The theme of Gershon Baskin’s column last week (“Israel – My sad home,” December 3) and his solution for making it a happier place are replete with tired clichés and patently absurd conclusions. The absurdity is compounded when one realizes that Baskin for the last several years has been repeating the same banalities over and over again, without any attempt to critically question the validity of his arguments and with his propensity for blaming only Israel for the breakdown in negotiations.
Baskin claims that he has been engaged for many years in developing educational programs between Jewish and Arab schools. I believe that it is fair to ask if he has ever examined the hate-filled anti-Israel textbooks and curricula in the Palestinian Authority educational networks? As Baskin walks fearlessly through Arab towns and cities, has he ever noticed the street signs or the stadiums that proudly bear the names of unrepentant rabid Jew-killers? As he absorbs himself in the Arabic language and culture, has he been able to discern the fanatical anti-Israel sermons being delivered in mosques or the mendacity of the fabricated libel that Israel is threatening the al-Aksa Mosque, which thereby provide poisonous reasons for their minions to go out and slaughter Jews?
ZEV CHAMUDOT
