J.Post March 23: BDS - Wrong Prescription, Wrong Diagnosis

Reader James Adler leaves us with the impression that he sleeps very well now that he has concluded that he possesses the formula for ending the BDS movement and resolving the Arab-Israel conflict (“Rx for BDS,” Letters, March 20). To achieve this state of bliss, all Israel must do is “cease settlement expansion and end the occupation.”

It is worthy to note that when Adler iterates what Israel must do, he provides not even the slightest hint as to any obligations or requirements that are expected of the Palestinian side in order to reach this messianic goal. Some points of reality that he might want to consider are: 

1. The state of Israel is surrounded by hate and enmity, and the corrupt Palestinian Authority is engaged in active anti-Israel incitement in its educational system and mosques, so that the relinquishing of any territory is not doable now or in the foreseeable future. We have witnessed the results of our unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, where we were repaid with thousands of rockets.

2. The primary interest of the PA and its partner, Hamas, is not a state of their own, but the elimination of the State of Israel.

3. The discomfort of checkpoints is not the cause of terrorism. Terrorism demands the security need for checkpoints.

4. The settlements and occupation are not the cause of BDS, as attempts to boycott Israel have been a tool of Israel-haters ever since the state’s establishment.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petah Tikva 

(You can read Adler's response here.)

[Image credit: Flickr user claudia gabriela marques vieira]

J.Post May 29: American Jewish organizations divest from J Street

Sir, – Susan Hattis Rolef (“The crisis in Israel-American Jewry relations,” Think About It, May 26) complains that J Street was not accepted for membership by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

She insidiously implies that the vote was somehow controlled by the inclinations of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She also makes the unsubstantiated claim that the rejection “does not represent what a majority of American Jews feels,” but fails to mention that J Street’s application was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the conference’s membership, all of which are American organizations.

The correctness and wisdom of the decision unfortunately escapes Ms. Rolef, who fails to appreciate the difference between the expression of variant views and their translation into deeds, like the encouragement of BDS activities or the lobbying of Congress against increasing sanctions on Iran. You cannot be “pro-Israel” and at the same time support programs that are clearly injurious to its well-being and security.

Much of her concerns would disappear rather quickly if Israel were to receive millions of American olim, who could then participate in totally free and democratic elections and thus influence change in the direction that suits her.

ZEV CHAMUDOT 

Petah Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user Takver]