It is our right and duty to secure our people and land against all who would harm us.
By LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters(photo credit: REUTERS)Time has comeSir, – Regarding “Driver kills baby in Jerusalem terror attack” (October 23), this was a terrorist attack that killed a three-month-old child and seriously injured many others. It was caused by the weakness of the Netanyahu government in refusing to confront the enemies in our midst.In this instance, the enemies are Hamas and the so-called moderate Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, whose media constantly call for our destruction and tell us we have no place in this land, accusing us of atrocities that they themselves commit.They conveniently and malevolently turn the truth on its head.The time has come to take back full control over our land, including the Temple Mount and all other holy sites, making clear to the Arabs that this land belongs only to the Jewish people and there will be zero tolerance for any attacks, whether they be rock throwing or any other kind – with a shoot-to-kill policy. If this displeases Arab citizens, they will be given adequate financial assistance to leave while the terrorists are confronted and destroyed.It is our right and duty to secure our people and land against all who would harm us.This must be the last such atrocity.My heartfelt condolences go out to the parents of the dead infant, who had tried for so many years to have a baby.PHYLLIS STERN Netanya
Israel is realSir, – Elinadav Heymann is certainly right (“Settlements are a problem in the EU-Israel relationship,” Comment & Features, October 23).On the same day, you reported that a senior diplomatic official said the EU was interested in negotiating with Israel over its redlines in the West Bank, with an unstated threat of sanctions lurking in the background (“Israeli official: EU proposal to negotiate redlines is death warrant”).The fact that the area of emphasis continues to be settlement construction is a gross failure on the part of the Israeli government and its diplomatic corps. Israel is playing on the Palestinian court under Palestinian rules.What needs to be done is to totally reframe the whole debate.Discussions of settlements and boundaries should be shunted to the sidelines for a later period in favor of more basic considerations.The Palestinian Authority first and foremost must recognize and declare that Israel is a Jewish state. It must say that the right of return is no longer a part of the PA creed. The unity government with Hamas is no longer feasible until that group repeals its charter and follows this with recognition.If a two-state solution is to become a possibility, a sine qua non is the total acceptance of Israel as a reality. If that ever happens – not just in words, but in deeds – what the EU and most Israelis seek, real peace, will accompany this dramatic development.FRED EHRMAN Ra’anana/New YorkNo one would agreeSir, – Among the Palestinian demands in their draft resolution to the United Nations, which Gershon Baskin appears to endorse (“Saving the two-state solution,” Encountering Peace, October 23), is the following: “The full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying Power, from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem....”Having for many years lived in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, with family in Pisgat Ze’ev and close friends in Ramat Eshkol, East Talpiot, French Hill and Gilo, as well as in Efrat and Alon Shvut, I cannot see any of these people agreeing with Baskin’s forecast of a two-state solution as demanded by the Palestinians and supported by all the states antagonistic to Israel.Moreover, no Israeli government would ever agree to these demands.Baskin must wake up to understand the reality of Israel’s position in the world today.MYRA ZIONTel MondConfusing clarificationSir, – Your Clarification of October 23 regarding Steven Emerson’s October 17 Post article “A story of betrayal: How the US first agreed and then refused to help locate a missing IDF soldier” confused me.Are we to infer that the heading “clarification” means you no longer stand by Emerson’s article? On the other hand, if “clarification” actually denotes a clarification by the government of the United States and not by the Post, then why didn’t you publish it as a letter by the “US official” you quoted? Of course, since the US official apparently preferred to remain anonymous, that fact probably ruled out a letter to the editor.However, assuming you found the source’s statement newsworthy, shouldn’t it have been reported in a news article rather than in the letters column in the Comments & Features section?NATHAN POMERANTZRehovotThe Editor responds: Had the source been willing to say more, the Post might have presented his version of events as a news item.Commons ‘sense’Sir, – It is no wonder that Isi Leibler is disgusted with the behavior of British parliamentarians who voted for recognition of a Palestinian state (“British vote epitomizes ignorance, opportunism and malice,” Candidly Speaking, October 22).Hamas is still calling for the destruction of Israel. Palestinian negotiators have “rejected offers of 95% of the territories formerly occupied by the Jordanians” and, even though there are Arab members of Knesset, they say there will not be one single Jew in their state. Leibler says: “What is that if not ethnic cleansing?” The head of the British Labor Party, Ed Miliband, is Jewish.How could he allow such a resolution? Isi Leibler has hit the nail on the head.HILARY GATOFF Herzliya PituahSir, – In his defense of the British parliament, David Newman takes on the character of a prophet and suggests that such a state is inevitable. But he fails to note the reason it hasn’t happened yet.The Palestinians were offered statehood as well as the greatest part of Judea and Samaria by both former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert.They refused because they could not truly accept the idea of a Jewish state. Their consistent message to their own people is that the Jews of Israel are a demonic evil that must be wholly eliminated from the land.Given the attitude of the Palestinians, the meaning of a “Palestinian state” is not two states living together side by side in peace and harmony, but one judenrein Arab state. It is not simply Hamas calling for this, but Fatah, too.Newman surely does not advocate this, but at this juncture it would seem he does not understand that this is what a Palestinian state really means.SHALOM FREEDMANJerusalem‘Artistic’ speculationSir, – Opera author John Adams’s impassioned invitation (underscored by a Metropolitan Opera chorus) to “see humanity” in the terrorist gang that dumped wheel chair-bound Leon Klinghoffer into the sea, as noted in “False symmetry between perpetrator and victim” (Comment & Features, October 20) by Efraim Zuroff, ought to be further extended.How about an opera that makes the same plea for the perpetrators of any of the thousands of lynchings of African- Americans in the US between 1882 and 1948? If he looked hard enough, I’m sure Mr. Adams could find suppressed “humanity” bubbling within all these killers. Can’t we just see him rushing to compose these works? Leon Klinghoffer’s misfortune was that he was a Jew, and the killing of a Jew will always be open to “artistic” speculation.BILL MEHLMAN Efrat
