A real genocide
Regarding “When everything is genocide, nothing is” (October 31): In the Palestinian victimhood narrative, every skinned knee is a genocide. Every raped Israeli woman is followed by false accusations that Israelis rape Palestinian women. The extent to which Israel goes to protect the lives of Gazans is ignored and denied.
The word Nakba is under perpetual revision. First it was the shame felt over little Israel defeating the combined armies of five Arab countries. Then it became the shame experienced by the establishment of a Jewish state that didn’t seem to be able to be militarily defeated, on land that the Arabs claim is theirs, and finally, the forced displacement and suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.
Logic seems not to matter. When it is pointed out that Israel has two million Arabs living in peace with the Jews, and that a new state of Palestine would, according to Palestinian leaders themselves, be judenrein, it is Israel that is the ethnic cleanser.
What is a real genocide is the death of reason, fact and language, all in the service of the Palestinians.
LARRY SHAPIROCalgary
The true intention
Regarding “Is haredi IDF draft crisis solvable?” (October 30): I would say that the answer is yes if all sides will be truthful. The haredi leadership should say publicly what many of them say privately themselves; those who don’t learn should be drafted after an agreed upon committee would approve the needed religious conditions for these future soldiers. There would be no need to include any quotas in the bill as the arrangement itself would be agreed upon.
However, the other side in this dispute must also say publicly what many of them say privately themselves; that those who do study Torah on a full-time basis shall not be drafted. If, as they argue, there are many thousands who are not in fact learning, the army has plenty of work for them.
The bottom line is that the opposition and the haredim must cooperate with one another if the true intention is to strengthen the army, and not to use this as a way to bring down the present government.
Meanwhile, with all the commotion, not one additional haredi has been drafted. Let’s be truthful.
YITZCHOK ELEFANTChief Rabbi of Dimona
Many benefits
Kudos for “Take the win” (editorial, October 31), which asserts that the “series of stunning Israeli operational successes” has weakened Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran to such an extent that Israel should “take the win” and “lock those military achievements into a diplomatic deal.” This would provide many benefits for Israel:
- There would be an end to the deaths and severe injuries of our brave Israeli soldiers, and additional Israelis would not suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from the horrible wartime events they experienced.
- Worldwide antisemitism and the current widespread criticism of Israel would likely decrease.
- The chances of a wider war, with severe consequences for Israel, would decrease,
- Our economy would have an opportunity to recover, significantly reducing the chances that our credit ratings would continue to weaken.
- Prospects for a global recession caused, for example, by attacks on oil facilities, causing a sharp rise in prices, would be significantly reduced.
- The hostages and the many displaced Israelis in the North and South would be able to return to their homes
- The chances of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations, with the many positives which that would bring, would be increased.
With so many benefits, we must take advantage of this opportunity. We might not get another chance.
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZShoresh
Time to press on
Regarding “Knesset overwhelmingly votes to ban UNRWA, defying international pressure” (October 29): During this war, the agency has been fully exposed as to its widespread direct and indirect support of terror emanating from Hamas. From its inception in 1949, it was set up to make sure that the so-called Palestinian refugee problem would never go away. Starting at around 750,000, the refugees now number 5.9 million, and with no hope for any change in direction. With Israel now getting in sight of the end of the current war with Iran, now is the time to press on.
The fact that so many foreign ministers of governments hate us shows that we are on the right track. Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK have all ganged up to work against Israel. The US, on the other hand, in the waning days of the Biden administration, sees it “only” as a problem of the provision of humanitarian aid and the services in Gaza which would normally be provided to citizens by its government, but in which the ruling Hamas has no interest.
Still, more than all these important concerns, the most crucial one is UNRWA’s continued indoctrination of its youth, under the guise of education. At the end of World War II, the allies insisted that the German and Japanese education systems be taken away from their governments for a period of 20 years, in order to change the course of indoctrination. The same needs to happen in Gaza. Otherwise, we will only see the development of new terrorists in their multi-generational war against us, with many more October 7s to come.
Israel needs to continue with its strong action, or to quote Joe Biden – to “take the win.”
DAVID SMITHRa’anana