"To be entirely politically correct, how do we refer to the British mandate for Palestine? Perhaps the English city of Manchester should change its name. Any suggestions?"
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)‘Man ban’I’m sure readers will join me in thinking that Princeton University has gone a bridge too far with guidelines on gendered pronouns and male-leaning words (“The Princeton ‘man ban,’” Fundamentally Freund, September 1). If this is the case and must be adhered to, how about changing Princeton to Printon? The university just provided wonderful material for the students’ end-of-year comedy show.JUDITH LUDERRosh PinaTo be entirely politically correct, how do we refer to the British mandate for Palestine? Perhaps the English city of Manchester should change its name. Any suggestions?MEIR FACTORBeitar IllitThey’ll listen upWith regard to “Rebuilding Yazidi life after ISIS” (Comment & Features, September 1), Nasir Pasha Khalaf’s impassioned cry for help from the international community for the Yazidi people will fall on deaf ears.I have a suggestion for him, and that is to rename Sinjar. Call it Gaza. Rename the Yazidis and call them Palestinians, and apply to UNRWA. Then stand back and watch how the UN and the countries of Europe line up to pour untold wealth into the Yazidis’ hands and supply them with free housing.
CYRIL ATKINSBeit ShemeshBusiness and war The “behind the curtain” reason the EU slapped Apple with a $14.5 billion tax fine (“Apple’s $14.5 billion EU tax bill highlights overseas earnings hoard,” Business & Finance, September 1) is as simple as the rules we learned in kindergarten: You hit me, I hit you! Over the past couple of years, the US Treasury and Justice Department have been hell-bent on penalizing European banks with billions in fines for unethical money laundering and the funding of terrorism. It’s no wonder the EU decided to hit back at one of the biggest US companies there.If it doesn’t get its money back from Apple, the EU is also targeting Google, Amazon, McDonalds and Starbucks. As an added bonus, it gets to punish the silly British voters for Brexit by picking on Ireland for its discount- rate corporate taxes.To paraphrase Von Clausewitz, business is the continuation of war by other means.SY GOTTLIEBJerusalemThe writer is a business course instructor at Bar-Ilan University.Pardo’s assessmentThe statement by Tamir Pardo (“Ex-Mossad chief Pardo: Civil war is greater threat than Iran,” August 31) is a revelation that should leave Israelis quaking at their knees.Do our leaders want to encourage us to leave the country? Is this the type of wake-up call they need to bring them to their senses? It is high time for our leaders to get their act together. If such an assessment – from an ex-Mossad leader – is true, God help us!ISSY RIEBACKKfar YonaDrip-feed PRAlthough I often don’t agree with Shmuley Boteach, his latest column (“Israelis seem blind to the seriousness of BDS,” No Holds Barred, August 30) moved me to write you.For more years than I remember, I have tried to advocate the dire necessity to create good PR abroad by Israel and Israelis.However, it has mostly fallen on deaf ears, with comments that the world is biased already and Israelis really don’t care what people think of them.However, PR – good and bad – most undoubtedly influences public opinion. Unfortunately, a negative perception always has a much stronger psychological impact and resilience than one that is positive.Politicians, being politicians, are swayed by public opinion, as are many decision-makers.Many of the leading PR brains in the world, like the brothers Charles and Maurice Saatchi, and Martin Sorrell, are Jewish.Surely, they and others could be galvanized into action to create a slow and subtle PR campaign, drip-feeding the world with all the very good things for which Israel can be proud?LAUREL HERMANLondon Hire us instead! In reference to “Release Israel’s hidden tech manpower potential” by Stuart Hershkowitz (Business & Finance, August 30), besides so many women entering the sector, Israel wants to import hi-tech workers from foreign countries. Why? I cannot obtain a job in Israel. I am 50 years old, born in America.I have a masters degree in systems engineering, with years of experience. But every time I apply for a job, when the subject of my age comes up, my CV immediately goes into the trash.Many of us who made aliya via Nefesh B’Nefesh are facing the same stone wall. Instead of offering hi-tech jobs to imported workers, give them to us! Too many of us are returning to the old country because we cannot find employment here Israel. Is this what Israel wants?CHARLIE HERMANJerusalem Summer reading Jeff Barak (“What are you reading this summer?” Reality Check, August 29) is entitled to his personal opinion about the truth of the Bible, but he isn’t entitled to make ignorant assertions about haredi yeshivot.Saying that yeshiva students are taking a break from ‘the rigors of avoiding army service and work” is mean-spirited – and plain wrong. Yeshiva study is nothing if not rigorous. More than 12 hours daily of intensive concentration, grappling with one of the most complex legal codes and interacting with intellects like Maimonides – that’s yeshiva! So a note to you, Jeff: Instead of criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his intellectual pretensions, go one better. Add a page of Talmud to your own summer reading. It’s not as light as the fiction you’re getting, but it’s certainly more rigorous.GEDALIA GUTTENTAGJerusalem Greek lesson With regard to “The reluctant warrior” (Frontlines, August 26), why would the Israeli security establishment fondly remember Barack Obama, the US president who supports the Muslim Brotherhood and capitulated to Iran? Why would Americans, for that matter, remember him any better when he, along with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, turned the US into a kakistocracy? Kakistocracy comes from the ancient Greek (kákistos – worst, superlative of kakós – bad; and kratia – power, rule, government).This is government under the control of a nation’s worst or least-qualified citizens.MLADEN ANDRIJASEVICBeersheba Reason for adorationIn “Why Western leftists adore right-wing religious extremists abroad” (Terra Incognita, August 2), Seth J. Frantzman calls attention to an obvious problem, but doesn’t really answer the question posed in the headline.To understand the answer, one must realize that liberals and leftists aren’t the same people.Liberals believe in trying new ideas to see what makes the situation better. They stick with what works, and try something else if it doesn’t. Leftists aren’t so much interested in particular policies or whether what they advocate accomplishes anything; their concern is what brings them ever more power.Within western societies, the espousal of liberal ideas is often helpful. But totalitarian societies abroad have already attained the power that leftists seek for themselves, and thus draw leftists’ admiration.Entities that seek power for themselves invariably focus this power on a small elite and, within that elite, on a single leader.This leader is often an aspiring dictator, or perhaps already is one; that frees him or her to do whatever he or she pleases so as to demonstrate how much power he or she has.The consequences for the people they rule – not govern – is good or bad, depending on what policies the leader chooses to pursue.YALE ZUSSMANFramingham, Massachusetts
