Disillusioned Democrat
In response to The Jewish Press editorial, “Pres. Biden’s Pressure on Israel to End Maximum Effort to Defeat Hamas is Misplaced” (Dec. 22), I believe President Biden is gaslighting Israel, America, and the world by stating that “Israel must make more of an effort to avoid collateral civilian casualties.”
In fact, no other country has warned civilians about future attacks, urging them to evacuate certain areas, thus even jeopardizing the lives of its own citizens. Indeed, Israel’s warnings to Palestinians are unparalleled and are manifestations of a transcendent Israeli legal and ethical system.
However, the implications of Biden’s coercive statements are that Israel is not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties and that it is guilty of not abiding by international law. These allegations are flagrantly false as well as his “passing reference to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.”
Why doesn’t President Biden warn and coerce Hamas, the genocidal terrorist group funded by Iran that viciously attacked Israel on October 7, to stop cowardly using Palestinians as shields? Why doesn’t he pressure them to surrender? Furthermore, why does President Biden give billions of dollars to Iran, supporting Iran’s ability to finance Hamas and other terrorist groups and its diabolical plan to destroy Israel?
As a disillusioned lifelong Democrat, I am appalled and ashamed of President Biden’s incoherent Middle East policy and his Janus-faced attitude toward Israel.
In order to ensure the possibility of peace, Hamas must be obliterated and President Biden must fully support Israel in its war against unspeakable evil.
Dr. Mel Waldman, Psychologist
Author, I Am A Jew
Kudos to Marc Gronich
Congratulations to Jewish Press “Albany Beat” reporter Marc Gronich on eight years writing for The Jewish Press and his 45th year covering government and politics. Many of your readers care about the actions and activities of both our elected officials and state government agencies. Their budgetary, legislative and regulatory actions directly impact both our individual civil and economic liberties. There is a great burden on those few brave remaining independent players including Gronich, along with City & State Magazine. Legislative Gazette, PBS “New York Now,” and the Albany Times Union. Only a handful of daily newspapers including the New York Times, Newsday, Daily News and Post maintain a presence in Albany to hold the governor, state comptroller, attorney general and members of the Legislature, along with various state agencies accountable.
The handful of brave reporters are outnumbered by the press spokespersons for elected officials, government and quasi-government state agencies, along with hundreds of special interest lobbyist groups.
There are many taxpayer citizens who have a continued thirst for news from our state capital. I look forward to Marc Gronich’s future stories in years to come.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
On a Positive Note
Israel is emerging from the current crisis stronger than before. Israel is more united, its citizens are more determined to fight for their state, and Jews around the world have renewed their commitment to the Zionist cause.
Politics isn’t dead in Israel. Protests demanding Mr. Netanyahu’s resignation have resumed, and profound disagreements bubble below the surface. But none of this affects the country’s determination to prosecute the war. Israelis from all political camps are determined to put national security first when the war ends.
Israeli military experts, including critics of the government, think the war is going reasonably well. Casualties are significant, and there is hard slogging ahead, but Israel is on course to inflict defeat on the deranged and misguided Hamas movement. It also is headed toward deeper integration into the Middle East. Arab leaders, who are moving the Arab and Islamic worlds into a brighter future than the fanatics can imagine, appreciate as never before the value of a strong Israel to their own security and prosperity.
America’s Middle East policy remains muddled, and the global struggle of revisionist powers against the American-led world system can intersect explosively with Middle East politics. But for now, Israel has rallied from the shock of Oct. 7 and is on track to re-establish deterrence.
For Israel, bad Palestinian strategy is the gift that keeps on giving. Over the decades, Palestinian resistance movements have consistently been too weak and fragmented to threaten Israel’s survival. Nevertheless, their constant low-level threat led Israelis to develop the first-class defense and technology capabilities that make it an indispensable partner for countries all over the world.
The unspeakable barbarity of the Hamas attacks has again united and strengthened Israel while accomplishing nothing for the Palestinian people. The Jew-haters who overshadowed more peaceful and responsible demonstrators across U.S. streets and campuses have deeply damaged the Palestinian cause with centrist opinion. Such displays remind Americans that anti-Jewish bigotry and the ignorance it fosters threaten the foundations of American life. Based on what they hear from friends and relatives overseas, many Israelis believe that hundreds of thousands of new Jewish immigrants may head their way soon, migrants who will strengthen Israel’s Jewish demographic base and pull its politics to the right.
For all this, Israel’s worst enemies have only themselves to thank. The haters continue to build the Jewish state even as their barbarism frustrates the hopes of thoughtful Palestinians and those who wish them well.
Brian Goldenfeld
Oak, Park, Calif.
Coming Home – Chanukah in Israel This Year
I think every Jew has had the same thought since October 7:
“What can I do to help?”
I was in Israel on the first day of Chanukah visiting my son Nate, Malka, and our grandkids. I am happy to report the resiliency of the Israeli people.
Volunteer opportunities are plentiful and well organized via WhatsApp, Facebook and other sources. While there, I participated in packaging supplies for soldiers’ wives at a community center in Jerusalem and farmed for a day in a greenhouse at a moshav in the Judean Hills.
The most interesting take I have from my time in Israel was the Israelis’ concern for my safety in the USA! They are concerned about antisemitism in our universities and in our big cities.
The strength of the Israeli people is inspiring.
I spent a wonderful Shabbat in Efrat. The singing and spiritual energy (ruach) Friday night at shul almost moved me to tears. Shabbat morning was more of the same. While there I noticed one father and his son (who returned from the IDF) sitting in their chairs sleeping with their heads supporting each other. My guess is his son has not slept well while serving and his father has probably been worrying, but they both felt they needed to be in shul. Another man at shul was dancing and singing with his newborn baby. I learned he and his wife (45 years old) just had their first child! Each congregant there has a story of how they are affected by the war and tragedy of October 7. Life must go on.
To me, visiting Israel makes me feel like a child coming home to Mom and Dad. There is a comfort there even in times of trouble. What can I do to help is easy when it is family. It doesn’t feel like work. The Jewish people are one big family and we will find our way to help.
Just do it!
David Sternberg
Solon, Ohio
Chabad of Solon
Via Emal
Humanitarian Aid Not For Jews
I am very disappointed with the Red Cross. For many weeks, war has been raging in the Gaza Strip and the Red Cross has done nothing to help or even see the hostages kidnapped from Israel. The condition of these hostages is completely unknown.
I will no longer donate to the Red Cross.
Charles Winfield
Boca Raton, Fla.
The Non-Solution, Back Again
A two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians is constantly being proposed by the United States and much of Western world, but not the Arab world, as a solution to their seemingly never-ending conflict.
What these advocates either forget, or choose to ignore, is that Israel tried this with the Palestinians in Gaza in 2005. Israel completely evacuated from the Gaza Strip and left a fully functioning entity for the Palestinians to rule by themselves.
However, instead of building up the land, they destroyed all Israeli facilities and voted into power a Hamas government that proceeded to bombard Israeli settlements with rockets, missiles and fire-balloons, and initiated constant border skirmishes. In 2008 and 2012, Israel invaded Gaza to try to put an end to the attacks, but they continued. And as we now see, Hamas went underground and precipitated the current full-scale, devastating and bloody war.
But advocates of the “two-state solution” are undeterred, and are still trying to pressure Israel into the same arrangement with larger Palestinians populations in the North, led by Hezbollah, and the West Bank led by the Palestinian Authority.
What could possibly go wrong?
In the words of George Santayana, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.
Our Worst Enemies
Of all our enemies – Iran, North Korea, China, Russia – the most damage being done to this country is by the Left. Regardless of whether you love or hate Trump, the fact is much of what’s going awry, from the economy to our southern border to our global image, was relatively in check when Trump was in office. Yet there are people who are hell-bent on making sure Trump never gets elected again. This destruction from within defies logic.
Biden, on the other hand, is turning out to be the most destructive president in history, yet no one is in a mad rush to get him out of office. Especially grievous is his position on our southern border. It’s obvious that the massive influx of immigrants is ruining our cities, yet Biden completely ignores the situation.
The way things are going, it seems like Trump is the only one who can turn this country around from its downward spiral. People need to leave their emotions behind and wise up. It’s much harder to come back after you hit bottom.
David Balsam
Brooklyn, N.Y.
