August 11: Jerusalem Norway and the Post

Credit goes to Glick for sticking to her guns and not caving into pressure from the Post or the Norwegians to apologize for her views.

By JERUSALEM POST READERS
letters (photo credit: JP)
letters
(photo credit: JP)
Glad to be of help
Sir, - I agree with Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon that Turkey’s demand for an apology for the Mavi Marmara incident is “chutzpah” (“Ya’alon: ‘Marmara’ apology won’t mend relations with Ankara,” August 9).
Blogger Michael Rubin recently compared it “to a burglar demanding compensation for being cut by broken glass during a break-in.” I would only add that Ankara’s third demand, that Israel lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip, is like asking a homeowner leave his windows open to facilitate future robberies.
DANIEL CHERTOF

Jerusalem Norway and the Post
Sir, – Caroline B. Glick’s “Norway’s Jewish problem” (Our World, August 9) was superbly written and expresses perfectly the hypocrisy with which many of the world’s liberal governments clearly practice anti- Semitic views.
This Jerusalem Post columnist has a reputation for unveiling these practices and it is for that reason that she and others like her have been targeted. Credit goes to Glick for sticking to her guns and not caving into pressure from the Post or the Norwegians to apologize for her views.
I would like to encourage her to continue speaking her mind, as it is obviously a mind that sees clearly what many of us would rather ignore.
MEIRA OVED
Jerusalem
Sir, – Caroline Glick not only can’t stop blaming the latest victims of a major terrorist attack, but can’t stop writing about her own earlier writing about them.
She is still going on about what “propelled me to write my July 29 column, ‘Breivik and totalitarian democrats.’” So forgive me for being unable to leave that column behind either.

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In it, Glick wrote that “The Left’s attempts to link conservative writers, politicians and philosophers with Breivik are nothing new.” She continued that “the same thing happened in 1995, when the Left tried to blame rabbis and politicians for the sociopathic Yigal Amir’s assassination of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. The same thing happened in the US last summer with the Left’s insistent attempts to link the psychotic Jared Loughner, who shot congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her constituents, with Gov. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.”
But Glick omitted the elephant in the room: Why is it that it’s almost always conservatives or rightists, and hardly ever liberals or leftists, who shoot people? And why, as Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde said in his column published on the morning of the Norway attacks (“Halting the hate,” Editor’s Notes, July 22), have rightists also now made death threats against a liberal Post columnist? It seems nearly inconceivable that anyone on the Left would ever make death threats against a conservative Post columnist.
Why shouldn’t it be inconceivable against any columnist? It would be helpful if Glick used her considerable analytical skills to examine the one-sidedness of this pathology.
I wish also to thank the Post for its “Apology to Norway” (Editorial, August 5). Let us ask ourselves how many newspapers in the world would have the bravery and integrity to publish such an apology. We should be proud of this paper.
JAMES ADLER
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sir, – One can only imagine what prompted The Jerusalem Post to shamefully apologize to Norway for an act that was not even committed. None of the articles or columns in the Post during the week following the Norwegian massacre in any way justified the behavior of the lunatic mass murderer.
There were several columns, however, that questioned Norwegian government policy and suggested that Norwegians have let down their guard, creating conditions that are exploited by potential terrorists – right-wing, left-wing, Islamist or whatever.
Indeed, even the Norwegians themselves are asking the most basic question about the readiness of their security forces to handle terrorist threats.
Rather than apologizing, the Post should have demanded an apology from the Norwegian ambassador to Israel, who recently drew a disgraceful distinction between Norway and Israel, suggesting that Norway was undeservedly attacked by a terrorist whereas Israel is seen as being justifiably attacked due to the “occupation” of Palestinian territory.
Your newspaper should have called for the ambassador to be declared persona non grata until an apology was forthcoming. An ambassador, after all, speaks in the name of his government; the Post just publishes a variety of opinions.
We should be up in arms due to Norwegian trivialization of our terrorist victims, not the other way around.
GABE HARPAZ
Jerusalem
Sir, – It is almost unheard of for a newspaper in a free country to disclaim or apologize for the work of its journalists, unless that work was blatantly false or immoral (and often not even then). It was therefore painful to see your newspaper, seemingly mired in political correctness, rebuke some of its finest columnists, and in doing so undermine the paper’s journalistic integrity.
Newspapers are constantly faced with disagreement and criticism of their content, and the standard practice, yours included, is to acknowledge this by publishing an appropriate assortment of letters to the editor, or occasionally even op-ed pieces. Why didn’t you let go of the issue with the lively exchange of letters you routinely print?
BARUCH SCHMIDT
Netanya
Frequent freier
Sir, – How can it be that Honduras announced it will vote for Palestinian statehood at the UN in September? Not long ago we were given assurances by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon that “we certainly stopped the (Palestinian) momentum in Latin America.”
Ayalon specifically mentioned Honduras as one of the nations where his persuasive powers had been most effective.
It thus seems very surprising that Honduras would make such a pronouncement. I hope, at least, that Ayalon enjoyed his trips to Latin America.
LESLIE ABRAMS
Jerusalem
Empty can be good
Sir, – I must speak up on behalf of overseas property buyers who are being accused of driving up real estate prices, thereby depriving the
young of the ability to buy apartments.
In every country you have examples of prime location properties constructed in certain key areas. So it is in Israel. Here these locations are either facing the sea or in prestigious Jerusalem areas.
These wealthy property buyers pay much higher municipal taxes than the average citizen, yet they make no demand on the municipality, although they do demand that it upgrade the surrounding areas in keeping with the status of the investment.
This leads to a quality environment, including public areas, to be enjoyed by all.
True, a lot of these properties lie vacant until the owners, their friends or family can come to enjoy the use of this investment.
However, when they come, they give a much needed financial injection by adding their tourist dollars to the local and national economy. Ask the area restaurateurs, car-hire companies, gift shops and clothing stores how much this adds to their takings.
In closing, I ask one question: Would these prime locations be put to better use by downgrading the cost and quality of buildings to accommodate cheap rentals or cater to low-priced housing? I think not.

BARRY SHAW
Netanya
The writer is a real estate professional
 CORRECTION The “Cuban Five” referred to in the August 9 editorial “Gross injustice” were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States, and not as stated.


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