interested to read ““IBA weekly news back on air” (News in Brief, October 22). Then, the shocker – only once a week! This is crazy. How can the world hear Israel’s daily news and opinions just once a week while the Palestinians broadcast their own stories every day! This is nuts!SYLVIA FRIEDMANJerusalemI was pleased to see the many people who wrote letters to The Jerusalem Post about the absence of an English-language TV news broadcast from Israel (“Readers have their say about IBA English news,” October 19).One thought that crossed my mind pertained to the most horrific time to deprive the English-speaking public of the daily television news – exactly at the time of the very serious horrors in our country.I have lost a lot of respect for the IBA people responsible for this decision. It is unacceptable to absent English news at any time, but at a crucial time of violence, it is the abandonment of an entire population!MARGERY G. FEINSTEINJerusalemMother’s milkAlthough not taking a strong position either way, “Overselling breast-feeding” (Comment & Features, October 22) left the use of this method in the air for apparent lack of strong evidence pro or con.Recent research publications conclude that breast-feeding can in fact lower the potential for a neonate to develop autism. The most apparent reason is that human breast milk has an elevated level of insulin-like growth factor (IGF); this protein, among other functions, promotes the formation of functional nerves, especially in the behavior centers in the brain, during the first year of life.Children with autism display reduced levels of IGF in the fluid surrounding their brains.Although yet to be substantiated with further scientific studies, reducing the chance of a newborn to develop autism could turn out to be one of the most important reasons for mothers to make special efforts to breastfeed their children.GARY STEINMAN JerusalemThe writer is an obstetrician and gynecologist. He was lead editor of The Cause of Autism – Concepts and Misconceptions (2014).Having no clothes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech to the 37th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, could not have been clearer as to where he stood on (not) building in the Jewish land (“PM: It’s a lie to say settlement construction led to terrorism,” October 21).Netanyahu said that since entering office in 2009, he had built fewer settler homes in Judea and Samaria than his predecessors, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. He said this with pride, as though we should applaud him, but it fills me with disgust and shame that he has been three times elected on promises he reneged on after each election.Perhaps the people will now see that the emperor has no clothes, something that has been clear to me for a long time.YENTEL JACOBSNetanyaHas it backwardsGil Troy has it backwards in “The Palestinian national movement turns monstrous (again!)” (Center Field, October 21). Israel is confronting not a movement employing monstrous means toward a nationalist end, but a movement employing nationalist means toward a monstrous end.There was no nationalist desire for a distinctly Palestinian-Arab state west of the Jordan when the movement was massacring the Jews of Jaffa in 1921 or the Jews of Hebron in 1929, although there was a claim, just like today’s, that the Jews were defiling Islam on the Temple Mount.The nationalist side of the movement, especially in this new century, is merely an interface lending its monstrous nature an appearance that is compatible with civilized principles.MARK L. LEVINSONHerzliyaNo qualifications Reading your issue of October 20, I came upon “The bully of Istanbul” (No Holds Barred).It was not known to me that Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is a specialist on the political situation in Turkey or the psychological dynamics of its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I cannot imagine that there are no qualified specialists to be approached by The Jerusalem Post to write on this.It already takes quite an effort for me to take in the columns written by this spotlight rabbi.But really, this is too much! For his own sake, please do not encourage Boteach to write about subjects he is not schooled in. There are enough specialists in this country.MINNY MOCK-DEGEN RehovotPostal bluesI had a small package sent express mail from the United States. It left the States on August 31, and arrived in Israel on the same day.I assumed that due to the holidays, it might take a bit for my article of clothing to clear customs.But it finally did, and as of October 21, I was still awaiting delivery.It is impossible to call the post office, as postal employees do not pick up the phone. Someone at our local branch told me the package was on the way from the main branch in town. I can walk faster than that.How can this wonderful land of ours expect to fight terrorism and/or expose the public relations propaganda against us when the Israel Postal Company cannot run its post offices?ETHEL WEISSMANBeit ShemeshCLARIFICATION• Warren Goldstein is chief rabbi of South Africa, and not as stated at the end of “Stealing a day out of life to live” (Observations, October 23).• Unlike what was stated in “Visiting US reps: ‘We must address Palestinian denial that Israel is a Jewish state’” (October 18), Ron Dermer is the current Israeli ambassador to the United States.
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