November 7, 2016: Readers Here and in the US talk elections
Living in New York City or Los Angeles, Jews feel pretty safe, as did the Jews in Paris and Toulouse – until they didn’t. By then it was too late.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)
Upon the conclusion of Hillary Clinton’s email server investigation, FBI Director James B. Comey made the following statement: “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”Let’s think about this statement even while setting aside the storm of criticism leveled at the FBI for failing to indict. Let’s also overlook irregularities, such as former president Bill Clinton, the husband of the subject of the investigation, meeting with the attorney-general while the investigation was ongoing, or recent findings that a Clinton supporter contributed to the campaign of the FBI director’s wife.Now I ask you: If you were interviewing a candidate for a position of even moderate responsibility and you received a report that he or she was “extremely careless” with data from a previous job, would you hire that candidate? If Hillary Clinton was extremely careless with the security interests of the United States, do you think she will be more careful with the security interests of Israel? Don’t be distracted in this election.The stakes are too high.ANN LEVINKarnei Shomron Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of interfering in the US presidential elections.Follow this scenario: The intention of the Russian interference is directed against Donald Trump, and not in his favor. Mr. Putin would rather have Hillary Clinton become president. She’s the puppet he would prefer. Mr. Trump would be a formidable adversary, whereas Mrs. Clinton would be a pushover.An excellent Russian ploy of reverse psychology.ISSY RIEBACK
Kfar Yona While there have been many letters and articles in The Jerusalem Post about the US elections, some key points are generally overlooked.If elected president, Donald Trump will be the only world leader in denial about climate change, as he has indicated his desire to destroy the agreement signed by 195 nations (including Israel) at the December 2015 climate conference in Paris.Trump and other Republicans are promoting policies similar to, or worse than, those that had such disastrous results during the George W. Bush administration, leaving the country on the brink of a depression, with an average of 750,000 jobs being lost per month. Despite consistent Republican obstructionism, the US has now had 76 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, with over 15 million net jobs created during that period.Republicans support continued tax breaks for major corporations and the wealthiest Americans, while supporting cuts to basic social services. The “Tea Party” has shifted the Republican Party so far to the right that Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and even Ronald Reagan would not recognize it – or be nominated by it today.During the Obama administration, the US has consistently supported Israel at the UN. According to Israeli experts, strategic cooperation between the two countries has never been better.RICHARD H. SCHWARTZShoresh Hillary Clinton has been hanging onto a slim lead in some polls.Assuming that this holds and puts her into the presidency, would the American people really be treated to the sorry spectacle of an inaugural ball paid for by the Clinton Foundation? Insult to injury indeed!F.J. VAN BERSKfar Saba Today, American Jews and their votes will either help Israel or usher in an era of vulnerability and isolation for Jewry not seen since World War II.For eight years, President Barack Obama and the Democrats have driven a wedge between the US and Israel. From supporting BDS in universities across America to blatantly biased condemnations of Israel’s defensive war with Gaza and the disastrously dangerous pact with Iran, the Democratic Party has abandoned the Jewish state.The party’s leaders are monetarily beholden to Israel’s most rabid critics – the same forces that flooded the European Union with inadequately vetted migrants, transforming Sweden into the rape capital of the western world and creating a climate of hostility that led to the greatest mass-Jewish exodus from Europe since the Holocaust.These forces have given millions to Hillary Clinton, who has vowed to bring 100,000 Syrian refugees into America in her first year. (And that’s just Syrians.) There are now 3.3 million Muslims in America, and that number is growing fast, while the current Jewish population is 5.3 million and shrinking. Another four or eight years of this vast demographic shift will marginalize or negate the Jewish vote entirely, further eroding the mutually beneficial bond between America and Israel.Living in New York City or Los Angeles, Jews feel pretty safe, as did the Jews in Paris and Toulouse – until they didn’t. By then it was too late.GARY TAUSTINENew York In 1933, my father was fired from Frankfurt University for being Jewish. We moved to London.The atmosphere associated with Hitler’s rise to power, as described to me by my parents, sounds much like Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency, especially the threats, violence and support from Nazi elements. I find it shocking that Jews anywhere would even consider voting for him.GIDEON FRAENKELColumbus, Ohio The choices in 2016 are terrible. However, better Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton in the White House. Clinton did nothing for American citizens as secretary of state. It’s perfectly logical to give Trump a chance to do what Clinton and President Barack Obama cannot and will not do.Let’s not regress with the Clintons. We need the change President Obama promised but did not deliver.PETER STERNDriftwood, TexasIf we can see past the presidential campaign’s diversionary mud-slinging and charisma (or lack thereof), we realize that we all just want to be safe, and that starts with strength in our leadership.When feeling unsafe, it’s so easy to fearfully react with one-sided anger and therefore respond to issues simplistically and quickly by overpowering others. But is strength really in bulldozing others when resultant extremist groups that meet fire with fire, and then emerge in ever greater numbers?Is reactive, divisive assault truly strength that yields safety? Do we in the United States want a president who is lightning fast to take offense and therefore would react to the world as something for him to conquer for fear of being conquered? What happened the last time someone in power with tremendous charisma felt this way?What could happen today, given all the nuclear weapons in play? Or do we want a president who is emotionally balanced (even when tested to the limit time and again) and who is therefore able to rationally think through complex, interrelated issues, and also has the experience of a lifetime of successfully finding common ground on the national and world stages?It takes self-awareness, compassion, temperamental restraint, knowledge, experience and intelligence to understand that everyone wants to feel safe. This yields the ability to thoughtfully, instead of reactively, balance the many moving parts of a complex world, a world that often hangs in a delicate balance.MICHELLE SULLIVANSpringfield, Illinois Does it really matter who wins? Either way, America loses, and so do Israel and the world.This election is one of the saddest events in American history, and I am beginning to understand why Stefan Zweig committed suicide in 1942.MLADEN ANDRIJASEVICBeersheba
