BRUCE http://www.jta.org/user/profile/13900 en-us zsilberman@washingtonjewishweek.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Dear Kevin Kamberg, What did you mean by "Palestinian lands"? When did the West Bank become Palestinian land? I assume you know that the area of the West Bank was included in the Balfour Declaration in 1919 for the Jewish state, and codified by the League of Nations in 1922; that mandate has never been legally abrogated. The Arabs were offered that part of Israel in 1947 but rejected the offer. So, I ask again, how and when did the West Bank become Palestinian? If anything, this land is occupied BY the Palestinians, not the other way around. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Interesting idea. And the corollary should also be considered, such that the Arab population currently living in Israel become citizens of "Palestine," but continue to be welcome to live in Israel as legal residents, but without Israeli citizenship. Wouldn't that be the natural counterbalance, and a blessing to Israel? 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 When did the West Bank become "Palestinian land"? The West Bank was part of the original land given to the Jews by the Balfour Declaration during the British Mandate after the end of World War 1, and then codified by the League of Nations in 1922. The land was offered to the Arabs in 1948 but they rejected it, because they preferred to attack Israel in an attempt to "drive the Jews into the sea." The original mandate giving the land to Israel has never been abrogated or reversed legally. So, when did it automatically become Palestinian land? Answer: it's not Palestinian land. It's really Israeli land. If the Palestinians want to live there, they are free to negotiate for an autonomous zone. But let's understand once and for all the underlying truth of the situation. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Rather than being insecure about being proselytized by Christian evangelists, all Jewish people should read the book "Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus" by Asher Norman. This book should be required reading in Jewish education. It gives a clear and convincing description of why Jesus is not the messiah, and why Jews must not believe in such misguided folly. Once Jews have the knowledge contained in this book, then they can proselytize the Christians right back, by showing them the false and flimsy foundation of their own religion. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Dear Robin Margolis, You are totally correct. Of course, there must be a mechanism to ensure that the converts' motivation is sincere. But along those lines, I think we should make a huge push into countries like China and India, whose inhabitants do not have the burden of a past experience with Christianity and Islam, and who might find Judaism very appealing and alluring. Just think: if just a few percent of those billions of people converted, the number of Jews in the world would explode. What's wrong with that? It could only be good. If just 2% of Indians and Chinese converted, the number of Jews in the world would increase by 40 million. Who could complain about that? 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Roger Cohen is an Englishman. The British, even the liberal Jewish elite from that country, are anti-Semitic to the core. That has been the way with the British for many centuries. Great Britain is currently the leading purveyor of anti-Semitism of any country outside the Arab world. Roger Cohen fits right in. They will always side against Israel regardless of the issue. The British Jews have assimilated to the point that they actually believe that they are an accepted part of the upper crust of British society. That has been a sad pattern in Jewish history (think of the assumptions made by the Jews in Germany in the 1930's). Jews are often their own worst enemies. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Dear Roger, I'm sorry, but I had to respond to your article in the New York Times, Middle East Reality Check. Why do I have the unsettling feeling that you're the one who needs the reality check? You say, "The 1988 Hamas Charter is vile..." Vile? That's it? The Hamas Charter calls for genocide and the total destruction of Israel. I suppose when viewed with your inches-thick rose-colored glasses the Nazi Final Solution was "vile" as well? "Perhaps Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel’s disappearance..." Perhaps? Why perhaps? It couldn't be clearer and more forthright. Has Hamas acted in contradiction of any part of its Charter? Has there been any sign that Hamas "doesn't really believe" what's in the Charter? "The Obama administration should also look carefully at how to reach moderate Hamas elements..." Roger, who might they be? I don't recall hearing about "moderate" people in Hamas. If anything, Hamas is very disciplined and unbending in their beliefs. Perhaps you meant the Hamas men who threw their Fatah competitors off the roofs of high buildings. Perhaps some of them were thrown off only "moderately" high buildings, like from the third or fourth stories? Perhaps you had a picnic with them, and they assured you that they are really moderate? The Hamas Charter states plainly that peaceful methods to resolve the conflict are not acceptable, only militant jihad (see Article 13). "Israel has the right to hit back when attacked, but any response should be proportional and governed by sober political calculation." Proportional? The most proportional response would obviously be to fire rockets back to where they came from, rocket for rocket. That would be an exactly proportional response. But wait! That would kill civilians indiscriminately, wouldn't it? So a precisely proportional response is really not acceptable, is it? Roger, a proportional response is exactly what would perpetuate this military conflict. No one ever wins a war or battle with proportional responses. When we defeated Nazi Germany, we did not use proportional responses. In fact, we destroyed whole cities, civilians and all. When we defeated Japan, we used carpet bombing of the entire country and nuclear weapons. In both Germany's and Japan's case, that approach ended the conflict, and now both countries are at peace with us and with the world. In order to defeat a fanatical and determined enemy, one must use overwhelming force, specifically way out of proportion. The problem that has perpetuated the Israel Palestinian conflict is exactly that Israel's responses have been too proportional. If they used totally overwhelming force, this entire conflict would most likely have ended a long time ago, and the two entities would have arrived at a form of peace. You may not understand that, being in your ivory tower, but history has proven that again and again. The wars that drag on and ultimately kill the most people are the ones in which both sides are "too evenly" matched. For example, the Iraq-Iran war dragged on for eight years, and millions of people died, or our Civil War. Hamas' will to fight must be totally defeated such that their own Charter will be understood by them to be hopelessly unachieveable. And since you appear to have read the Hamas Charter, then you must realize that this conflict is not about settlements, expansion, Gaza blockade, etc. It's about something much more overarching, the Islamic tenet never to give back land that was at any time ruled by Muslims. "They try to paint Hamas as irrevocably absolutist. Why should Arabs be any less pragmatic than Jews?" Well, the Palestinians were offered a state in the West Bank and Gaza by Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton, but Arafat refused. Why? It's because that would have ended the conflict, and that's not part of the Arab plan. The Arab plan is much deeper than that. "...but then it’s also possible that Israel in reality has no desire to see a Palestinian state." OK, let's see, now. We offered the Palestinians a reasonable compromise in 1999, and the Arab response was the second intifadeh, suicide bombings, missiles, rockets, and ongoing anti-Semitic incitement, continuing to this day with persistent rocket attacks on civilian centers and constant attempts at infiltration of suicide bombers. We withdrew totally from Gaza, and their response has been constant terrorism. Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's keep going by giving them a state of their own in the West Bank! Since it's only 9 miles from East Jerusalem to the Mediterranean, essentially all of Israel will be within range of rockets and missiles, and since their Charter calls for our extermination, that will appease them so much that they will set aside their Charter and become peaceful neighbors. After all, the thing that Arabs respect the most, the thing that most effectively convinces them to become peaceful, is surrender and retreat. Sounds great! "West Bank walling-in?" Don't you have that backwards? The West Bank is not walled in. Israel is walled in. The Palestinian suicide bombers are walled OUT. Roger, why do I have the haunting feeling that you just don't get it? 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 When the American Nazi Party held numerous rallies in support of Hitler in the 1930's, in several instances the Jewish Mafia personalities Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky attended the rallies with a bunch of their "boys." They beat the daylights out of several leaders of the pro-Nazi groups with lead pipes and brass knuckles, accompanied by the warning that if they gather again, the next time the beatings would be much worse. The rallies soon faded out. Whatever happened to guys like that? Whatever happened to the JDL? 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 To Michael Several, You said: "This could end today if Israel opened the border to Gaza and allowed goods, such as pasta, in at the same level it was three years ago." Don't lose your sympathy for Israel yet. Hamas was blowing up buses, pizzerias, and discotheques full of civilians and young kids long before the issue of rockets and border closures appeared. Hamas' terrorism did not start with the border closures. In fact, it has nothing to do with it. Read their charter. That says it all. ***** 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Close down the UN. It's a sad joke. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 To Rick, Greg and Michael, My entire family was wiped out in the Holocaust. You don't need to debate, do research, or investigate. Just ask the many people who lost their families in the Nazi gas chambers whether it was real or not. You three supercilious characters were lucky enough not to lose your loved ones in the War. Why add insult to injury by clinging to such sick, twisted revisionist ideology as you do? You three are pathetic. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 To Paul, Your comments are very fascinating and insightful. Thank you for that. Another fascinating twist is that although Christians think of Jesus as being peaceful and forgiving, in reality the culmination of Christian belief ends in Armegeddon as described in the Book of Revelation, which involves the death and suffering of almost all non-Christians on Earth. And with regard to Islam, there weren't many leaders admittedly more savage and cruel than Muhammed. So, their anti-Semitic beliefs are incredibly ironic and backwards. So much for the "terrifying God of the Old Testament." 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Hey, David Hicks, You said: "Let us not forget that Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine since 1967 is the root cause of all this pain & suffering for Jew, Muslim & Christian alike: decade after decade after decade." I think you forgot something. There was no "occupation" before 1967, when Jordan had complete sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, yet the Arabs have been attacking Israel repeatedly since 1948. Why is that? There was no call for a "Palestinian" homeland before 1967, yet the Arabs controlled those areas, and could have easily done it. Did you not know that, or are you just ignoring those facts? In addition, the people of Gaza elected Hamas, a terrorist gang, and must face up to their responsibility and culpability. The Arabs have this very nasty habit of expecting not to reap the results of their own behavior. They attack, lose a war, then expect to "get the land back," or cry bloody murder when their opponent fights back. It's time for the Arabs to understand that there are consequences to actions. Sometimes the consequences are not what you might have wanted. But their attitude is childish and illogical. They act like spoiled little children rather than men. If they want a homeland, let them prove that they can live like civilized humans, not wild animals. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Did I hear Jimmy Carter correctly when he said that the impediment to peace is "the large influx of Israeli settlements into the West Bank"? That's interesting, since there were no settlements before 1967, yet the Arabs attacked Israel from all sides in 1948, 1956, and 1967. Why would they have done that if there were no settlements? Answer: Jimmy Carter doesn't know what he's talking about. He was without a doubt the worst president of the 20th century, possibly the worst US president of all time. His judgment is totally off. He clearly does not understand the Middle East. The perpetual Arab hostility towards Israel is only the vanguard of the worldwide jihad against Western Civilization. The Arabs cannot deal with a western-style country in their midst, especially because Israel is so successful and progressive. The Arabs cannot cope with modernity and achievement, because they cannot compete effectively. So "their best defense is a good offense." By constantly attacking and feigning outrage and promulgating terrorism, they try to keep the focus of the world off their miserable and pathetic countries, their inability to achieve anything worthwhile, their lack of creativity, and their failed societies. The religion of Islam is truly a curse, since it prevents a billion people from living in the modern world and choosing life, as it commands in Deuteronomy. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Rene, thank you very much for your response. George Karatzaferis is obviously an ignorant, hate-filled man who doesn't understand his own religion. Unfortunately, all too many Christians share his feelings. It is a blessing that you and people like you speak up when confronted by such ignorance. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 I don't understand the feckless, pathetic response of the residents of Sderot to the rocket fire. Why don't you guys simply set up a few artillery pieces, and every single time a rocket is fired at you, fire back? What's wrong with you? Fight back! You're behaving like the helpless victims of the Holocaust. It's time to fight back! Believe me, if you gave them a taste of their own medicine, it wouldn't take too long for the rockets to cease. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00