October 5, 2018: Mistaken chronology

Khinvraj Jangid lists some impressive academic credentials at the end of his contribution "From Jodhpur to Haifa" (September 28, 2018). Yet, he either fails in his basic knowledge of historical facts, or has a political agenda when stating, "In pre-state history, the Indian national movement supported the Palestinian issue more than the Zionist cause." 

 

Jangid would have been correct if he had referred to an "Arab issue", but any mention of a "Palestinian issue" during that period of history certainly predates the fabrication of the Palestinian people.

 

Zichron Ya’acov

Regarding "Netanyahu reveals Iran's secret atomic warehouse" (September 28), the most demonstrative and blatant antisemitic act facing the world over the past several years is the failure to award Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Nobel Peace Prize for his ceaseless and tireless efforts toward world peace.

 

Jerusalem

Tovah Lazaroff's analysis of "Trump's Palestinian state endorsement" (28 September) ends by saying that the Trump administration has swung slightly toward "the more tried and true two-state option."

 

The two-state option is not tried and true, having never been tried. You might say that Israel tried to try it – at Oslo, and in Gaza. But a new independent state was never actually tried in either case, because of the disaster that resulted from merely beginning to set up the necessary conditions.

 

On the other hand, if by "tried and true" Lazaroff meant to say that the proposal is always sure to win kneejerk endorsement, there's no arguing with that.

 

Herzliya

Regarding "Khan al-Ahmad and the urgency of a two-state solution" (September 28), I disagree with the writer's assumptions.

1) Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) are not under Israeli occupation. They were part of Trans-Jordan from 1949 until the 1967 Six Day War of June 1967, when they came under Israeli control. The Arab countries refused to consider any form of negotiations (the three no's of Khartoum).

 

2) There has never been an independent "Palestine." When they talk about a "two-state solution," the PLO/PA gives lip service to the 1949 armistice lines, but on all their legal documents, educational books, maps, they show all of Israel plus Judea and Samaria as one Arab country. Hamas and other terrorist groups eschew recognition of the Jewish State of Israel and call for the destruction of Israel.

 

3) The Bedouins in this outpost are not citizens of Israel and their rationale for claiming ownership is murky, going back to the Ottomans. They were nomadic and now are being treated as pawns under the PA – even after Israel has offered to move them and compensate them well.

 

4) Palestinians, including Bedouins living in Israel, have all the rights as Jewish Israelis – educational, professional, etc.

Until the PA and other terrorist groups change their outlook toward Israel, (which I don't see happening), the status quo will remain same. The Israeli government should build in this area of Judea and in the end, negotiations will determine what will be part of Israel. 

 

Kiryat Motzkin.

Based on “The world may not love Trump – but Israelis do,” (October 3), Israelis seem to be ignoring some key issues.

Do we want to make a role model of a man who The New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens, a former chief editor of The Jerusalem Post, stated has a character that involves “lying, narcissism, bullying, bigotry, crassness, name-calling, ignorance, paranoia, incompetence and pettiness?” 

 

Shouldn’t we be concerned about alienating American Jews in supporting US President Donald Trump who, in efforts to destroy former president Barack Obama’s legacy (1) supported legislation that would cause as many as 32 million Americans to lose their health insurance, (2) pushed through a tax bill that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Americans and highly profitable corporations, which will result in annual deficits of at least a trillion dollars for many years, giving the Republicans an excuse to carry out their long-time desires to cut programs that the vast majority of Americans depend on, and (3) is doing everything possible to eliminate or weaken efforts to reduce greenhouse gases while climate threats are becoming increasingly apparent?

Trump deserves praise for his strong support of Israel, but can we ignore the negatives in his relationship with Israel? Trump has not kept his pledge that there would be no daylight between the US and Israel, as 1) he demanded several times that Israel limit settlement construction and stated that israel should pay a price for his move of the US embassy; 2) his $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia reduces Israel’s qualitative military edge; 3) in his January 2016 Holocaust Remembrance Day statement, Trump omitted any mention of Jews, which led Deborah Lipstadt to call it “softcore Holocaust denial;” 4) he appointed white supremacists to senior positions; 5) he retweeted neo-Nazi propaganda on several occasions; 6) he failed to condemn antisemitism several times before finally doing so; 7) he left vacant the post of special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; 8) by sharing top-secret information with Russia, he compromised Israeli intelligence; 9) there has been a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents and other bigoted statements and acts; 10) some of his actions reduce prospects for peace and make violence more likely.

 

Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island