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Friday October 31, 2003

letters

‘Never Again’ tattoo, Stars

of David declare ‘I am a Jew’

This is a two-part letter. I must first congratulate you all on the new and hip, up-to-date j. format.

Next, in regards to the recent column by Michal Lev-Ram regarding her Magen David necklace, I am disappointed because no matter what the world thinks of us, we must always stand up for what we believe in.

My name is Abraham “Avi” Tordjman, born and partially raised in Israel. I have been the subject of xenophobia as well as anti-Semitism all my life, growing up as the only Israeli/Jewish kid in a Swedish school.

Additionally, I am in my 23rd year in prison, and despite this being one of the most anti-Semitic environments one can face, I wear a large gold Magen David around my neck. I also have a Magen David with the words “Never Again” tattooed on my arm, and “Israel” on my stomach, for the world to recognize that I am a J.

Michal, don’t let any more dust collect on your beautiful Magen David. I also suggest you get a few more, start a collection, and in time pass them on to your next generation along with the pride, strength and resolve of the Jewish people.

Abraham “Avi” Tordjman | Vacaville

How much jibes hurt

Regarding Dan Pine’s Sept. 19 column, I’m basically a French immigrant who arrived in California at a very early age. My parents had dreams of the melting pot while both my grandparents spent short time in camps while in France.

Although I am fortunate not to be subject to much racism, I come from a mixed family and have seen racism rear its ugly head on several occasions.

For the most part I won’t let jibes of that sort go by.

I do believe most people are truly ignorant of how much that stuff hurts.

Francine Deal | Walnut Creek

‘The same path’

I would like to react to your Oct. 24 article about the Nabil Sha’ath speech, “Finger-pointing and flag-waving.” Sha’ath claimed that “peace was derailed by plain old bad luck,” and he continued to say that “no one could have predicted [Yitzhak] Rabin’s assassination and the subsequent electoral victory of Benjamin Netanyahu.”

This is a very disingenuous statement. After Rabin’s assassination, the Israeli right was in complete disarray and on its way to lose the elections. Netanyahu would not have been elected without the Palestinian “assistance” in the form of three terrorist attacks — two buses in Jerusalem and one in Tel Aviv.

The combined effect of these three terrorist attacks was to create in the Israeli electorate a feeling of insecurity and mistrust that led to election of a new prime minister, who promised security through force and not through peace.

The Palestinians chose the same path again when they facilitated the election of Ariel Sharon instead of Ehud Barak. A successful result of the Camp David and Taba discussions would have resulted in the re-election of Barak and prevented the loss of some 1,500 Palestinian lives (not to mention the 800 Israeli).

Reuven Segev | San Rafael

Double standard?

Barbara Fink’s Oct. 24 reference to  “Zionist thuggery” demonstrates the usual double standard expressed by self-hating Jews and poorly disguised anti-Semites. Her reliance on the BBC, which is pointedly anti-Israel, is a dead giveaway.

In defense of a degenerate like Yasser Arafat, Fink’s condemnation of the entire elected Israeli government for a thoughtless utterance by Ehud Olmert is astonishing evidence of her own bias.

Worse, Fink apparently pays no attention to Arabspeak — i.e. one version for English speakers and another in Arabic. If she did, she would routinely hear of the vile genocidal threats made by leaders of a society that nurtures in its children the language and conduct of intolerance and death.

Israel’s government is entitled to be judged by the same yardstick as others are. In that context, its restraint is unprecedented in the face of the vicious bloodletting committed by Arafat’s minions at his urging. Hitler was not known for personally killing anyone, but his early death would have been a good idea.

Olmert may have been indiscreet in speaking his thoughts, but he was not wrong. I would rather be called a Zionist thug than a Jewish victim; Arafat would prefer the latter.

Desmond Tuck | San Mateo

Liberal ‘duplicity’?

There’s no end to the duplicity of the so-called “liberal” Jews.

Three of our countrymen were deliberately assassinated recently by a roadside bomb at a border crossing to the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Authority. None of our Jewish liberals seem to care about these brave men.

All these liberals are obsessed with the unfortunate but “accidental” death of Rachel Corrie rather than the lives of innocent Israeli, U.S. or Western citizens, babies, women, children, old men and young men who are being snuffed out.

Zevika Salles | San Francisco

‘Bravo for j.’

I commend you on the changes that you have made to the Jewish Bulletin with the creation of the new j. I appreciate the paper quality, the new “easier to hold and read” size, and the slick, colored pages.

I enjoy reading the added human-interest information in your engagement and marriage announcements. Just like the New York Times, you tell the cute stories behind the people. The paper is more “with it,” inviting and attractive to a broader audience.

Bravo for the new j.

Cindy Morris | Kentfield

Balance needed

While I enjoy the wonderful new magazine format and great graphics of j., I miss the local coverage of Peninsula, San Francisco, East Bay, North Bay Jewish activities. On the other hand, I enjoy reading the extended feature pieces on Bay Area Jews regardless where they live in Northern California.

It seems that you are attempting to broaden the geographic reach of the publication, which is smart. More importantly, it looks like you are trying to encourage a change in mindset from the segmented Jewish communities of each town in this market to a larger, more inclusive, broader base — of, by and for interested Jewish readers in all Northern California.

I hope the paper continues to expand so you will have more revenue for writers and photographers and more space for even greater coverage.

There needs to be a balance between lighthearted features, hard news, entertainment stories, etc. You’re getting there. Keep up the good work.

Richard Aptekar | San Carlos

‘Disgusting, depressing’

The picture of the small Palestinian boy holding a machine gun in the Sept. 19 edition of j. is disgusting and depressing. Unfortunately, similar images exist in my memory, including the picture of a Palestinian baby dressed as a suicide bomber.

These images should serve as a reminder to those of your readers who think that if there were no Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza the Palestinians would lovingly accept Israel’s presence.

Where is the outrage from so-called peace activists and champions of social justice against the Palestinian practice of poisoning their children with hatred and assuring that their children’s future will be one of conflict and violence?

Settlements can be removed (and were removed in the Sinai), but I wonder if a hateful and violent mentality instilled at an early age can ever be removed. 

Josh Baker | San Francisco

Arafat and murder

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli innocents. According to Abu Daoud, the mastermind behind the terrorist operation, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat approved the murderous attack in advance. 

Perhaps no act of cold-blooded mass murder has ever garnered a killer greater rewards. Just two years later, the United Nations General Assembly gave Arafat a forum to address the world. 

What Arafat said on Nov. 13, 1974 in Geneva is strikingly telling as to his attitude toward peace today.

Arafat declared, “I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”

In three sentences, Arafat made two things clear. First, he refused to take any responsibility for making peace. Rather, he held the world fully accountable should even his most extreme demands not be appeased. 

Second, Arafat served notice that, regardless of whether he retained the olive branch aloft in one hand, he would always wield the gun with the other. The gun, he made clear, will never be dropped. For Arafat, even “peace” is a 50-50 marriage with terror and bloodshed. 

Stephen A. Silver | Concord

Let their people go

Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt but did not bring the Promised Land. Moses the Law Giver liberated the oppressed slaves, raised their consciousness, and during the 40 years of wandering in the desert shaped them into a tribal fighting force.

Nevertheless, Moses did not lead his people into the Promised Land. Joshua, the military genius, did it.

Each phase of nation building requires a leader with different abilities and qualifications.

Similarly, Yasser Arafat raised the consciousness and hopes of the Palestinian people but, being a slave to his terrorist habits, he cannot bring them to the promised land of peace and prosperity. He cannot liberate his from people from the moribund cycle of violence and sufferings.

It is up to the Palestinian people to realize that presently they need a new leader who can eliminate the senseless terror and organize an open and responsive government that can collect taxes, build schools and factories and collect the garbage.

A free society can be built only with brick and mortar. It is time for Arafat to recognize his limitations and let his people go — toward a better future without him.

Alexander Kimel | Fort Lee, N.J.

Guts admired

I admire Aaron Seruya’s guts to write what millions of Jews feel and many even hate to admit to themselves that they do (Sept. 5 letters ) — that there can never be peace in Israel unless the hostile Arabs are expelled or transferred from all the land which God gave to the Jewish people.

Only the peaceful and law abiding ones should be allowed to stay. It’s truly the only “effective” and moral solution, which will also save countless lives.

Aaron is right that Rabbi Meir Kahane’s ideas (and his organizations) even now are banned in Israel under the pretense of labeling them “racist,” when in fact it’s because of the fear of its tremendously growing popularity and political threat of a Knesset takeover.

Even the reputable and reliable “right wing” news radio Arutz-7 is still outlawed, raided and harassed in Israel, and for years is still forced (at great expense) to broadcast from a ship outside Israel’s waters.

Thank God we have some sources where we can get news and ideas not censored, blacklisted, misrepresented or negatively portrayed as does the Jewish Bulletin and mainstream Jewish organizations like the Federation and government controlled, left-wing news media in Israel.

Larry Shore | San Leandro

Good or bad idea?

A while ago I read in the Bulletin that G.W. Bush gave a $20 million donation to the Palestinians. That’s not right.

Bush wants to create a Palestinian state, which he shouldn’t do.

He’s supposed to give this money to Ariel Sharon to support Israel and not to support the Arabs. If we create a Palestinian state then there will be no Israel. It is a wonderful idea that Bush support Israel, and bad idea that he support Palestinians. So, in my opinion, we shouldn’t allow him to do so.

Paul Shkuratov | San Francisco

Where are tourists?

I recently gave up my rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco to make aliyah, and I can tell you that Israel is not the war zone portrayed by the media.

Although the threat of terrorist attacks is very real, I feel safer walking the streets of Jerusalem than I did much of San Francisco.

I no longer drive a car either, which means my life expectancy has actually increased, considering the odds of being killed in a car accident in America are far greater than being killed in a terrorist attack in Israel.

Yet you don’t see American Jews abandoning their cars like they have abandoned Israel.

Tourism is at an all-time low, and the resulting economic hardship on Israelis is almost unbearable.

Where are all the Jews who profess to love Israel? Have they forgotten the tears, sweat and blood past generations sacrificed to create a safe haven for Jews?

Must Israeli Jews bear the entire responsibility for protecting our Jewish homeland, the only country that welcomes Jews with open arms?

I hope American Jews will soon rediscover the fortitude and chutzpah that sustained our people for centuries and come home for a visit.

Kate Hallgren | Jerusalem

A history lesson

Let’s all go back to 1993 and recall the reluctant handshake that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin offered to Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn.

Rabin led Israel in a process whose goal was to end occupation. The Israeli leader had one major condition: that the Palestinians end violence towards Israelis.

Every responsible Jew should take the time to read what was actually agreed upon between the Israelis and Palestinians beginning with the Oslo Accords in 1993 and through the Sharm el-Sheik Memorandum in 1999.

The words of the documents are unambiguous. Israel never relinquished the right to use its troops in the territories in matters regarding its own internal security. Israel never signed an agreement with the Palestinians that dealt with settlements.

Israel, even under Rabin, has never agreed to an unconditional withdrawal from the West Bank or Gaza.

The Palestinians agreed to stop attacks against Israelis.

The Wye River Memorandum in particular was quite specific in requiring that the Palestinian Authority dismantle terrorist groups and limit itself to specific arms.

As President Bush and his staff accurately point out, the Palestinians and not the Israelis have violated the signed agreements. Read them and stand up for Israel.

Dr. Donald C. Pompan | Salinas

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