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 January 19: What 'victories'?

Unassailable evidence of a chronic dearth of oxygen in Washington is provided by President Barack Obama’s description of recent engagements with Iran as “diplomatic victories” (“US slaps ballistic missile penalties on Iran following massive sanctions lift,” January 18).

This anti-rational and utterly unbelievable portrayal of events leaves us no choice other than to attribute it to the malign influence of atmospheric conditions. Surely, sound reasoning would view these events not as signs of victories, but as a continuing chain of shameful defeats.

One has every right to expect from a country being granted billions of dollars in sanctions relief along with full acceptance into the international diplomatic community that it dare not risk such extremely valuable prizes only a week before the agreement goes into effect. But instead of being careful, Iran does not hesitate to seize American sailors and then force the US into dealing for their release.

A genuine victory by the US could be claimed only if Iran politely informed it of the trespass of its ships and just as politely suggested that the vessels leave their territorial waters. Iran is spitting in America’s face, and America’s president insists on calling it rain.

Unfortunately, this is consistent with the whole tone of appeasement that the US has adopted toward Iran, and therefore cannot accommodate any claims by Washington of victories. It does, however, exponentially increase the anxiety level of many countries, because the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism has now been unleashed with increased strength and substance.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikvah

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

J.Post October 11: J Street and the Common Denominator

Sir, - Alan Eisner, vice president for communications at J Street, categorically informs us that the "unbreakable bond" between Israel and the United States is in danger of erosion if the "occupation continues." ('No chance Netanyahu, Obama will heal their rift, says J Street,' October 7.) He clearly and unconditionally blames the "occupation" for being the root of all evils, believing its end will usher forth the final redemption. Unfortunately, the J Street spokesman is not only sightless but seems to display a witless naivete about the realities that comprise the complex geopolitical, religious, and social tensions that find their expression in this region of the world.

I challenge Mr. Eisner to relate or find any causal connection between the following news events that were published in The Jerusalem Post on the same day as the appearance of his J Street wizardry, and his theory of "occupation":   'Thousands of refugees in Jordan return to Syria' (Page 7); 'NATO rejects Russian excuse on Turkish air space,' '15 soldiers dead in Aden attacks on gov't targets,' 'Car bomb attacks kill 57 people in Iraq' (Page 8); 'Boko Haram terrorists kill 11 Chadian troops,' 'Pro-Russian Ukraine rebels postpone vote' (Page 9); 'Forces seize M-16 used by Hamas to kill Henkins' (Page 10).

The common denominator for all these events, Mr.Eisner, is not "occupation" but an Islam that has been kidnapped by ruthless murderers who share a culture of death and aggressively force their savagery on the thousands killed in the Twin Towers in the United States, on 250,000 innocents killed in Syria, and the death of the cherished Henkins in Israel.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: 

An Anemic Criticism of Mahmoud Abbas

Sir, - In his article "An open letter to Mahmoud Abbas," Yoram Dori expresses his disillusionment with the PA President as a result of the pernicious speech Abbas gave at the UN General Assembly. In a venomously mendacious anti-Israel tirade, Abbas accused Israel of "genocide" and "war crimes," and Yoram Dori attempts to disabuse him of the delusive use of these terms as applied to Israel.

While it certainly is a positive development that Dori, who served as a senior advisor to Shimon Peres since 1990, belatedly appears to express some disenchantment with the PA leader, his criticisms suffer from acute anemia. 

It must be clearly understood that Abbas's vicious attack at the UN was not the result of his not being fully cognizant of the meaning of the terminology that he employed. On the contrary, Abbas, with full awareness of what he was saying, deliberately chose to besmirch Israel at that international forum. This is quite consistent with his heroization of terrorists and shaping of the PA's hate-filled educational curriculum that is unabashedly raising generations of anti-Israel fanatics, and his continued incitement and encouragement of the daily rock and molotov cocktail throwing against innocent Israeli civilians and police. 

Unfortunately Abbas, who began his career as a holocaust denier and deputy to Arafat, continues to be an active pro-terrorist and must be recognized and denounced as such, with the full realization that he can never be a genuine partner for peace with Israel.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: UN Photo]

J.Post September 29: Nothing But Certainty!

Sir, - I was totally dismayed by the odious headline that appeared on the front page of the Jerusalem Post on September 24th. The headline read "SWAT team kills suspected murderers of the three teens." The gratuitous injection of the adjective 'suspected' places an immediate appalling question mark concerning the legitimacy of the activity by introducing an unfortunate, ever so slight implication of uncertainty into the action. 

In fact, the massive intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet, the IDF, and the Counterterrorism Unit during the three months of intensive search for these terrorist abominations, provided the certainty that eliminated any and all doubt as to the identity of these murderous kidnappers.

Only the unequivocal assertion by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz expressing the hope that the families of the victims got some little relief "in the knowledge that we got to the murderers of their sons" was appropriate to the circumstances, and the only assertion that could provide these very deserving people with the ability to state that "an evil circle has closed."

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva 

The end of the Yazidis

Sir, - The one thing that we can be certain of concerning the Yazidis is that they are destined for annihilation. They are a people living in northern Iraq whose religion is an amalgam of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. They have suffered persecution for centuries, and of late have become the target of an extremist group of Muslim fanatics known as ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, who are determined to wipe them out if they do not choose to convert to the true Islam. In the ISIS depraved program for ruling the world and forcibly converting it to a Sharia-ruled Islam, there is no room for contamination by anyone of non-pure Islamic faith.

In their maniacal zealotry, ISIS have slaughtered many hundreds of Yazidis by means of revived dormant cruelties: burying alive hundreds of children, beheading and butchering menfolk, and raping and enslaving countless women.

What is the Yazidis crime? That they are different. What is the crime of the enlightened world? That they let it happen.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Chris de Bruyn]

Shabbat under fire: an Israeli story

Sir, - Friday night July 25th, in the midst of the unceasing Hamas terror rocket fusillades fired throughout Israel, Petach Tikva had the dubious privilege of a 'red alert' heralded by a loud wailing siren. This alarm caught many shul-goers off guard just prior to the start of their Leil Shabbat meal.

Upon hearing a siren, the instructions of the Home Front Command for a residential building is for the families to seek shelter in the enclosed inner stairwell and to wait there for ten minutes after hearing the explosive boom. This particular seven story building on Rechov Hanissim found the majority of its families occupying the stairwell from top to bottom.

Yossi Roth and his wife are residents of this building and were on the stairwell, when Yossi had an inspiration. Using his beautiful voice he started singing the 'Shalom Aleichem' hymn which welcomes the two angels into the Sabbath home and asks for their blessings. What Yossi started was picked up by all the families – irrespective of religious or secular – with increasing enthusiasm, providing the angels with a most resounding welcome. The angels of course were happy to provide their enthusiastic blessings for a Shabbat of peace and tranquility.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Wikimedia user יעקב]

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_]

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]

Is Jonathan Pollard Being Held Prisoner by the Saudis?

Sir - Two former highly-placed public officials have recently shed light on the true motives surrounding Jonathan Pollard's sentencing. Both officials relate to the affidavit, put forward by the then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, that was responsible for abrogating the plea bargain between Pollard and the U.S. Government. This affidavit effectively brought about the end of the (already agreed-upon) plea bargain, and replaced it with a life-imprisonment sentence.

In a letter to President Obama recommending Pollard's immediate release, former National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane unequivocally blamed Weinberger's "anti-Israel agenda" for his disproportionate sentence and called it a "great injustice." Similarly, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb stated that the sentence was entirely due to Weinberger's "visceral hatred of Israel." The pathological animus that surrounded Pollard's sentencing found a potent soul mate in Weinberger, one who not only shared the hatred but possessed the motivation, means, and influence to assure Pollard's internment for three decades.

But as we've seen, Weinberger was not the only voice calling for Pollard to remain in jail. To the impartial observer, there appears to be a anti-Pollard agenda deeply ensconced among the leaders of the U.S government. Which begs the question: What type of damning information could Pollard have transferred to Israel that caused such malicious players in Washington to send him away for life?

First note that Pollard never sought to betray the U.S. or bring harm to any of its institutions. His only crime was wanting to aid Israel by supplying it with information he felt was vital to its security and yet being withheld from it. He transferred the pick of U.S. intelligence on Arab and Islamic military activity conducted by both "friendly and unfriendly" Arab countries, such as Morocco and Pakistan. The data included essential details about Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan, and Iranian nuclear, chemical, and biological-warfare capabilities, as well as planned terrorist attacks against Israel.

Pollard's revelations could not have sat well with the Arab world, but fortunately for them there was one country positioned to raise the cudgel: Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's possession of the world's largest oil reserves, its strategic location, and its unique role in the Arab and Islamic worlds are the reasons Saudi friendship is valued by the United States. They share common concerns and consult regularly on regional and global issues. These close ties with America, in addition to their vast oil-based wealth, provide the Saudis with the means to establish a huge network of pernicious influence throughout the United States. Firstly, they export Wahabism, the most extreme form of Islamic religious practice. They achieve this by financing the construction of hundreds of mosques and madrasas across America, and pay for the training and support of the fanatical imams that spread these teachings. Secondly, the Saudis invest millions of dollars 'buying up' departments of Middle East Studies and Political Science in select universities in order to spread their biased ideologies. And still more baneful is the Saudis' accumulation of out-going U.S public officials on their bloated payrolls. As former CIA case officer Robert Baer puts it, there is hardly a living former CIA director, White House staffer, or member of Congress who hasn't ended up on the Saudi payroll in one way or another. It therefore comes as no surprise when we learn of the Saudi funds going to the Carter Center, established by the former President.

I fear that Pollard, while delving into the various intelligent reports, may have discovered the more detailed accounts of Saudi influence on America's government as well as on past and present public servants. He did not stand much of a chance against Weinberger's deeply-rooted hatred of Israel or against Saudi Arabia's unlimited funds being channeled toward Muslim extremism.

Zev Chamudot

Petach Tikvah

[Banner image credit: Wikimedia user udi Steinwell]

EU Aid to Hamas: A Simple Question

Sir, - Based on a report appearing in the Jerusalem Post on March 23, 2014 informing us that the EU and UNICEF are launching a 10 million euro Gaza desalination project, I would like to pose a simple question to Carolyn Ashton. By all objective standards the question is eminently fair and just, especially in light of the EU's boycott of Israeli products produced in the West Bank:

Does not elementary logic and practical common sense dictate that before undertaking any project on behalf of Gaza and its Hamas government which is officially recorded in the U.S. and many other UN member countries as a terrorist organization, that any aid granted to them be made conditional on their abandonment of terrorism???

Or are we to understand that Hamas is being rewarded for their daily firing of rockets and the terrorizing of civilian population centers of Israel?

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit:  Flickr user Amir Farshad Ebrahimi]

J.Post March 4: Hezbollah and Hollywood -- The Real Brain-Washers

Sir, - Hezbollah, evidently devoid of any originality or imagination, has chosen to conjure up from their infernal cesspool one of the most fatigued, hackneyed, and malicious accusations aimed at the Jews. This time we are charged with the heinous crime of inventing Hollywood as part of a nefarious Jewish conspiracy to be used as a tool to "conquer all the world."

Farroukh Magidi, a university professor (unnamed university) says that his people also want to take over the world as the Jews do, but are not successful because they do not have the skill-set. "They know how to do it and we don't."

Regrettably, I must beg to differ with the Hezbollah professor and point out that his people have been enormously successful in the brain-washing of millions and in creating the world's worst group of blood-thirsty jihadists. Their extreme fanaticism not only sanctions severing of the hand of an alleged thief, but actively promotes the suicide bombings that continue to take a daily toll of at least 20 lives on the streets of Iraq. The blood drenched towns of Syria supply incontrovertible evidence to the success of their fanatical indoctrination.

If in fact the Jews do control Hollywood, they may be charged with providing the world with entertainment, some good, some poor. Muslim fanaticism however has grown into one of the major threats to western civilization.

Zev Chamudot

Petach Tikva

[Nasrallah image credit: Flickr user Abode of Chaos]

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]

Islamic Culture of Death Goes Global

Sir - The horrendous headlines that are distributed throughout Sunday's paper confront the intelligent reader with at least two important issues of concern that are deserving of serious attention. Starting on the front page we read, "Bombs kill 42 outside Sunni mosques in Tripoli," and we are further informed, "Suicide bomber targets Baghdad cafe, killing 25," and still further we learn, "Nigerian Islamists kill 44 in northeast." Add to the above the massacre of civilians in Syria and the hundreds of dead in the turmoil in Egypt we are provided unfortunately with conclusive testimony that Islam has been taken captive by a culture of death.

1) The continued heroization of terrorists and the P.A's ongoing incitement to hatred through its schools and mosques would seem to clearly locate them well within the destructive parameters of that culture. Does it make any sense to conduct negotiations with those who do not ascribe any value to the fundamental belief in the sanctity of human life?

2) How can we explain the extraordinary fact of the failure of Prime Minister Erdogan to blame Israel for the murderous bombs described above? Was he, in violation of Sharia law, inebriated? Was he institutionalized for paranoia? Is he possibly doing Tshuva? It is most important for the geo-political alignments in this area to know the answers.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Religious Freedom Coalition]

The Real Fiction of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations

Sir, - The article "The fiction of negotiations" by David Newman once again clearly establishes the absence of any correlation between the title of Professor or Dean of a Faculty with intellectual integrity or an aptitude for rigorous analysis. Perhaps it is the academic milieu within which he operates that makes Newman feel compelled to obfuscate and distort facts in order to give the impression of his being non-partisan and evenhanded.

Newman attempts to describe the two sides to the Israel-Palestinian conflict as starting from the same line, a line from which each side must be prepared to make concessions of equal weight and importance. He insists that both sides need to demonstrate confidence-building measures in order to send a positive message to the other side.

Hold on a minute Professor! The two sides are not beginning from the same line at all! One side and one side only, Israel, has already made a gigantic concession to the other side, agreeing to the release of murderous terrorist prisoners, causing awful pain and suffering to our bereaved families as well as doing violence to the moral conscience of our people. Newman perversely chooses to discount this entirely and goes on to describe the two sides as being equally not serious, thus distorting the agonizing reality of the negotiations. He is indeed guilty of creating his own fiction.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

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 August 13: Releasing Terrorists -- U.S. Hypocrisy Taken to the Extreme

Sir, - Living as I do in the reality of Israel's precariously fragile security situation, I must admit to being nonplussed when reading the statement "the move angered the U.S. government." What was the move that incurred the wrath of the United States? It was the fact that Mexico released a drug lord that was behind the 1985 killing of a DEA agent.

As a good citizen who tries to act with the guidance of a moral compass, I ordinarily would have felt a sense of outrage at this betrayal of justice. After all, this villain was responsible for the death of a US law enforcement official, and the fact that he has spent 28 years in prison should not and does not absolve him of the guilt for his heinous crime.

However, I am acutely aware and completely heartbroken by the pressure brought to bear on Israel by the United States for the release of 104 terrorist murderers of innocent civilian women and children, and therefore I remain completely unmoved by the discomfort concerning the Mexican druglord.

It is time that the U.S. government and the spineless Israeli leadership learned the infinite value of a single life... and the infinite evil of terrorism.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user antefixus21]

Tzipi Livni Releasing Terrorists = Progress in Peace Talks?!?!?

Sir, --  I was deeply shocked to read the utterly disgraceful front page headline informing us that "First group of P.A. prisoners to be released mid-August." This news clearly establishes Tzipi Livni, our prime negotiator with the P.A., as being completely untrustworthy.

On top of the heartbreak and humiliation that Israel suffers from being browbeaten into releasing terrorist murderers, we now learn that the first meeting of the two sides will be held in Israel in the second week of August, and the security prisoners, says Livni, will be "freed by that time."

It's important to note that a few lines further in the same article, we are provided with the background information about the cabinet's approval of the release of 104 long-serving prisoners "according to progress in the talks." It should be obvious to even the most venomous Israel-basher that no progress in the talks could have possibly been achieved before the talks have actually begun, and therefore nothing could justify the release of these prisoners prior to any real signs of progress in the talks.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

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]