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Palestinians treated by Israeli doctors

The Israel/Palestinian conflict provides some strange interpersonal happenings that could lead to some blessed international happenings. The wife of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, went to Israel for specialized surgical treatment. The granddaughter of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas leader, also went to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

These leading Palestinian figures entrusted the lives of their nearest and dearest to Israeli medical teams, and yet they initiated or were complicit in the Gazan policy of launching missiles through the air or terrorists through tunnels to kill or injure Israelis, some of whom could be family members of or the surgeons who worked to improve the lives of the Palestinian patients. One wonders whether the medical treatments could arouse any feelings of gratitude and kinship that might lead to a two-state, good-neighbor policy.

Bud Rubin  |  Palo Alto

 

Israel’s ‘noble fight for freedom’

As I watch one self-proclaimed intellectual after another join the ranks of celebrities in trumpeting their dismay at Israel’s right to self-defense, I can at least take a little comfort in knowing that I taught my children to stand up for what is right, and not to be swayed by what may be momentarily popular.

So go ahead, my liberal friends, step up for the rights of Hamas to target Israeli civilians on sovereign Israeli land, but also remember that in doing so you are also condoning their right to repress women, kill homosexuals and anyone who does not align completely with their worldview. Know that women are not allowed to ride bicycles in Gaza, because Hamas considers it immoral, and that dissenters are killed as a matter of course.

And when history proves that you were on the wrong side of this noble fight for freedom and democracy, when you throw up your hands and wonder what happened to bring the world to such an impasse, fear not; we will be here to remind you.

Marlene Maier  |  Palo Alto

 

A ‘vocal hater’ of Israel

The Aug. 8 issue of the J. reported that Joel Beinin of Stanford University was one of the “scholars” who called for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. That is not surprising; he has been a vocal hater of Israel for years. Alyssa Lappen, an investigative journalist, said the following of Beinin in Campus Watch in 2004:

“He denounces American ‘imperialism’ on Al-Jazeera television. … He refers to jihadist suicide bombers as ‘martyrs.’ He praised Mideast scholars for ignoring the issue of terrorism, and he regularly repeats the most twisted and paranoid claims of Islamist regimes as though they were historical fact. … If one individual can showcase all the flaws of Middle East studies in academia, Joel Beinin is that man.”

It is not surprising that this man is on the list of academic boycotters of Israel.

Ralph Bernstein  |  Los Altos

 

Can’t reason with a hyena

The published letters in the J., such as “Living as one, healing together” and “Lift the blockade” (Aug. 8), and the op-ed “Fear-mongering won’t lead to peace” (Aug. 1) are written by well-meaning people who care about Israel. So were the rejected compromise offers encouraged by the U.S. with well-intentioned Israeli leaders, such as Shimon Peres/Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon/Ehud Olmert and, recently, Benjamin Netanyahu/Tzipi Livni.

This failure is not surprising, since a Western-educated mind cannot comprehend a society where a father is sanctioned to honor-kill his disobedient daughter, a jubilant mother takes great pride in her shaheed (martyr) son, and a leadership is elected that spends billions on procuring rockets and building underground tunnels and uses its deprived denizens as human shields.

Sadly, it seems a diplomatic solution to this conflict is not feasible. The schism between a 21st century–educated mind and a seventh-century Islamic tribe cannot be bridged no matter how hard Israel may try. This is akin to a civilized person encountering a hyena in his backyard. While one is trying to reason and coexist, the other is acting on primal instincts.

Good luck reasoning with the hyena. Just don’t use Israel as a guinea pig (besides, it’s not kosher).

Sam Liron   |   Foster City

 

Rothmann ‘eloquent’

In Sue Fishkoff’s “reporting” on the roundtable discussion on the current crisis, which took place at the Common-wealth Club a couple of weeks ago (“Commonwealth Club panel on Gaza yields few insights,” Aug. 1), she failed to give proper praise to John Rothmann. How in the world he kept his cool with a panel of Israel haters, I do not know. He spoke eloquently and he was a breath of fresh air.

Maury Edelstein  |  San Francisco

 

Shame on you

How is the war in Gaza so hard to understand? Hamas took over by shooting and throwing Fatah leaders off roofs and immediately began lobbing rockets into Israel. For six years now they’ve been lobbing rockets into Israel. Three UNRWA schools have been found to be weapons storage facilities, and tunnels have been found under mosques. Hamas’ attack tunnels dug underneath Israel’s border were to be “activated” during the Jewish High Holy Days as a mass terror attack. Hamas children were used to build these tunnels and 160 have died. Twenty Gazans protesting against Hamas were immediately shot by Hamas. Journalists aren’t allowed to point their cameras at Hamas people launching rockets.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, precisely what the United States and European Union declared it to be years ago. Shame on anybody who supports Hamas, whether by faulty reporting or supportive letters to editors.

Sheree Roth  |  Palo Alto