Letters, March 18, 2011
PA’s lame response to brutal Itamar murders
SURELY the world should have issued immediate and unanimous condemnations of Fatah, and hence, the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Military trackers discovered footprints leading to the Arab village of Avrata from the scene of the terrorist attack, yet PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki still believes that “people whose identity remains unknown” committed this atrocious act.
And they are supposed to be Israel’s peace partners?
Sam Rosenfeld Carnegie, VicCampaigners for peace must voice their horror
FIVE Israelis were murdered brutally by one or more cowards, thugs, criminals, lunatics. “Terrorists!” the politicians, point-scorers, and media proclaim. “Terrorists!” cry the right-wingers worldwide, the settlers in Israel and the West Bank.
We, who support peace in Israel/Palestine, remain particularly – and disturbingly – quiet.
How can we not condemn fully, openly, such a brutal attack, murdering a young couple and three precious children? Slicing their throats – truly barbaric! How dare we remain silent yet call ourselves peace-makers?
We arm ourselves with excuses: they were settlers, so they brought it upon themselves; they were occupiers, so they are not innocent, not even the children, who by the grace of God and their parents’ choices brought them forth on occupied land; we’ve been occupied for 40-plus years, and we’re warped, frustrated, and driven mad because of it, not responsible for our own actions; it’s justifiable revenge for what they have done to us for decades.
We who support a free Palestine offer our excuses … or remain silent.
We will become “irrelevant”, as many prophesise, unless we condemn categorically these repugnant murders. Independent of any ersatz peripheral cause – nothing, nothing excuses such murderous brutality. I condemn in the strongest terms the murder of the five Fogels of Itamar, may they rest in peace.
Those who remain silent deserve their irrelevance.
Judy Bamberger O’Connor, ACTShocking silence in face of terrible atrocity
WHEN a new home is built in the Jerusalem area, world condemnation thunders through the halls of world diplomacy.
When a family, including little children, are slaughtered in their beds by Palestinian terrorists, we are all deafened at the sounds of silence from the world community.
This hypocrisy is indicative of anti-Semitism that has no place in any type of humane society.
Ian Bolt Caulfield North, VicGreens’ apartheid claims are completely false
IT is rather ironic that Greens political leaders John Kaye and Lee Rhiannon refer to “Israel’s institution of a system of apartheid: (AJN 11/03) at a time when a $5 million lawsuit has been filed in Federal Court in New York against former US President Jimmy Carter and publisher Simon & Schuster alleging that Carter’s 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, contains false information and was intended to deceive the public and promote an anti-Israel agenda.
It beggars belief that they do so in the name of “a policy based on human rights” at a time when the Arab world is in turmoil because of a lack of human rights, whereas Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has democracy, transparency and human rights. “I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,” said Mahmoud Abbas on July 29, 2010 speaking to Egyptian media – and the Palestinian Authority says that any Arab who sells land to a Jew should be put to death. Now that is apartheid!
I lived in South Africa in the apartheid era where blacks could not vote, suffered work restrictions, were forced to use separate public facilities and were barred from national sports teams.
In Israel, Jews and Arabs shop together in supermarkets, swim together in the Dead sea. Walid Badir, captain of the Hapoel Tel Aviv football team; Mira Awad, who represented Israel at the 2009 Eurovision Song contest; Rana Rasian, former Miss Israel; Reda Mansour, one-time Israeli ambassador to Ecuador; Salim Joubran, an Israeli Supreme Court justice – all are Arab. Majali Wahabi, former deputy speaker of the Knesset and acting president of Israel in 2007, is a Druze.
Israel is acknowledged as a world leader in sustainability, green cleantech, use of solar power, water recycling, conversion to electric cars, planting of trees. Why do The Greens not therefore support Israel? What are they really about?
Brian Levitan Gordon, NSWGreens boycott is at odds with their beliefs
I WONDER if NSW Greens MP John Kaye or any of his party colleagues (AJN 11/03) had actually read The Greens NSW state policies before deciding to boycott Israel. Having read them myself, I found it very ironic that the NSW Greens are big advocates of the rights of women and gays, yet they’ve called for a boycott against Israel, which already had a female Prime Minister back in the 1970s and where gay pride marches happen all the time.
Contrast this to Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, where women and gay people are persecuted by backward Islamic extremists under institutionalised gender and sexual apartheid. I call on the NSW Greens to take a good hard look at themselves and their policies, and to end their narrow-minded calls to boycott Israel.
Josh Bartak St Kilda East, VicSkewed public perceptions of Israel
IN a recent survey conducted by the BBC, it was found that China and Indonesia are more popular than Israel – a fully fledged democracy.
I hope those surveyed are aware that China suppresses human rights and democracy as evident by the incarceration of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo for “anti-government” activities.
And I really hope those surveyed are aware that China militarily funded the genocidal Al-Bashir regime during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
As for Indonesia, it has just been alleged in a WikiLeaks cable that Government officials – including the President – are embroiled in corruption. Not to mention the recent spike in deadly violence against religious minorities. In contrast, Israel, despite being surrounded by enemies seeking its destruction, is the sole democracy in the region and grants full religious rights and protection to minority groups.
What has this world come to?
Daniel Jacobs St Kilda East, VicCouncil’s boycott policy is ‘loony’
THOSE “erudite” councillors at Marrickville Council must be gnashing their teeth in extreme frustration.
The only Arabs/Muslims in the Middle East who are not rebelling against their government and calling for democracy are those who are Israeli citizens.
Marrickville Council’s call to boycott Israel seems a little loony considering the events currently unfolding.
The Palestinians they purport to support are equally repressed by their rulers in Gaza and the West Bank.
A Govendir Blaxland, NSWOrthodox attitudes to homosexuality
I WAS heartened by the article by Rabbi Chaim Rapoport (AJN 04/03). At last, an Orthodox rabbi who is prepared to discuss the topic of homosexuality in a rational and compassionate way.
As the mother of a gay son who has been brave enough to come out in the face of exclusion and revulsion by the Orthodox community, I have witnessed his personal anguish and distress, and consequently the rejection of his modern Orthodox upbringing.
People – the rabbinate and well-meaning friends and relatives – have even suggested that he hide his sexuality and conform.
Sadly, when someone has gone down this path, it has only resulted in disaster and terrible consequences for a spouse and children of the union.
It is heartbreaking for a mother to watch her child’s personal struggles and his search to find a place in the community where he will be accepted for who he is, not what he is.
Surely, of all people, we who have been the target of intolerance and persecution over the ages would be expected to be more accepting of differences.
As the rabbi so rightly maintains, no-one chooses to be gay – who would want the prejudice and ostracism that comes with it?
Name and address supplied
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