Letters, January 14, 2011

AMNON Goldberg suggests that Moshe Katsav’s rape verdict could have been avoided with the scrupulous observance of the laws of Yichud: a man and woman not being permitted to be alone in a room or self contained space.

By implication, the victims of Katsav’s sexual predation were contributorily guilty by virtue of being alone with him.

A woman breaching Yichud is neither a defence to rape nor an excuse for the vile crime committed by Katsav.  Suggesting that “both” (male and woman) “are open to suspicion and charges”  has a Taliban flavour totally discordant with modern jurisprudence.

YOUR last edition has a story questioning the circumstances of an unfortunate Palestinian woman’s death, supposedly by tear gas (AJN 07/01).

Could you please print a follow-up story when the real cause of death has been established.

I’m tired of all the sensationalising by SBS News of any story concerning Israel, almost always negative or detrimental.

I can’t remember any story on SBS news critical of Arab countries. The recent elections in Egypt and Jordan were treated as democratic by our standards, being just one example.

THE recent tragic death of asylum seekers is unquestionably worthy of heartfelt compassion and empathy by all decent people. The instincts of B’nai B’rith ADC in deploring this tragedy in their media release of 16 December 2010 are commendable, but their comparison of the asylum seekers’ plight to that of Jews trying to escape certain murder by the Nazis and their allies is irresponsible.

The Holocaust is generally recognised as the benchmark of the most extreme case of human evil, and the Jewish community has frequently had cause to deplore the inappropriate use of analogies to the Nazi genocide in Australian public debate. It is especially disheartening that in this instance the offender is a respected Jewish organisation. Such comparison of sufferings is not only odious but, by relativising both causes, it benefits neither. It is an unacceptable dilution of the singularity of the Holocaust, trivialising the suffering of our Kedushim and Survivors while doing no less a disservice to the terrible situation of others, in this case the asylum seekers.

Jews do not need faux analogies to the Holocaust in order to make a strong moral statement on human rights issues.  When we choose to make our voices heard we do so as proud, engaged Jewish Australian citizens with a strong ethos of Tsedaka and Chesed based on the ethical system which has been our people’s unique gift to humankind.

We urge B’nai B’rith ADC to continue its good work in consultation with other concerned Jewish organisations by finding more appropriate ways to express support for compassionate and humane treatment of asylum seekers.

YOUR article about Henry Kissinger in the 1970s (AJN 07/01) reminds me of the story they used to tell in those years.

He was given a length of material for a suit, which he took to a New York tailor. But the tailor said “Sorry, Dr Kissinger. You’re a big man and there’s not enough material here for a suit.”

So, Kissinger went to London and took the material to a Saville Row tailor, with the same result: “Sorry, Dr Kissinger. You’re a big man and there’s not enough material here for a suit.”

Finally, he went to a tailor in Tel Aviv, who measured him, and said “It will be ready Tuesday”.

Kissinger asked: “How is it that the New York and London tailors said I was too big for this length of material, but you can make me a suit?”

The Tel Aviv tailor replied: “In Israel, Dr Kissinger, you’re not such a big man!”.

I DON’T know if more “histrionic letters from the good folk of Caulfield” (and St. Kilda East) in The AJN will advance the Middle East peace process, John Safran, (AJN 07/01), but swapping Palestinian sperm with yours at fertility clinics there, as shown on your ABC TV doco in 2009, has certainly worked a treat.