By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Jewxit: Is the clock running?In Jewxit: Could 300,000 Jews flee the UK? (June 12), Hannah Gal quotes “Jonathan” saying, “Should Corbyn win, we are selling the house and moving to Israel.” I would like to suggest that this wait-and-see attitude is fraught with danger. Jeremy Corbyn is no dope and is now forewarned. If he does get elected, it will not take him long to pass legislation preventing free transfer of capital. One will need permission to do so and most probably permission would not be forthcoming to Cohen, Abramovitch, Kadurie and many others. Better earlier than too late.DANIEL BRAUNSCHVIGJerusalemGulf score: Hole in sixRegarding “Pompeo: Iran behind tanker attacks in Gulf” (June 14), after two more oil tankers were attacked in the Middle East, this brings to six the number of oil tankers attacked by Iran.
Iran is attempting to get the United States to lift its crippling economic sanctions, which have severely restricted its oil shipments. Iran is trying to interdict oil shipments from competing countries in the region and could be trying to drive up world oil prices, but this strategy runs the risk of the US and other countries taking military action against Iran.We, and other impacted countries, should put an end to the Iranian attacks on the oil tankers by conducting mine sweeping operations in the Gulf of Oman, Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. Impacted countries should provide naval escorts to the tankers. If necessary, Iranian naval forces should be neutralized, and while at it, we could take out Iran’s strategic weapons systems.DONALD MOSKOWITZLondonderry, NHUpholding by thwartingRegarding, “Chief Justice accuses Ohana of anarchy,” and “Has Ohana’s attack on the Court poisoned the well?” (both June 14), at college they tried to teach us thick engineering students about humanities by asking, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?”I consider the assertion by the Israeli Supreme Court judges that they are upholding democracy by thwarting the will of the democratically elected government to be showing the same degree of insanity.But maybe not! The judges, like any other despots, are trying to maintain the power that they have unilaterally grasped, and who is going to take that away from them in a court of law?One of their common assertions is that, unlike politicians, judges are trained to eliminate their personal conditioning and bias and are able to deliver fair and balanced judgments.That sounds good, but again using engineering – rather than humanities – logic, one has to ask, if that is the case, then why are those in the legal profession fighting so hard against the proposal to change who elects Supreme Court judges if all judges are equally unbiased?Believing that the law trumps democracy also shows a disregard for history. Judges were complicit in Apartheid South Africa, in Jim Crow in the USA, in Nazi Germany, etc. A good record of upholding the law – but where was justice?So regarding law and justice here in Israel, I think it’s very appropriate for someone who can stand up to the power of the Supreme Court cabal to be called the Justice Minister.BOB KNIGHTModi’inBefore criticizing new acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana for saying that he would not always follow the “judgment” of the Supreme Court on matters relating to the security of the country, perhaps one should try to understand what his argument is. One may ask on what basis the Court considers that its views on what is needed to protect Israel can override those of the government. That was the case put by Ohana.The classic division of powers no longer operates in the Court’s view, as it has arrogated to itself the right, on a most flimsy ground, to interfere in matters of defense and security, with the substitution of what it believes is reasonable for what the government, on the evidence before it, considers necessary. Have we substituted the infallibility of the Court for that of the Pope?I can understand Hayut’s attack on Ohana, as she desires to maintain the supremacy of the Court. But why should The Jerusalem Post blindly follow the dictates of the Left to castigate Ohana rather than to present the matter properly?M.RABIN, LLB,LLMJerusalemFilling the vacuumThe emphatic and emotional praise with which Pastor John Hagee, devoted founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), mourned Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), and lauded the immense role he played in ensuring the welfare of the State of Israel and the Jewish People (John Hagee’s Juggernaut, May 24) is shared by many of us.As a member of the board of The Federation of Jewish Communities of the Former Soviet Union, I got to see up close the great personal sacrifice and dedication Yechiel (as he was lovingly known to so many) applied to his work – and the extraordinary results he and The Fellowship subsequently achieved for countless Jews from the former Soviet Union, both in Israel and the Diaspora.Much of Rabbi Eckstein’s work to protect our people and our Land will never be known to the public, achieved as they were quietly, behind the scenes with the sweat and tears of Rabbi Yechiel Zvi ben Shimon Leib.Many of us were concerned about the fate of The Fellowship’s support. We needn’t have been. Even while mourning her own deeply personal loss, Yechiel’s right hand woman, confidante, organizational whiz and beloved daughter Yael seamlessly and flawlessly picked up the baton, and the devoted men and women of The Fellowship responded in kind. Not only did the support for our work in the former Soviet Union not slow, but some of our communities begun receiving significantly more aid than in the past!Yael and The Fellowship similarly stepped right up to the plate after the Chabad of Poway shooting to procure the necessary funds to secure Chabad Houses, as well as after the recent brush fires and the obliteration of Mevo Modi’im to provide necessities to many families who no longer have homes and basic amenities.Like her heroic father of blessed memory, Yael fits her role and position perfectly and wears it regally and humbly. Whether presiding over the many complex and high-stakes meetings I attend, or conducting grueling travel to the distant corners of the former Soviet Union to evaluate up-close the needs of remote Jewish communities, nothing seems to phase her, no task appears too difficult.I am certain that, seeing his care, compassion and dynamism continued and increased in Yael’s leadership of the IFCJ, and recognizing that it is now one of the most impactful organizations in the Jewish world, Yechiel is smiling from his perch in Gan Eden and encouraging us, too, to be comforted in the knowledge that the strong foundations he established will be expanded on by Yael’s leadership well into the future.SHLOMI PELESThe Federation of Jewish Communities of the FSUBlockade and blockheads“Half of Israelis in favor of removing Gaza blockade” (June 13) gives us the latest “definitive” survey, run by the “Academic Institute for Structural Reforms.”With such an impressive name, and huge headline, how can you go wrong? Easy. They surveyed a (representative?) sample of 608 Jews and Arabs and on that basis came to astounding conclusions.“51% of respondents believe that Israel should care about the economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza.” Really? That makes about a busload and a half of the people who were surveyed. Here’s a great quote: “If the Israel leaders would gather their wits and urgently promote the economic rehabilitation of Gaza, the studies show that they will enjoy the support of sizeable portion of the Israeli public.” Who exactly? The same 300 or so people?The Israelis I know are much too smart to fall for this sort of nonsense. Those of us who studied history remember the Marshall Plan at the end of WW2. That was to rehabilitate the wreckage of Europe. But it was put into place only after the wreckage had been smoldering for months and the defeated Nazis knew that they had totally and spectacularly lost. My favorite quote: “Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid money, minimal reconstruction has been carried out.” Could it be that the powers that be in Gaza haven’t been dealt a defeat yet? Meanwhile, they can just pocket the money for themselves as they have been doing for years.That same wonderful article perpetrates the old disproved theory that economic hardship leads to radicalization. Please. Many of the terrorists come from middle class and even wealthy families.I am astonished that anyone would quote this stupidity as a good source of information.THELMA JACOBSONPetah TikvaBacking the boycott?Regarding “240 Israeli, Jewish academics urge against calling BDS antisemitic” (June 12), these individuals who have embraced BDS demonstrate a view of Judaism like that of their obvious historical influence, Gertrude Stein, a Jew who embraced the Vichy regime.To call BDS a “legitimate and nonviolent tool of resistance” is to myopically ignore the “success” of Joseph Goebbels and his Brownshirts, whose boycott of Jewish businesses led directly to Kristallnacht and Auschwitz.By their unconditional support of BDS, these “academics” have embraced the clarion call of BDS cofounder Omar Barghouti, who has made clear that the SOLE purpose of BDS is the “euthanasia” of Israel. A student of history, Barghouti knows full well that the Nazi T4 Euthanasiav Program was the foundation of the Final Solution of the Jews as enacted in the Wannsee Protocol in January 1942. His use of the word euthanasia is further evidence that he co-founded BDS for the sole purpose of continuing the antisemitic eliminationist mission formalized by Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann at the Wannsee Conference.Unfortunately, history makes clear that Jewish self-immolation can take many forms and intellect is no bar to its fiery result. From Gertrude Stein’s embrace of Vichy and Velodrome d’Hiver to these 240 “Jewish, Israeli academics” embracing Omar Barghouti’s euthanasia of Israel, the antisemitic genocidal boycott of Jewish businesses repeats itself, nothwithstanding perverse intellectual rationalizations to the contrary.RICHARD SHERMANMargate, FloridaNon-binding has no legal forceTovah Lazaroff (“At the UN, the battle for J’lem is eternally waged,” June 4) writes correctly that following the UN’s admittance of Israel as a member state, references to the sovereignty status of Jerusalem often go back to UN General Assembly Resolution 181 in 1947, which proposed a partition of the area marked as Mandate Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state and an international administration in Jerusalem.Therein lies the problem. Since Resolution 181 was a non-binding resolution (as was UNSC 2334 in 2016) i.e. a recommendation, it had no legal force, and with the Arab representatives rejecting the resolution, it was rendered null and void with no rights accruing to either party. Israel had and still has unabrogated rights to the land inherited from the 1922 Palestine Mandate and from the peace treaty with Jordan in 1994.Having rejected the partition plan and other peace plans before and after 1947, the Palestinians have convinced much of the world of their narrative that the rights to a state they are seeking were legally established by the UN in 1947; this is counterfactual. Whatever rights the Palestinians may have in regard to statehood they weren’t created in 1947.MELVYN LIPITCHLondon and Kiryat OnoObscure obelisk”Egyptian memorial in disrepair” (June 11) paints a dismal picture of neglect, but during the intermediate days of Passover, the memorial obelisk and even more so the adjoining commemorative park of the Ad Halom bridge were humming with visitors. During a tour of Ashdod, we were taken to the park and our guide proudly outlined the historic battle during the War of Independence as we stood beside the memorial to the fallen Israeli soldiers inside the park. According to our guide, periodic memorial ceremonies are held at the obelisk by an Egyptian delegation.DONYA MEIJERJerusalemRetaining disputed areasAmbassador David Friedman sidestepped the word trap set for him by David Halbfinger, who attempted to frame his recent interview with the ambassador around “annexation.”The disputed territories west of the Jordan River are just that – disputed, and Israel has legitimate claims to land there.In 1948, Arab armies looted and razed the entire Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City in east Jerusalem, as well as Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, among them Beit Ha’arava, Neve Yaakov, Atarot, Shaar Hagolan, Kfar Darom, Hebron and the Etzion Bloc. That is one reason why UN Resolution 242 is not specific regarding disposition of territories taken by Jordan in 1948 and returned to Israel in 1967. The intent was for the parties involved to work out mutually satisfactory arrangements. One reason that Resolution 242 allows Israel to retain parts of Judea and Samaria is that Jewish communities were located there prior to 1948.Ambassador Friedman carefully chose to use the word “retain” when responding to manipulative, misleading questions because “retain” accurately reflects well-documented historical fact and takes fairness and the complex history into account.Journalistic integrity is being replaced by a thinly veiled agenda, a very disturbing trend that does not bode well.JULIA LUTCHDavis, CA
