Letters (July 10, 2009)

Letters published in the AJN print edition of July 10, 2009

Historic truth

HAROLD Zwier and Joseph Wakim (AJN 03/07) state that “harsh and honest words” need to be spoken about the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, many of their words are misleading and generate more heat than light.

Regarding the 1993 exchange of letters: Arafat signed the Oslo Accords without ever accepting them. Oslo, which resulted in the Arabs gaining control of Gaza and all of the major population centres of Yesha (West Bank and Gaza), was followed by years of horrific Arab attacks upon Israelis.

Forget the Arabs recognising Israel as a Jewish state -— Fatah and Hamas do not recognise Israel’s right to exist, per se. Their charters clearly state it, and their violent, hostile and uncompromising behaviour over decades confirms it.

The settlements have nothing to do with the core element of the conflict. Settlements did not exist between 1948 and 1967, when the Arab world twice sought to destroy Israel, and they are simply a convenient Arab excuse for continuing the conflict.

Binyamin Netanyahu spoke no more than the historical truth when he stated that Israel is the land “where our forefathers walked”. No amount of dissembling can erase the truths that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and that the Arab interest in Israel today is largely confined to eliminating its Jewish presence.

Netanyahu, in a monumental change of position last month, agreed to the establishment of an Arab state in Yesha. Demilitarised to be sure, given Arab hostility to Israel, and with Jerusalem, the heart and soul of the Jewish people, remaining united as Israel’s capital.

The predictable Arab response, given by Saeb Erekat, was that Netanyahu “will have to wait 1000 years for a Palestinian leader to accept these terms”. Such is the urgency for a 23rd Arab state!

Netanyahu’s offer to the Arabs of living “side-by-side in true peace” is no “throwaway line”, as Zwier and Wakim state. Offering to cede part of the historical Jewish homeland is a huge Israeli concession to the Arabs, and Netanyahu is only the latest Israeli leader to offer to make that sacrifice in the interest of peace.

An end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, however, depends upon the Arab world finally sharing that vision, and ending its long and hate-driven vendetta against the Jewish State.

MERV MORRIS
St Kilda East, Vic

Zwier, Wakim amuse

I WAS highly amused by the Zwier/Wakim article, but the article sadly fails to take Israel any nearer peace in our time (AJN 03/07).

There was the notion that if Israel was recognised as a Jewish State, it would “render gentiles within its borders as second-class citizens”.

As a Jewish ex-Pom, I assure the committee that I never felt second-class in Anglican England, or during visits to Catholic France and Orthodox Greece. Not sure about Saudi Arabia -— I never sampled its tourist delights.

And even I have to jump to the defence of poor old Mr Abbas, concerning the committee’s decree that the elected Hamas terrorists that subsequently murdered their way to total power in Gaza should be part of the solution to violence, sitting alongside Fatah, whose members they wiped out.

And finally, there is the fawning worship of Obama’s Solomon-sized wisdom. I think Obama has already said enough to suggest that he is as well qualified to bring peace to the Middle East as Chamberlain was to stop World War II.

TERRY DAVIS
Lindfield, NSW

Joint effort

MOST of the material published on the Israel-Palestine conflict expresses a view of one or the other side of the debate. It is therefore refreshing that Zwier and Wakim (AJN 03/07) have managed to jointly submit this article.

There will be those on both sides of the debate who will complain that the views expressed do not adequately cover their respective positions. However, I submit that the dialogue initiated by Zwier and Wakim is essential if the Israel-Palestine conflict is ever to be resolved peacefully and I commend the authors.

ROBIN ROTHFIELD
Fairfield, Vic

Israel’s Jewish identity

USING all the flowery language they could muster, Zwier and Wakim assert that their principal solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is based on Israel discarding its Jewish identity (AJN 03/07).

They apparently consider it impossible for any country to have a religious identity and still be able to function as a liberal, pluralistic society. They say that Israel existing as a Jewish state somehow demands that non-Jews be regarded as second-class citizens.

Using the Islamic yardstick, this notion is perfectly understandable. The 55 countries that make up the Organisation of Islamic Conference are specifically defined by their Islamic identity, and they are hardly beacons of religious tolerance.

However, the very existence of broad religious acceptance in western democracies around the world refutes this model and pointedly highlights that it is the totalitarian nature of Islamic rule that is the agent of oppression in their part of the world. Australia would be regarded as a having a Christian identity, yet I certainly don’t feel like a second-class citizen in this country.

ALAN FREEDMAN
St Kilda East, Vic

It’s not about settlements

WAKIM and Zwier (AJN 03/07) conferred nearly all the blame on Israel with only a minimal part to the Palestinians, which is probably not surprising considering the Australian Jewish Democatic Society’s (AJDS) strong Palestinian advocacy.

If only the Palestinian and Arabic community would allow Zionists to critique Palestinian behaviour in their local newspapers.

If you believe what we read in the mainstream media, the only way to solve the Israel-Palestinian-Arab conflict is if Israel halts its settlements and homes, and this is what Barack Obama has been focusing all his attention on as if nothing else matters.

Obama and the international community have a short memory and forgot that Israel swapped land for peace with the Egyptians and, when push came to shove, vacated settlements and homes in Gaza, ironically ordered by a right-wing leader.

The US can’t continue demanding gestures only from Israel. Settlements are not an obstacle for peace. Past experiences have shown each time Israel has made concessions, this has caused more violence and more intransigence from Arabs who only see these concessions as a sign of weakness.

MICHAEL BURD
Toorak, Vic

Fair go for Loewenstein

LAST week a member of the Jewish community was slandered in the media but I’m not expecting Jamie Hyams’ “Media Week” column to point out the glaring unfairness of the description.

Why? Because the person was the community’s enfant terrible, Antony Loewenstein. I have plenty of political disagreements with Loewenstein. For a start, I support the continuing existence of the State of Israel within its internationally recognised borders and he supports the one-state solution.

Loewenstein has been totally opposed to the Holocaust-denying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, savaging him on more than one occasion. In contrast to many supporters of the Palestinians in Australia, he was critical of Ahmadinejad’s April Geneva speech.

But facts do not matter to some journalists. In The Australian, Greg Sheridan accused Loewenstein of ignoring gross abuses in Iran, which anybody who actually read Loewenstein would know is not true.

I can only think of one reason why Media Week would ignore Sheridan’s effort. After all, Sheridan reported that Julia Gillard got good press in Israel, when there wasn’t a single article about her in any of three Hebrew dailies, at least on the internet. Perhaps Hyams regards Sheridan’s writing as fiction, which should be reviewed on the literary pages, not the media column.

SOL SALBE
Maidstone, Vic

Once bitten …

HOW many wasp bites must one endure before dealing with the nest? Having given Hamas plenty of warnings to desist with stinging Kassam rockets, it was reasonable for Israel to act.

Now, in a 100-page report largely criticising the Israeli response, Amnesty International barely mentions the causative attacks. This sort of reversal of events does little to enhance Amnesty’s reputation.

PAUL ROZENTAL
Melbourne, Vic

Cohen should know better

SACHA Baron Cohen’s satirical character Bruno acts as a red light for rednecks to laugh and ridicule male homosexuals.

There are many gay men in the community who are as effeminate as Liberace. How can they suddenly butch up in time to not become the brunt of these rednecks’ ridicule?

The Jewish community has been at the butt of jokes for years. Maybe because Cohen is himself a Jew, the community will not take at his humour. I am not Jewish, but believe such a comment is hurtful to the many Jews who have suffered at the hands of hate in concentration camps.

I find the stereotyping of minorities offensive because it pigeonholes them and sets them up like sitting ducks for ridicule. My simple view is it’s okay to laugh at oneself, but it’s not okay to be made fun of.

I know what it is like to be hurt and ridiculed for being different because I am a homosexual. The Jewish community has always accepted me as an equal and treated me with kindness and respect.

Satire is one thing and making fun of others because they are different is another thing.

GARY BURNS
Woollahra, NSW

Covering rabbis

CONTRARY to the opinion expressed by Fred Seskin (AJN 03/07), I am neither puzzled nor annoyed by the cover story of a “Jewish rabbi” (is there any other kind?) involved in a “sensationalised story”, any more than I am outraged by an editorial about Bernie Madoff.

The story had already been reported in the national press for all to read and had been picked up by websites, including anti-Semitic ones, before the AJN publication and Mr Seskin’s outrage.

To ignore the news would be akin to burying your head in the sand.

One would expect a rabbi to have some knowledge and commitment to Jewish ethics and, as an administrator of an educational institution drawing funds from the general community, the laws of that community. If found guilty, the accused should wear the full approbation of the Jewish community for the discredit he reflects upon it and, if possible, should be stripped of the title “rabbi” just as a doctor would be deregistered or a solicitor disbarred.

Having just retired after 37 years as a teacher and administrator in the public school system and watching the slow degradation of public school amenities while public funds are thrown at often undeserving private institutions, I would be outraged that someone alleged to have defrauded the public should have their case ignored solely because they are Jewish and a rabbi.

ROBERT ZUKERMAN
Barden Ridge, NSW

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