Israel’s Gaza War Dilemma
Eylon Levy wrote a comprehensive article describing the dilemma facing the Israeli government vis-a-vis saving the remaining hostages, vs. trying to defeat Hamas once and for all. These are contradictory goals and it is unlikely both can be obtained at the same time. (“Between Defeating Hamas and Bringing Back the Hostages,” May 23.)
The hostage situation is an intensely emotional subject, and also a very divisive one. Understandably the hostage families seek the freeing of their loved ones as a primary goal of the war, while supporters of the IDF want the final elimination of Hamas as the primary goal. These contradictory goals illustrate the brutal wartime calculus of trying to save some lives now but probably paying for it later, and is what Bibi Netanyahu must navigate between.
In very raucous and emotional displays of national divisiveness, both groups have been putting enormous pressure on Bibi to try to sway his course of action. Any sign of divisiveness only gives aid and comfort to the enemy and lets them control the situation.
I think the best thing for Israelis to do now is to stop their internecine divisiveness and give Netanyahu their full moral support, and hope and pray that he does the right thing, instead of trying to pressure him one way or another. The man certainly has a crushing load on his shoulders already and as difficult as it may be, he needs to see a show of support, and the country needs to project a spirit of unification now, not more divisive pressures.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.
“Pro-Palestinian” Is Pro-Terrorism
Regarding “Suspect Apprehended in the Murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram” (www.jewishpress.com): It is time to stop pretending that the “pro-Palestinian” movement is anything but a pro-terrorist movement with people who are either malicious antisemites or the most gullible, ignorant bleeding hearts who consume every bit of terrorist propaganda put in front of them.
The terrorist who murdered two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. last Wednesday yelled, “Free, free Palestine!” after being detained and donned a keffiyeh. Too many on social media decided to call this “senseless violence” when, in reality, it makes all the sense in the world. Murdering Israeli civilians is what Hamas, which governs Gaza, does. Murdering Israeli civilians is what started this latest war, when Palestinians invaded Israel and massacred 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children. A pro-Palestinian terrorist gunning down two civilians in Washington, D.C., is a logical continuation of pro-Palestinian violence.
That is because the pro-Palestinian movement is pro-terrorist at its core. Protesters chant “Globalize the intifada” and “From the river to the sea” because they support terrorists. They hide their faces with masks and keffiyehs because they know they are on the side of terrorists. They tear down posters of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas terrorists because they support those Hamas terrorists.
“Pro-Palestinian” politicians and protesters lie about a “genocide” in Gaza or “apartheid” in Israel to justify their support of terrorists. They want Israel to surrender to terrorists without ensuring that those terrorists even return the hostages they took. They ignore Hamas stealing aid from civilians in Gaza and executing them if they protest against Hamas’s rule. They protest at American synagogues because they hate Jews more than they hate Islamic terrorists.
“Pro-Palestinian” politicians want to defund Israeli defense systems, which would do nothing to create peace and would only result in Palestinian missiles killing more Israeli civilians. They don’t talk about Palestinian missiles, or knife attacks, or shootings, or how Palestinians who murder Israeli civilians earn payouts for their families under “pay for slay” programs. As in the case of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), they lie about Israeli missiles striking hospitals, and continue to lie after it is revealed that the hospital was actually a parking lot and the Israeli missile was actually a Palestinian missile.
The “pro-Palestinian” movement does not want peace. It wants “intifada” and the elimination of Israel. It ignores Hamas terrorists murdering civilians, even when those civilians are Israelis advocating for coexistence. It accuses Israel of genocide and war crimes for fighting a defensive war against a genocidal, antisemitic terrorist organization. It blames Israel for everything, and the Palestinians, including Hamas, for nothing. It is a pro-terrorist movement, and everyone who supports it should be shamed, ridiculed, shunned, deported if they aren’t U.S. citizens, and labeled as the terrorist supporters that they are, whether it be because they are naive fools or soulless cretins.
Brian Goldenfeld
Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Menachem Begin in D.C.
I enjoyed Saul Jay Singer’s May 2 Collecting Jewish History column “Ronald Reagan‘s Mixed Record on Israel.” Singer wrote that President Reagan “rebuked [Menachem] Begin during the prime minister’s first U.S. visit (September 1981).”
Perhaps Singer meant Begin’s first U.S. visit with Reagan. According to the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Prime Minister Begin visited President Jimmy Carter at the White House in July 1977. Since Begin was elected in May 1977 as Israel’s seventh prime minister, his July visit with President Carter was his first official U.S. visit.
Later in the column, Singer correctly noted that Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat “met with Carter at Camp David” in 1978. The State Department’s Historian says Prime Minister Begin had ten U.S. visits before meeting President Reagan in 1981.
In his discussion about Rabbi Edgar Magnin, the “Rabbi to the Stars” at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Singer mentioned the wedding of Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg. For the benefit of readers, he might have added that Shearer was an actress at M.G.M. and Thalberg was the studio’s producer.
James Patterson
(not the novelist)
Washington, D.C.
Saul Singer responds:
Indeed, I meant to say that Begin’s first visit with Reagan was in September 1981, but somehow the word “Reagan” got left out of the sentence and my proofreading failed to catch my error. I sincerely thank Mr. Patterson for both his note and his well-taken correction!
