Young Sharon
I was connected to Sharon’s early years and want to add some details to his timeline (Jan. 6 j.).
He was born Scheinermann. His family and mine were citrus growers and, politically, Histadrut activists. We were educated in the socialist school in Kfar Malal. My brother, Major Dov Sorokin, recruited us into the Haganah underground.
I was in charge of a cache of 32 handguns, an assortment we had “expropriated” from the British soldiers while they visited local bars in Ramatayim. On Fridays, Arik would get the guns from me to train Haganah members in their use without actually firing them — ammunition was scarce and there was danger of detection by British police.
My brother Dov and Arik eventually were recruited by Gen. Charles Wingate, who created the Palestinian Jewish settlement police during WWII. These police were distinguished by their Australian uniforms. Their official duty was to secure Jewish settlements. Actually, the job provided cover for military training for the future defense of Israel.
Following independence, that police force became part of the Alexandroni division of the IDF, fighting the battle of Latrun, the only battle Israel ever lost.
Hundreds perished, many more were wounded, among them Arik, who miraculously survived.
Rabbi Gideon Sorokin | Tiburon
Mount meeting
Remembering Ariel Sharon, his visit to the Temple Mount in 2000 and the claims that it is the cause for the second intifada makes me wonder what would happen if the winners of the Israeli elections and the winners of the Palestinian elections were to meet at the top of the hill.
Would it be war or discussion? Could these, hopefully, wise leaders actually talk or would it look like a schoolyard shouting match?
Jon Carson | Woodland
Who should vote?
The United States has brought pressure on Israel to allow its Arab citizens living in Eastern Jerusalem — the capital of Israel — to vote in the upcoming elections of the Palestine Authority, whose raison d’etre is the genocidal mass-murder of every Jew in Israel and destruction of the Jewish state.
If the U.S. administration wants citizens of one country to vote for the leadership of a different (or nascent) country whose purpose is based on jihadist terror and mass murder, should we not set the example in our own behavior and invite al Qaida cells in Washington, D.C., to vote for the leadership of al Qaida?
Then, should we not similarly — as we have demanded of Israel — split Washington in two, evacuate all Americans from half of the city, and cede that half to al Qaida as a sign of our good will in a peace process with them? Then al Qaida too could more easily launch rockets and other attacks against America.
That will show them how willingly we’ll commit national suicide. The 1938 Munich appeasement of Nazi fascism by Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier is repeated. So much for the hope that the world would understand “never again.”
Fred Korr | Oakland
Fighting for freedom
Randy Shaw (Jan. 13 letters) declared, wrongly, that Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” offered the concept that “the [twin] towers are shown to create a parallel between the eye-for-an-eye approach to diplomacy reflected in both the Israel-Palestinian conflict and America’s ‘war on terror.'”
Actually, Spielberg offered the idea that people who have been viciously attacked and who respond forcefully, seeking to remove the ability of the aggressor to further attack them, are equally deserving of reprimand as the party who initiated violence.
I suppose that the letter writer faults America for destroying Japanese military forces during World War II as well.
At oath-of-allegiance ceremonies for the Israeli Defense Forces, held at the Wailing Wall, there is a fiery sign that burns in the evening sky: “He who will not fight for freedom deserves not freedom.”
How true that is.
Ira Berkowitz | Emeryville
‘Double lives’
I can’t deny what Hella Winston “discovered” during her conversations with Chassidic men and women about their secret lives, as reported in a recent j.
I have heard stories of families basically disowning their children if they decide not to stay within their community. But I also know, personally, many Chassidic families that continue to love their children unconditionally and never write them off because they are still their children and can still do tshuvah (come back to Judaism).
I also know of many Chassidic men and women who were not brought up that way and whose families will have nothing to do with them precisely because they have become religious.
Yetta Introlegator |
Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
No expert
Your newspaper should be commended for publishing a follow-up to the recent arrest of David Irving in Austria (Nov. 25 j.).
However, I do not understand how a newspaper involved with the printing of Jewish news could print the following from a presumably Jewish news source (The Jerusalem Post Service): “Irving, an expert on the Third Reich who has claimed that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews …”
First of all, I do not understand how any rational person could describe Irving as “an expert on the Third Reich.” He has lied in so many statements about the Third Reich how can anyone rely upon anything he has written about that era and use it for historical material?
Furthermore, Irving has never admitted that there was the “systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews.” He claims some Jews died from disease in the camps and the number was way under 6 million.
Everyone should read Deborah Lipstadt’s remarkable book “History on Trial: My Day In Court With David Irving.” Your paper has previously published a very favorable review of it.
Yale M. Harlow | Los Angeles
‘Absurd’ ban
Former public defender Zeidman, in his recent letter, writes that “pot needs to stay illegal unless and until it can be proven safe and effective as a regulated medicine.” The natural herb has been used as medicine throughout recorded history without a single recorded fatal overdose.
The sole psychoactive cannabinoid, THC — which legally causes the herb to be treated differently from parsley — is FDA-approved as Marinol, a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
I would be happy to have Zeidman accompany me to my ophthalmologist’s office to observe my intra-occular pressure measurement before and after I vaporize cannabis in my Volcano, all while two prescription eye drops in combination inadequately mitigate my glaucoma.
In addition, I would advise him that smoked marijuana has largely controlled my asthma since 1968.
The prohibition of cannabis is absurd in a nation with thriving alcohol and tobacco industries. Let freedom ring.
Rick Steeb | San Jose
‘Glimmer of hope’
Israel is finally doing the right thing by showing and disseminating knowledge of its accomplishments in many areas to the world.
I have been telling my Israeli friends to do this for many years, but the answers I received were a shrug of the shoulders followed by the comment: “They won’t believe us anyway!”
Obviously, a country cannot remain isolated and at the same time be recognized positively.
Perhaps the time has come to have the two states there because of demographics and to advance the possibility of peace. I believe two states could cooperate, for they know each other’s language, customs and culture.
But the other Arab countries should stop using the Palestinians as a verbal weapon in negotiations with other countries.
We also need imams and Arab schools to stop fomenting, preaching and teaching hate. Perhaps all or part of it will happen, for many Palestinians are tired of killings as much as Israelis are, but how does one stop terrorism which is fomented by imams? Obviously, only other imams who want peace have to get involved.
Many problems have to be resolved, but I do see a glimmer of hope in this new year.
Arnoldine Berlin | Oakland
Expel the ‘hostiles’
I admire letter-writer Aaron Seruya’s guts to spell out recently what millions of Jews feel and many even hate to admit to themselves that they do — 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.
Seruya 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 of 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 j. and mainstream Jewish organizations like the federation and government-controlled, left-wing news media in Israel.
Larry Shore | San Leandro