Attacking us incessantly
Yes, with many tens of thousands of our own refugees having been forced to vacate their lives in the North, the US has the chutzpah to warn us not to overly upset Hezbollah, who in its most kind consideration has been attacking us incessantly since October 8 (“US warns Israel not to escalate Hezbollah tensions as envoy visits,” June 18).Meanwhile, the hostages in Gaza who are still alive won’t be able to survive many more days.
All that US President Biden appears to be doing is anything and everything to assist himself politically for domestic consumption in an election year. Perhaps he needs reminding that the attacks of October 7 were carried out by Hamas, a heinous terrorist entity, with the assistance of some of its constituents in Gaza.
It would therefore behoove Biden and the rest of the world to be putting more pressure on those who carried out these murderous acts, and a lot less pressure on those who suffered, and still are suffering, from those atrocities.
STEPHEN VISHNICK
Tel Aviv
Worse than the disease
Regarding “‘Jewish Israelis want all-out attack against Hezbollah’” (June 18): Unfortunately, the so-called cure would be worse than the disease. It would put every Israeli and our infrastructure in great danger. Hezbollah is far stronger militarily than Hamas. It has a vast arsenal of missiles and rockets, which are much more potent and accurate than Hamas’s.
In addition, there would be severe economic consequences for Israel and others in the world. Increased oil prices, disrupted travel routes, and decreased investor confidence could result in a recession in Israel and beyond. Israel’s credit rating has already been adversely affected due to the war in Gaza and the potential for a wider war.
In addition, attacking Hezbollah would have substantial negative environmental effects. Much energy would be needed to create war weapons and later to rebuild areas destroyed by the war. Attention would also be diverted from the urgency of addressing climate change, the greatest current threat to humanity.
Recent Israeli history has shown that there is no military solution to our conflict with the Palestinians. We must seek diplomatic solutions rather than engage in additional wars.
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ
Shoresh
Bring out the sticks
The trouble with think tanks such as the one over which Efraim Inbar presides is that they rarely come up with anything new or innovative. His latest piece for The Jerusalem Post – “Haredi draft evasion must stop” (June 17) – merely rewords arguments that he as well as other academics, pundits and media personalities have been presenting over and over again.
Not that his points are invalid; on the contrary, the allowance the haredim have been given, particularly with a war raging on seemingly endlessly, is indeed a travesty. But while he – and, of course, others – cogently explain the problem, they offer no tangible solution.
It seems, then, that if carrots won’t work, it’s time to bring out the sticks. What’s called for are biting penalties for those who avoid the responsibility of participating in the protection of their county. Unfortunately, monetary incentives and other similar rewards for those serving in combat units will not work with the haredim since they are already receiving generous government stipends.
What’s needed is some way to tear down the political firewall protecting the haredim from more even-handed conscription. Professor Inbar is hardly providing sage counsel when he argues that the Right will ultimately lose power and influence by aligning with the ultra-Orthodox leadership. Not surprisingly, he offers no model on how to painlessly achieve a separation.
BARRY NEWMAN
Ginot Shomron
Naive children
Aliza Pilichowski, mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, is a true heroine, and what she writes is always worth reading. However, in her article on the US administration’s “true goal,” she has not gone far enough (“The Biden administration’s true goal,” June 16).
Although there may still be a few naive far-Left Israelis who want to believe in the good intentions of this administration, most of us have seen it for what it is, a confused disaster. It should have become clear by now, that the real goal, navigated by former president Barack Obama, is a Palestinian state replacing Israel. Whether Jews would be allowed to remain in that fantasy-state, the Obama followers haven’t – for obvious reasons – made public.
What’s for sure is that there is absolutely no genuine intention to pursue the delusion of “two states living peacefully side-by-side.” The obsessive pursuit of the two-state delusion is only as a stepping stone to the eventual military conquering of the Jewish state.
Those who haven’t grasped that yet, are naive children living in a dream world.
JOSEPH BERGER
Netanya
No quick fix
There is no question that the disparity in military service between haredi communities and other sectors in Israel is a ticking time bomb. In the face of our unbearable losses in this war, headlines such as “Gov’t extends age for IDF reserve duty” (June 17), which equate the extension of the “burden of service” with the “blanket exemption of the ultra-Orthodox public,” exacerbate an already difficult and increasingly untenable situation.
It is clear that there is a need for more manpower in the military today, but even if all haredim would be drafted tomorrow, we would have to allocate an almost equal number of personnel for their training. Haredi youth vary in their education and experience from those who can fix a computer or phone in an instant, to those whose experience with anything technical is limited to a sister-in-law who owns a computer for her job and handles the whole family’s communication needs. Then there are those who don’t even have that connection and have never even studied technical math in school.
While there is no quick fix in sight, this disparity between those who serve and those who don’t must be resolved. However, we must be wary of fanning the flames of enmity between brother and brother, cousins and cousin. We should remember the prescient words of American president Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
MARION REISS
Beit Shemesh
Monstrous restrictions
Regarding “IDF rescues four hostages from Hamas captivity” (June 9): Had our IDF not been forced to fight with monstrous restrictions, more than any other army in the world, how many more hostages could have been released by now, and how many deaths of soldiers could have been prevented? This heroic action in broad daylight, in which unfortunately one of our soldiers was killed, involved rescuing hostages housed by Gazan civilians who were helping Hamas. This underlines the need to release our military from the obsession of not harming Gazan civilians, especially when it’s at the cost of our own soldiers’ lives.
Since the massacres by Hamas on October 7, on a scale not seen since the Holocaust, the IDF has shown tremendous restraint. Demanding that Israel fight with no collateral damage sadly gives Hamas more reason to hold out for no jail time, no punishment, and achieving a full Israeli surrender.
EDITH OGNALL
Netanya