Letters to the Editor

More on migrants

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
More on migrants
Regarding the refugee issue, you report that opposition leader Isaac Herzog claims Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has forgotten “what it means to be Jewish” (“Netanyahu: Israel can’t absorb Syrian or African migrants,” September 7). Herzog seems to think that adding to our existing security threats by seriously worsening our present demographic problems – and with refugees from enemy countries – would be an expression of Jewishness.
I did not vote for Netanyahu, but I believe that no other Israeli prime minister ever dared to stand up to the world, and especially to the president of the United States, for what he believes are existential security issues for the State of Israel. He is doing this purely out of concern for the Jewish state and its people.
This, I believe, is an expression of his Jewishness.
I also believe that were he alive, Herzog’s grandfather, who was a famous chief rabbi here, would feel that his grandson has forgotten what it means to be Jewish.
YEHUDA OPPENHEIM, Jerusalem
While generally supportive of Israel’s non-intervention in the latest round of intra-Arab chaos, the recommendation of reader Yaacov Peterseil (“Mideast migrants,” Letters, September 7) appalls me.
Peterseil is demanding that non-Jews abandon their faith in exchange for our protection.
How is this different from Pope Pius XII’s attitude toward Jews during the Holocaust, or Tsar Nicholas II’s during the pogroms? And given the fact that the Chief Rabbinate is haredi-controlled, what would prevent these new Jews from becoming anti-Zionists who refuse to fight in the army? How would this differ from their current outlook?
KOBI SIMPSON-LAVY, Rehovot
It’s all over for Europe. Jews and Christians who intend to keep their religious faith and cultural traditions had better start packing while they can, for this is not going to turn out well for anybody except Muslims. Even the truly secular and moderate are going to be in for a very rude awakening.
America, particularly under a Democratic administration, can expect the same traumatic experience in a few short years. A Republican administration could possibly slow the advance, but I wouldn’t bet that any political entity has the will and means to turn the beast back from America’s gates without the sort of draconian measures that might, unless they begin soon, be too little, too late.
Obama and the American Left have inadvertently laid the groundwork for the Islamization of America, with legal attacks on Christianity already in motion, and anti-Semitic innuendo sending entire Jewish communities into therapy sessions and cultural consternation.
The giddy Left might be celebrating today, but as the Islamization process proceeds to the next stage – the insidious institution of nationwide Shari’a law, one small step at a time – they will be like the proverbial lobster cooked so slowly that as the water gets hotter by degrees, they’ll be walking around in their iPhone fantasy world with beards and burkas before they even notice something’s gone wrong.
How’s that for a waking nightmare?
YOEL LARRY KOSBERG, New York
Were there such thing as shame in the Muslim world, there would be an outpouring of offers of hospitality for their own. However, there is no such shame, and Muslim countries have been totally silent on taking in refugees.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Gulf states, Indonesia, and even countries with substantial Muslim populations, like South Africa and China, have not offered to help people fleeing from the horrors of Syria. Are Muslims not people? Have they not the same blood? Where is Allah, the merciful one? Europe is not the answer for fleeing Syrians. The answer lies within the Muslim world. If there is no compassion for their own, we can readily see why that world has such horrors.
The international community should wake up and force Muslim nations to accept and integrate Muslim refugees into their societies. We cannot allow Europe to become another part of an Islamic State empire.
THELMA SUSSWEIN, Jerusalem
More on EU labeling The European Union’s foolish and destructive obsession with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict knows no bounds as the EU presses on with its decision to label West Bank products (“EU close to finalizing its guidelines for labeling goods made in settlements,” September 6). Meanwhile, in adjacent space on your front page, we read that the Austrian interior minister has warned Europe to “wake up” to the migrant crisis (“Austria, Germany open up borders to migrants offloaded by Hungary”).
The frightening prospect of Europe drowning in millions of migrants from the Middle East should indeed keep EU leaders awake at night, yet they seem to be more concerned about punishing Israel rather protecting the continent’s borders.
When Europeans finally awaken from their stupor and realize that a mass influx of migrants is a greater threat to their civilizations than a product made in the West Bank, they will no doubt reach for the bottle in desperation.
When that time comes, may I recommend an exceptional Merlot grown in the Judean Hills!
KENNY FISHER, Jerusalem
I propose that we mark all products from Israel, including those from Judea and Samaria, with a big, yellow Star of David and the word “Jew,” “Jood,” “Juif,” “Jude” or the equivalent words in other countries. This would leave no doubt whatsoever that the products originated in the Jewish state.
MEIR FACTOR, Betar Illit
Lip service With regard to “Netanyahu: We’ll weigh changes in open-fire orders on rock, firebomb throwers” (September 3), I can only respond that we have heard it all before, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promises are not worth the effort of even contemplating.
According to a statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office, the policy is “zero tolerance for rock throwers and zero tolerance for terrorism.” As for Netanyahu’s statement that the number of violent incidents needs to be drastically reduced, I have a better idea: How about reduced to none? He not only tolerates the attacks he pays lip service to, but actually encourages them, as our enemies see that the sovereign State of Israel is afraid to confront and destroy them.
It is unbelievable that in our own country, which people fought and died for, there are many areas that are dangerous to enter, where there are signs warning Jews against entry because their lives will be in danger.
The only “zero tolerance” in this land is toward those who are prepared to stand up for the rights of the Jewish people, and to build and settle the land, which is the purpose of our return.
YENTEL JACOBS, Netanya
Wild Left I was on a flight out of Israel the other day. Sitting beside me was an Arab woman.
We exchanged pleasantries. She asked me where I came from. I replied. I asked her where she came from. She answered “Palestine.”
I asked her which city, mentioning places like Ramallah, thinking she was referring to Judea and Samaria. She told me the name of a village. The name meant nothing to me.
I asked her what passport she was traveling on. Jordanian? “No, no,” she replied. “An Israeli passport. I live inside the Green Line.”
So, she lives in a village in pre-1967 Israel, travels with an Israeli passport and is Israeli, yet she lives in “Palestine.”
If those on the wild Left still don’t get it, they never will!
LEVI J. ATTIAS, Gibraltar