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 February 23: Moral delusions & biblical distortions

While I join Dov Lipman in his totally justified condemnation of Deputy Minister Meir Porush for his boorish, ugly, and polarizing remarks concerning the Women of the Wall (“Fire Deputy Minister Porush,” Observations, February 5), I am profoundly disturbed by the contrasting example he offers.

Lipman passionately endorses the reactions of Michal and Shivi Froman after the pregnant Michal was stabbed by a 15-year-old Palestinian terrorist. Both husband and wife declared that they had not changed their views, adding: “There has to be recognition of the other.... We must make their lives easier and help them develop economically.”

Sadly, the Fromans’ lack of hatred and harshness reflects an apparent inability to express their absolute loathing of the savage beast that committed this atrocity. Are these proclamations of moral confusion deserving of Lipman’s unstinting admiration? I think not! We are being placed in a confessional and are hearing egotistical declarations of moral delusions that are rooted in moral cowardice. The Fromans are, in reality, fearful of recognizing the “other” because they would be confronted by a demonic monstrosity disguised as a humanoid and driven by a legacy of over 2,000 years of ingrained hatred of the Jew.

Such a monstrosity must be met only by utter revulsion and consummate detestation. Its evil culture of death defies and betrays all human attempts at understanding.

I am also unfortunately led to believe that Lipman himself shares some of this moral confusion when he resorts to biblical distortions in attempting to vindicate the Fromans’ distinctly non-Jewish reaction to conspicuous evil. By some bizarre exegetical casuistry, he attempts to relate to the Torah’s command to be kind to the stranger.

Let the reader be assured that the Divine wisdom that requires the utmost concern for the stranger, widow, and orphan does not include in that grouping the ogre who wants to take your life.

Zev Chamudot

Petach Tikvah

J.Post December 7: Baskin's Israel-Blaming Bias

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

Petah Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user Diego Sandoval]

J.Post November 9: Editorial Distortions

Sir, - Your editorial "Terrorism, not terror" (October 29) has several unforgivable distortions that raise serious doubts about the objectivity of its writer. 

An editorial that justly portrays the murderous intentions and actions of the Palestinians and then devotes half of its content to the supposed sins of the Jews, settlers, rabbis, and crazies leaves the definite impression that there is moral equivalency between the two sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This is one of the major distortions that has already been adopted by the UN, the United States, and, above all, the murderous terrorists themselves. 

It must be made quite clear to all that although we have some extremists in our midst, the murder of innocent Arabs never was and never will be part of our national program. It does not appear in our textbooks, We do not preach it in our synagogues, we do not name streets or stadiums after our 'terrorists' and there is no Jewish mother praying for the death of her son in order to reward him with the services of heavenly virgins. Not only do our people not joyfully celebrate the ugly acts of our miscreants, there is overwhelming national and individual condemnation of their behavior. 

Another distortion in the editorial is the identification of the masked attacker of Rabbi Arik Ascherman as a "knife wielding settler," when it is still unknown who the attacker was. It would be equally unjustified to distort the presence Rabbi Ascherman at the scene for the purpose of aiding Arabs in their attacks against Jewish farmers.

The most disgraceful and unforgivable portion of the editorial, however, is that which contains completely unsubstantiated accusations against the national government, settlers, and the IDF: 

"This is shamefully obvious in the official response to the persecution of Palestinian farmers by settlers, who deny them access to their to their farmland under the watchful eyes of nonintervening IDF troops."

These distortions serve to add fuel to the unconstrained hatred that surrounds our beleaguered state.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

The racist attacks by against the IDF

Sir, - James Adler of Cambridge, Mass. has apparently chosen to abandon his persistent simplistic mantra of solely blaming Israel (because of what he terms the "occupation") for all the ills of the Middle East. He now expands his virulent anti-Israel doctrine by descending into the slime of pernicious accusations of Israel's indifference to the spilling of innocent blood as well as racial bigotry relating to the war in Gaza.

If it is at all possible for Adler to cleanse his glasses from the accumulated muck, I would like to acquaint him with reality by means of a number of well-documented facts.

It is Hamas that has in its manifesto the call to annihilate the state of Israel, and periodically attempts to do so. The lengthy underground tunnels they have dug from Gaza that extend into several civilian communities in Israel have no purpose other than mass murder and kidnappings. The thousands of rockets fired into Israel were designed to cause massive civilian casualties, and would have if not for divine providence and brilliant defense technology. All this despite the fact that Gaza has not been occupied since 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew.

Israel's desire not to harm innocents has been well proven by the warnings of imminent attacks supplied to the civilians of Gaza, and the military orders to avoid civilian casualties even though doing so often places the lives of Israeli soldiers in jeopardy. The morality of the IDF is second to none!

IDF delegation to India, 2001

Adler's references to the "brown" color of the victims, and his less than subtle accusation that color is a factor in Israel's military conduct, is nothing less than a disgusting attempt at barely veiled anti-semitism. 

Would it please Adler to learn that a goodly proportion of Israel's fallen soldiers and officers were of Ethiopian, Yemenite, Iraqi and Moroccan origin, and that Israel is one of the few places that enjoys a true ingathering of the exiles from every region in the world?

Evidently, Cambridge is not completely free of bigots.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Israel Defense Forces]

The cost of fighting?

Sir, - After a careful reading of Alexander Yakobson's article "The cost of fighting, the cost of not fighting," the best I can say is that he possibly means well but nevertheless is seriously mistaken.

He begins by providing the reader with a seemingly well balanced and judicious argument, in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict, for the need to carefully weigh the gains of taking a given action against the losses suffered if the action is not taken. Unfortunately his judiciousness becomes suspect when he permits his own biases and unsupported assumptions to seep through when describing the posture of Netanyahu, settlers, and the entire Right in regard to the two-state solution.

Without any equivocation Yakobson proclaims and accuses that "the problem with the right-wing objection to partition is that the Right does not consider the costs and dangers of non-partition." Yakobson arbitrarily chooses the pro-partition platform and pontifically pronounces "non-partition is, in the long run, fatal, because if there are not two states in this land, sooner or later there will be one state here, and this state will not be Israel."

I vigorously beg to differ. Am yisrael chai!

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Israel Defense Forces]

The difference between good and evil

Sir, - "A tale of two narratives" by Yehuda Hakohen provides the reader with a prime example of bunkum hiding under a garb of pseudo-rationality. Not only does Hakohen suggest that it is important to hear both sides of a story – which is perhaps appropriate advice for a judge faced with two disputants – but he appears to be insisting that each side has equal legitimacy, which brands Hakohen a moral pygmy.

He feeds us his own gibberish of what must be done in order to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

"In order to solve a conflict like ours, it is necessary to step into the reality of the 'other'– to see the world and events from his subjective perspective so that we can reconcile his reality with our own and merge these opposing versions of events into a bigger holistic truth inclusive enough to encompass both ostensibly rival truths." 

Hakohen is evidently unable or afraid to distinguish between good and evil and therefore attempts to recruit us into his moral cowardice.

It is both impossible and morally abhorrent to attempt to merge the Mein Kampf narrative within any conceivable narrative of the Jewish people. It is equally impossible to merge the continuous call by Hamas for the annihilation of the Zionist entity with our determination to build our lives in our ancient homeland.

Zev Chamudot

Petach Tikvah

[Bottom image credit: Israel Defense Forces]

Don't Downplay Stone Throwers on Mount of Olives!

Sir, - With her article ("Food for the soul and the stomach," J.Post, July 10) Greer Fay Cashman has performed a genuine disservice to all who are concerned with protecting the Mount of Olives from the continuing waves of Arab violence and with the preservation of Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem.

The cemetery is the oldest burial place of Jews and has been in use as a most honored and cherished choice for Jewish internment going back 3,000 years. The site has suffered major problems of tombstone desecration and ongoing attacks by Arab stone throwers against mourners who come to bury their dead and grapple with the intensity of their grief.

Cashman describes a scenario where relatives and friends have gathered together for the consecration of the tombstone at the grave of the late Arthur Abrahams but were unable to do so. Cashman attributes this inability to the escalation of violence in Jerusalem, "coupled with stories that visitors to the Mount of Olives risk being stoned by wayward youth."

For shame Greer! These are not merely stories, and the Arab stone throwers are certainly not merely wayward youth, but genuine terrorists who aim to inflict real pain and sometimes death on Jews who have done them no harm, merely because they are Jews!

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user Fazia_]

J.Post July 6: Reader's Response to "The Sinister Side of Palestinian 'Heritage'"

The following letter written by Sydney L. Kasten was published today in the Jerusalem Post:

Sir, – Reader Zev Chamudot’s letter “Insidious villainy” (July 1) and its mention of the security barrier that “just happens to be routed” through the Palestinian village of Battir, forces me to respond.

Click here to read the rest.

Who's right? Tell us what YOU think.

[Image credit: Justin McIntosh]

Zoabi: The Kidnappers are not Terrorists

Sir, - Although I hold Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in the highest regard and consider him to be one of the most gifted and suitable occupants of high public office, I find myself in profound disagreement with his judgment regarding MK Haneen Zoabi. I was deeply disturbed to read the headline "Edelstein rejects calls to punish Zoabi for saying kidnappers are not terrorists."

While one may agree or disagree about the parameters of free speech, Zoabi, while serving as a member of Knesset, has time and again tested those limits with anti-Israel diatribes. She has clearly demonstrated her willingness to translate words into deeds by her participation in the attempt to violate the Israeli blockade of Gaza that resulted in the infamous Marmara Affair.

In her latest heinous offense she not only declared that the kidnappers were non-terrorists, but she offered to the world a 'justification' of terrorism. Since, she explained, the Palestinians are so desperate, they have no means of gaining reprieve for their plight other than through these extreme acts of despair.

Not only does Zoabi do violence to the truth about the condition of Arab lives alongside the State of Israel, she offers this as an excuse for the kidnapping of innocent civilian teenagers. It's obvious that her same pernicious reasoning justifies rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and Hamas's call to wipe Israel off the map!

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva  

[Image credit: Sergio Yahni]

J.Post Magazine April 18: Lies of the Pathetic Palestinian Leadership

Sir, - The heroic attempt to portray Dr. Mustafa Barghouti as a judicious, non-bigoted Palestinian leader is rendered absurd by his own statements and positions quoted in the article by Mati Wagner. What emerges very vividly is his insistence on repeating the same tired mantra that places the blame for the Palestinian's lack of significant achievements in the establishment of state-building institutions, as well as their lack of progress in the betterment of living standards for their people, solely on the state of Israel. 

Dr. Barghouti's intellectual integrity is seriously challenged by his seemingly total obliviousness to the history of the serious attempts by Palestinians and several Arab armies to obliterate the Jewish state. When questioned whether a reconciliation with Hamas would require the abandonment of their official platform that calls for the violent destruction of the State of Israel, he responds with the insensate and ludicrous statement, "Listen, this sort of approach just makes obstacles; it puts the carriage before the horse."

Barghouti aligns himself with the arch Israel-bashers when he emphatically asserts that what is happening in the West Bank is akin to apartheid. He defends this description by use of unconscionable lies concerning water allocation, claiming that Palestinians receive significantly less water than Israelis. While this canard has been totally exposed by each and every non-hostile, responsible water authority, the Palestinian's grossly irresponsible wastage and stealing of water, along with their refusal to construct vitally-needed sewage treatment plants despite more than ample international funding, is all attributed to Israeli obstacles and red tape.

The tragic irreconcilability of our positions can be clearly understood when reading Barghouti's statement: "I always said that the Israelis have taken the risks of wars and violence for 65 years. It is time for Israel to take the risk of peace." 

Please understand that Israelis have not 'taken' the risks of wars, Israelis have suffered the risks of wars that were forced upon them by an implacable enemy and those risks have increased dramatically when using honest lenses to view the bloodletting that is taking place on all our borders.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Wikimedia user Aude]

A Two-State Non-Solution

Sir, - Several aspects of Susan Hattis Rolef's article "Netanyahu and the two-state solution" I found to be deeply troubling. While her concern for the confusion caused to her acquaintance from abroad by the disagreements within the government regarding the two-state solution may be genuine, she seems to be totally oblivious of the very real threats to Israel's security and well-being that the implementation of this 'solution' would engender.

I find it quite disturbing that the 'retired Knesset employee' is so quick to mimic the opinions of some acquaintance while disdainfully dismissing the validity of any and all governmental concerns. I personally reject the two-state solution for the following reasons:

• The reality of the hostility and instability that surrounds us does not leave room for a non-hostile Palestinian state. 
• The 'borders of Auschwitz' that existed in 1967 are even less defensible today with the readily available arsenals of offensive weaponry and rockets. 
• While the peace negotiations are being conducted, there is a deliberate, continuous flow of incitement and vicious anti-Israel invective that emerges from P.A. schools and mosques. 
• The continuous heroization of terrorists being vigorously conducted by the P.A.
• The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza appears to have only whetted the murderous appetite of Hamas, who openly declare their non-recognition of Israel and anti-Israel hostility.

Rolef also much too quickly accepts a distorted interpretation about the 'illegality' of the settlements and seems totally unwilling to give any credence to the many legal opinions that clearly establish our right to settle in Judae and Samaria. In short, I would much appreciate it if Rolef would for once use her writing skills to support the democratically elected 'good guys' -- and leave the Israel bashing to those too anxious to take up their cause.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikvah

Shelly Yachimovich and the Irrationality of Protecting Jewish Lives

Sir, - The murders of two IDF soldiers in two days prompted several ministers and MK's to petition Prime Minister Netanyahu to reconsider the further release of Palestinian prisoners. Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich argued vehemently against doing so, and added that Netanyahu's decision to permit Jewish tenants to move into a building legally owned by them was 'irrational' and designed to stop the peace process.

Of course Yacimovich's thinking seems to be telling us not to become overly upset with the murder of two soldiers, in view of her unhesitant and unmitigated backing for the release of hundreds of terrorist prisoners responsible for the death of many times that number of innocent victims. However, when she accuses Netanyahu of acting irrationally, I would like to try to fathom what takes place within her cerebral eco-system that can find rationality in the release of these low-lifes before any declaration by the PA authorities that they absolutely and unequivocally disavow terrorism, before they act accordingly by halting their heroization of terrorists, before they revamp their hate filled educational structure, and before they once and for all brand it with the stigma of religious and moral repugnance that it deserves.

Shelly quite often parrots the mantra that all the above is necessary in order to assure the continuation of the PA-Israel negotiations so that Israel will remain a Jewish and democratic state. However, in a joint interview this past week of Yacimovich and Likud Minister Yisrael Katz by Dan Margalith, when asked what should be the proper reaction to these vile murders, Yachimovich asserted that we can expect terror to continue even after her coveted peace agreement is reached.

In reaction to that statement and in the name of national sanity, if given the choice between a Jewish and democratic state faced with ongoing terror after the signing of a peace agreement, and a Jewish state that will see as its most important duty the elimination of terror and the protection of Jewish lives, let us indeed choose life.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Ze'ev Yanay]

Keep Jerusalem UNITED, Keep Jerusalem JEWISH

Sir, - Gershon Baskin's article is basically another one of Baskin's attempts to deceive and thereby influence the Israeli public towards accepting his perverse pro-Palestinian position.

The attempt at deception begins with the very title "Negotiating Jerusalem, negotiating peace" -- by which Baskin means that he would like to see Israel totally capitulate to the Palestinian position and accept their claims of entitlement to the Old City and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Presently Jerusalem is united under Israeli sovereignty, so the P.A. has nothing to offer at the so-called negotiations other than what exists in Baskin's delusional scenarios.

United Jerusalem as Israel's capital affords unprecedented equal rights and access to all its citizens, as well as full freedom of worship. Throughout the millennia it has never served as the political or religious capital of any sovereign entity other than that established by the ancient Davidic Kingdom or the modern state of Israel. 

The hundreds of years of Muslim dominance in this region have always placed the capital cities in Damascus, Baghdad, or Istanbul -- but never in Jerusalem. Baskin has the effrontery to cite Jordan's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1949, when Jordan joined several other Arab countries in their attack to eliminate the new state of Israel. In the 19 years of Hashemite rule, Jerusalem was never considered its capital. It did, however, manage to divide the city by barbed wire fences and walls that cut off the Old City and the Jewish holy places from Israel and the Jewish world.

Baskin's unmitigated gall continues with his positive approval of the Palestinian position as including the entire Old City of Jerusalem including the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish holy places. He is, however, willing to accept a division of the Old City that would leave the Jewish Quarter under Israeli sovereignty while the other three quarters -- Armenian, Christian, and Muslim -- would come under Palestinian sovereignty. Under what flight of fancy should the Armenian or Christian quarters be turned over to Muslim rule, when faced with indisputable evidence of deliberate Muslim deprivation of the Christian community of Bethlehem and active anti-Christian behavior throughout the Muslim world???

Baskin is most treacherous when trying to tackle the question of the Temple Mount. He makes himself completely oblivious to the harsh reality where the Muslim Waqf absolutely forbids Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. A Jew is presently not permitted to move his lips without being stopped by Muslim officers. If this shamefully abusive denial of freedom of worship for Jews exists while under general Israeli sovereignty, can any honest and sane person other than Baskin truly believe it would change under Muslim sovereignty? I challenge Baskin to find any recognized Muslim religious authority that would back his claim that Muslim Sharia law permits the Jews to pray in the Temple Mount mosques. 

He goes on, cynically finding support for his anti-Jewish bias in some rabbis from the orthodox world who oppose praying on the Temple Mount. Their objection is based on the state of sanctity of the Temple Mount and their zealous concern that this sanctity not be defiled. He obviously does not understand that their opposition would have to include Muslims as well.

Finally, Baskin -- who is unable to offer any coherent reasons for denying the status quo -- asks the Jews to accept his Palestinian program and wait for the Messiah to solve the difficulties inherent in his myopic views. I too suggest that we all await the coming of the Messiah, but until then a united Jerusalem should and must remain the capital of Israel.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Lower image credit: Wikimedia user Ori~]

Releasing Palestinian Terrorists -- Senseless, Revolting, Insensitive

Sir, - The unbearable pressure to make additional gestures to the P.A. that resulted in the decision to release terrorist murderers brought with it a great deal of humiliation and heartbreak to Israelis. Once that inexpedient decision has been made, however, the people of Israel have every right to expect their government to be exacting in their demands that the Palestinians scrupulously observe the reciprocity requirements built into the fabric of that resolution.

This is clearly not happening.

The decision was predicated on the basis that prisoners would be released "according to progress in the talks." The patent absurdity of the government's behavior was revealed on Sunday, when Netanyahu sent a letter to Kerry complaining about Palestinian incitement, and on Monday a ministerial committee prepared a list of the first batch of terrorists to be freed. If indeed there is continued incitement, it is then both senseless and revolting to release these savages before the incitement is brought to an end.

Coinciding with the above, we read about the appalling behavior of Justice Grunis as described in front page headlines , "Grunis leads walkout by justices on terror victims families." This not only reinforces the problematics inherent in the decision but further exacerbates the problem by revealing a most shocking insensitivity and impatience by leading members of our judiciary to the genuine cries of pain and anguish of the families of the terror victims.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Amir Farshad Ebrahimi]

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]

James Adler vs. Martin Sherman: The Difference Between Light and Darkness

Sir, - In the Talmud, the Rabbis explain the necessity of having the Havdallah prayer placed in the midst of the fourth blessing in the Amidah portion of the evening service that marks the end of the Sabbath. It is the fourth blessing in which we express our gratitude to the Almighty for granting us intelligence and knowledge, and it is precisely those gifts that enable us to distinguish between the holy and the profane, light and darkness, Israel and the nations, the seventh day and the six days of labor.

James Adler asks why the Jerusalem Post continues to print the articles of Martin Sherman whom he labels an extremist. Adler himself, however, has displayed a remarkable, Pavlovian persistence in blaming Israel for all the ills of the Middle East. There has never been any indication that he possesses the ability to distinguish between light and darkness, truth and fiction, or reality and propaganda when writing about the Arab-Israel conflict. There has never been any evidence of his equanimity being at all upset by terrorist atrocities, hundreds of rockets falling on Israel's civilian population, vicious anti-Israel messages of hate emerging from PA schools and mosques, massacres of innocents in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon, and turmoil in the whole region. One honestly wonders why his thoughtless letters get published in the Jerusalem Post.

Adler apparently cannot tell the difference between the support and justification of terrorism provided by Larry Derfner and the noncoercive, economically incentivized emigration proposed by Martin Sherman. The former supports death, while the latter attempts to find non-violent solutions to deal with the realities of the issues. His articles are analytical , deeply insightful, and well-argued, while the letters of James Adler are completely inane and offensive.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Alexander Smolianitski]

Honoring Jimmy Carter: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Sir, - Letter writer Naftali Bertram does a genuine disservice to those who are concerned with Israel's well being and security. He does so in a letter to the Jerusalem Post wherein he sows the seeds of moral confusion by justifying the award to Jimmy Carter for conflict resolution by students of the Cardozo Law School of Yeshiva University. Bertram correctly cites Carter's achievement in helping to engineer the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in the late 1970's, but rather blithely dismisses Carter's subsequent record of gross antisemitism and his insistent malicious slander of Israel as being in the forefront of practitioners of apartheid in the world.

The dilemma concerning the value of citing a positive achievement of a person who is a moral degenerate is not new. Most decent people are willing to see the achievement as secondary if it means dignifying the persons moral dissonance. The state of Israel is often confronted with the problem of playing Wagner, whose musical genius is undeniable but when weighed against the competing undeniable fact that he was one of Hitler's main ideologues, the decision to forego the music rather than dignify the ideology is unquestionably correct. Would it make any moral sense to praise Hitler for the fact that he got German trains to run on time, or for his oratorical skills, when we are confronted by his unprecedented bestiality and mania that brought death to millions?

Jimmy Carter is received today in the world's capitols, where he unhesitatingly preaches his hate-filled, anti-Israel apartheid gospel and whose doctrine is the most quoted by the proponents of divestment. He travels the world generating enormous malice to Israel and further exposes Israel to those who threaten her security. Does Jimmy Carter really deserve an award?

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Jews on Temple Mount Expose Meretz Hypocrisy

Sir, - It is rather ironic that the subject of prayer invites such contradictory and hypocritical responses from Meretz MKs. At least two members of the Knesset from Meretz were among the most demanding and outspoken of those present when the "Women of the Wall," in defiance of Supreme Court decisions and police regulations, chose to conduct their Rosh Chodesh Prayers at the Kotel. They certainly related with complete disdain and total rejection of any claims that their behavior would perhaps stimulate violent reactions from the haredi groups that pray at the Wall on a daily basis and maintain established traditions of behavior and prayer that have been in practice for centuries.

How blatantly and disgustingly different is their reaction to the wish of the new head of the Knesset Interior C'tee MK Miri Regev who states that Jews should be able to pray at the Temple Mount. This would rectify the patently absurd and maliciously discriminatory policy of the Muslim Wakf that presently dictates the arrest of Jews who dare to even move their lips in silent prayer on the Temple Mount. Despite the complete justice and fairness of Regev's attempts to establish a policy of sanity on the Temple Mount, Meretz MK Michal Roisin vehemently states her objection and issues a dire threat about the igniting of a third intifada.

It is about time that Meretz MKs understand that it is not the location where a Jew prays that disturbs the Palestinians, it is rather our very presence that they cannot tolerate.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

How NOT to Make Peace With Palestinians

Sir, - When Gershon Baskin declares "We know how to make peace" it becomes immediately apparent that he is attempting to use the royal "We" to serve as a cover for the load emanating from his pedestrian boastful "I." Without any hesitation he informs us that the imaginary agreements that he is comfortable with regarding borders, divided Jerusalem, refugees, security, prisoner exchange, etc.  must be the ones that the State of Israel adopt in order that peace can come to our region.

I personally beg to differ with Gershon, and also unhesitatingly declare that most of Israel's citizens, as clearly established by the results of Israel's recent democratic elections, do not accept his quite obvious pro-Palestinian positions and the one-sided concessions that he is prepared to make.

I would like to challenge Baskin on two most important issues. Despite the ease with which he divides Jerusalem, I would like him to address the absurdity of the reality that prevails today on the Temple Mount. After a costly war to liberate Jerusalem and the declaration that "Har habayit b'yadenu," Israel with super magnanimity granted the Muslim Wakf supervision over that sacred area. This magnanimity has resulted with the arrest by the Muslim Wakf of any Jew who dares move his lips even in silent prayer on the Temple Mount. Has this travesty ever troubled Baskin, and how would he in his superior wisdom deal with it?

The second issue is that of releasing Palestinian terrorist prisoners. I noticed that Gershon in the short biographical sketch beneath his article now includes "Initiator and negotiator of the behind-the-scenes that led to the release of Gilad Schalit." I would like to enlist Baskin's boasted negotiating skills so that Israel can release one Palestinian terrorist prisoner in exchange for 1,000 terrorists that they hand over to us, made up of 500 Hamas's Izz al-Din al-Qassam and the remainder from the PA's al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, and only then may he rightfully gain our respect.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva