J.Post July 3: A Less-Than-Candid Argument For Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Sir, – In his columns, Isi Leibler can generally be counted on not only to speak candidly, but to provide his readers with thought-provoking and well balanced analyses on a variety of critical issues.

In “En route to becoming a banana republic,” (Candidly Speaking, July 11), he presents cogent and convincing arguments concerning the need for ministers to close ranks so that a unified and coherent voice emerges to represent and speak for the government of Israel. However, I feel that in one part of the column, Leibler is being less than candid and perhaps even somewhat disingenuous.

He writes that the “vast majority of Israelis support the implementation of a two-state solution – if Palestinian leaders emerge who are genuine peace partners, willing to ensure Israel’s security.”

Not only does this statement lack any evidentiary basis, it almost borders on deception. Basing the solution on this gargantuan "If" is precisely the crux of the problem and the focus of all the doubts and concerns to which Leibler seemingly objects.

The statement is comparable in its meaninglessness and insignificance to my stating that the vast majority of Israelis would lend their support for Iran’s achieving nuclear capability – if it would assure its non-use for any malevolent purpose.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva

[Image credit: thierry ehrmann]

Abbas Meets Ahmadinejad at Cairo Summit

Sir, - Forget all the rhetoric! Clear your minds of all the obfuscation! Rid yourselves of all your delusions! Open your eyes and clearly see the handwriting on the wall! Be aware of the very real and imminent danger that Israel faces.

The headlines shout "PA president meets with Iran's Ahmadinejad at Cairo Islamic summit." This was the second meeting since September, when Abbas met with the Iranian president in Tehran, at the summit of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement. Be assured that when the world's two foremost Holocaust deniers get together, it is not for any benevolent purpose. Also be totally convinced that these were not accidental meetings where the two 'happened' to bump into each other. The same is also quite clearly true of the meetings between Abbas and the Hamas leadership, wherein he desperately pleads for the unification of the two organizations.

What do Tehran and Hamas have in common? They both unabashedly, shamelessly, and publicly call for armed struggle against the State of Israel and the annihilation of the Zionist entity. Israel is very close to getting stuck on the tracks, while the alarm bells are clanging, the barriers are lowering, and the train is hurtling at a frightening speed towards our destruction.

It is about time that we face reality and recognize the true face of our enemies.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Barry Hanau]

J.Post Magazine October 26: Rifkin's Folly

Sir, - Lawrence Rifkin who labels himself a "Grumpy Old Man" has fittingly produced a most petty and pathetic article. Although recognizing Iran's existential threat to Israel as well as its serious implications for the world, he nevertheless chooses to nitpick at the nature of the illustration that Prime Mister Netanyahu presented to demonstrate the impending immediacy of the threat, and derisively titles his column "Bibi boom."

I personally found Netanyahu's illustration and explanation to be extremely clear and  most effective in demonstrating and articulating the rapidly approaching danger to Israel and the world from a nuclear armed Iran. Despite the opinions of the Twitterists quoted by Rifkin, I am sorry to say that I was unable to identify in his article anything that can be construed as being of a constructive redeeming value.

Of course if Rifkin wanted to supply his aficionados with what they would consider as packing a real wallop, I could suggest the following substitute for Netanyahu's drawing: After Netanyahu's extremely lucid review of the many attempts to destroy our people including the imminent threat by Iran, Netanyahu could have arranged with the head of the Mossad to have all the lights at the U.N. be shut and then to have a huge firecracker (once known as a cherry bomb) be exploded before the microphone, with the following results visible when the lights went on: one fourth of the assembled suffered heart attacks, one fourth sought to convert to Judaism, one fourth sullied their clothes, and the last group of representatives from Moslem countries organized violent demonstrations against American embassies because they were responsible for ridiculing the Prophet.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: DonkeyHotey]

Unwelcome Advice: Adler, From Vietnam to Iran

Sir, - James Adler of Cambridge Mass. has a gift for misapprehension, distortion and illogic which he attempts to hide by a glib quote from Thucydides.

He misapprehends the brutal reality of the continuous threats of annihilation that Iran directs against Israel and immediately upon achieving nuclear weapon capability would be converted into an attempt at Israel's complete destruction.

Adler distorts when he describes a letter as being 'decisive' simply because he approves of it, and when he states that "the only solution is diplomacy." He distorts most grossly when he describes the twenty year war in Vietnam as "an occasional miscalculation." It resulted in more than 58,000 American casualties, South Vietnamese 200,000, and North Vietman suffered over one million casualties. He further distorts by failing to mention the American debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Adler's illogic manifests itself when he urges diplomacy as the solution. Has he drawn that conclusion by the 'success' of the diplomatic efforts to halt the slaughter of 30,000 civilians in Syria? By the success of sanctions in slowing Iran's drive toward weapon capability? Does Adler have any examples where a tyrannical regime was persuaded by diplomacy? N.Korea? Pakistan? His illogic is further compounded by suggestion that Israel (the threatened party) is invited to accept Arab peace initiatives and cede territory without even a suggestion that Iran give up any of its nefarious objectives.

Israel deserves better advice!

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Ban! Ban Ki-Moon

Youtube screenshot

Sir, - Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, is an ongoing travesty, and actively demeans the high office that he holds. The United Nations whose membership is so weighted against liberal democratic regimes, is also unfortunately led by someone who evidently worships at the altar of blatant hypocrisy.

What honorable purpose can Ban claim for his attendance at the recent conference of Non-Aligned nations held in Iran? He went to Teheran in total disregard of the urgings of both the United States and Israel and thereby significantly added credence and respectability to that demonic regime. By what moral right could he dare step into a country that continues to call for the annihilation of another member state? What moral yardstick was employed when he chose by his visit to endow legitimacy to a regime that is under sanctions by the Western world for being a threat to world peace?

In addition to the above, he chooses to pontificate with perverted neutrality about the actions of Syria and Israel. His obscene myopia has him equating the butchery in Syria that has taken more than 25,000 civilian lives with Israel's measured reaction to the incessant rocket fire coming from Gaza.

With Ban Ki-Moon at the top, the optimism and hopes for a world organization that can further the cause of peace becomes increasingly more doubtful!

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Telegraph TV]

J.Post September 4: Some Shekel-Gazing

Sir, – We all owe a debt of gratitude to Greer Fay Cashman and veteran astrologer Miriam Binyamini for heralding the joyous news that a war between Israel and Iran will not take place in the foreseeable future (“War with Iran? Not in the stars,” Grapevine, August 29).

Our defense forces and home front can now relax and breathe a deep sigh of relief. The many strident opinions voiced by politicians, security personnel, theologians and philosophers surrounding the Iranian issue can now be forgotten.

However, despite our gratefulness to astrologer Binyamini for the above glad tidings, I feel she was morally remiss for not also activating her star-gazing skills for a matter of lesser importance, but still rather hurtful, when she failed to alert us to the rise of the dollar against the shekel.

Good news however, by any means, is always welcome!

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Karen Horton]

Abbas Threat to Boycott Summit in Tehran

Sir, - The Abbas threat to boycott the NAM summit in Tehran because of the invitation to Haniyeh, which he sees as a blow to the PLO's status as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, is truly ironic. God does indeed work in mysterious ways!

When one analyzes the purpose of the Abbas visit to Tehran, we find great difficulty in identifying the slightest intimations of legitimacy to any aspect of his behavior. It should be noted that his planned visit was to take place contrary to the expressed wishes of the U.S. and Israel.

What did Abbas hope to accomplish by visiting a country that is being sanctioned because of its growing threat to world peace? Why did Abbas, who claims to be Israel's partner for peace, insist on going to a place whose leadership openly calls for the annihilation of Israel? Can we see in this his own true intentions? Were the two foremost Holocaust deniers making plans for Israel's future?

Thank God for God!

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

J.Post August 13: Call for Action

Sir, – Although I sometimes disagree with some of the activities and causes that Shmuley Boteach chooses to identify with, I believe that his article, "Why I'm travelling to Rwanda" (Comment and Features, August 8) deserves the serious attention of all people of conscience.

Boteach does not only call on us to remember the horrible butchery that took place in Rwanda in 1994 when hundreds of thousands of the Tutsi tribe were literally machete hacked to death by the Hutus, he makes us aware that most nations of the world totally ignored the brutal massacres and did nothing at all to try to prevent their taking place. He specifically accuses the Clinton administration in the United States of perfidious behavior when it deliberately frustrated any attempts by the UN to interfere.

His attention to the genocide in Rwanda, however, is to alert us to the fact that there are similar atrocities taking place today, and once again the enlightened world permits itself to effectively do nothing. Boteach calls for real efforts on the political and military fronts to halt the daily slaughter by the well armed and trained Syrian army of hundreds of unarmed civilians.

We in Israel have the right to ask why the oft repeated call by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the annihilation of Israel is not in itself sufficient grounds for the expulsion of Iran from the community of nations.

Must we really wait for the bomb to drop?

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petah Tikva

[Image credit: Neil Palmer]

Time Marches On: Panetta, Netanyahu on Iran

Sir, - Thursday's front-page headline "Panetta, Netanyahu disagree on time left to stop Iran's nuclear race" is of critical importance and needs to be analyzed carefully and clearly understood, as this has existential significance for the State of Israel and perhaps for the entire world.

 

While there seems to be agreement between the United States and Israel on the need to prevent Iran from producing an actual nuclear bomb, significant differences remain about the prevention of Iran's achievement of the capability of producing a bomb if it so desired. There is in addition, disagreement about the effectiveness of sanctions in halting Iran's race toward reaching their nuclear goals. Israel is convinced that the sanctions, while having an effect, do not deter or delay Iran on its nuclear path at all, and indeed serve only to grant them time to accelerate their activities.

However when dealing with the "time left to stop Iran's nuclear race" as mentioned in the headlines, the well being of Israel requires the full recognition that it is running and being measured by two distinctly different clocks. The Israel clock marks the time it takes for Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons, while the clock in the United Sates is focused on the time left for the presidential elections.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Secretary of Defense]

Ross' Doublespeak

Sir,-- The well seasoned diplomat Dennis Ross has seemingly run out of intelligent comments pertaining to Iran, and now chooses to becloud the very critical issues with diplomatic 'doublespeak'. "It is time to shift gears in negotiations with Iran" says Ross, but goes on to suggest a program of continuing self deception and refusal to admit to the harsh reality that the gears have ground to a complete breakdown. The Iranians have quite clearly stated their refusal to accept the West's demands and just as clearly have exploited the time of these negotiations for the further development of their nuclear program.

Instead of a non-hesitant and unequivocal ultimatum to Iran to halt the enrichment program, Ross states that the "core issue" is whether Iran is going to accept some "gobbledygook" that he suggests and only then if they refuse will we know that "diplomacy is not going to work". Ross further plays with delaying tactics by stating that "at the end of the day there was no military solution to the problem". Of course by stating that he utterly destroys any reason for Iran to stop doing what it has been doing.

What Ross and all the other diplomats must finally recognize as the correct evaluation of the reality of Iran's intentions that Israel has been stating all along.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Brett Weinstein]

J.Post March 27: Back to Iran

Sir, – I was dismayed as well as perplexed when reading “1,000 march in Tel Aviv against war with Iran” (March 25). Is it felt that despite the clear evidence of Iran’s animus and belligerence toward Israel, the appropriate response is to say we love you (“Israeli couple reaches out to Iranians with a Facebook campaign of love", March 19)? The protest against Israel going to war against Iran seems rather bizarre in face of the fact that Iran repeatedly calls for the destruction of Israel and is, in reality, already responsible for acts of war and terror against it and Jews abroad. It is worth noting that there has never been, and in all likelihood never will be, a parallel march in Tehran against war with Israel.

If the purpose of the march in Tel Aviv was to reemphasize Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s declaration during the blood-soaked American Civil War that “war is hell,” a war against a nuclear-armed and crazy state of Iran would be nothing short of Armageddon and the end of civilization as we know it.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva

Brinkmanship: Netanyahu and Iran

Sir, - Susan Hattis Rolef sounds a dire warning about Netanyahu's 'brinkmanship' by stating "In the case of Israel the danger is that Iran will react irrationally, and then God save us all".

I think it is vital to point out the difference between Ms. Rolef who lectures on the Knesset, and the Prime Minister who bears the awesome responsibility for our security and welfare. Netanyahu unlike Ms. Rolef, must consider Iran's irrationality, and what then will be the dangers to Israel and to the entire western world when Iran possesses nuclear weapons.

We must indeed pray that God save us all!

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

J.Post Magazine August 12: Imam Faisal Rauf on Jewish State

Sir, - Under the guise of a soft spoken and benign demeanor, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf manages to deliver an equable but unmistakably malevolent message.

He is quite adept in avoiding answers to questions on contemporary issues.When asked about applying sanctions against Iran, he adroitly states that he is in favor of combating radicalism by strengthening the voice of moderation and peace. He provides not the slightest hint about how to do that effectively, and is seemingly oblivious of the real immediate danger that a nuclear Iran presents to the world. He clearly chooses to ignore Iran's hostility to Israel and the calls for its elimination.

When questioned about the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, the Imam states quite cunningly, "Whether the State of Israel was Jewish or Islamic would be a less relevant issue in the future". I dare say that his Muslim ethos would never permit him to insinuate the same indifference if the question was about anyone of the many Muslim states?

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva