Letters to the editor, February 5: Deceitful world

Regarding “The ICJ is not a court” (February 1): We truly live in a deceitful world. Post-apartheid South Africa, posing as the moral conscience of the world, demonizes Israel with the crime of crimes of genocide, when it is South Africa that should be exposed and disgraced for its depraved crimes.

News24 of South Africa reported that 688 girls in the country, aged nine and 10, gave birth in 2020. In North American prisons, child rapists are considered the dregs of humanity – far worse than murderers. That South Africa is a country of racial harmony is a myth. In July 2021, riots in two provinces killed a shocking 354 people; hostility between Black and Indian South Africans played a major role. That the country preaches ethics to Israel is the height of absurdity. Between April 2022 and March 2023, there were more than 1,000 kidnappings a month and more than 27,000 homicides in South Africa.

To strengthen South Africa’s charge of genocide against Israel, it cites Pakistan accusing Israel of the same. In 1971, Pakistanis slaughtered as many as three million people and raped hundreds of thousands of women in Bangladesh. This is perhaps the worst genocide since the end of the Second World War. We truly live in a hypocritical and wicked world.    

JACOB MENDLOVIC

Toronto

Nothing new

In “Why are so many young Americans anti-Israel?” (January 31), Rafael Medoff, illuminating as always, reminds us that underinformed, politically malleable college kids are nothing new to the US, and that back in the 1930s they were manipulated by communists.

It’s worth noting that today the manipulators are Middle Eastern governments, and organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, which invest millions of dollars – in some cases, billions –  in ensconcing anti-Israeli professors, text books, and overseas students at the American universities and bombarding the social media with anti-Zionism and antisemitism. To err is human, but to be so mindlessly, vehemently, and numerously wrong requires expensive help.

MARK L. LEVINSON

Herzliya

The weakest link

British MP Daniel Kawczynski has written a very forceful and welcome article (“Iran’s threat to Saudi Arabia and Israel,” January 22), in which he describes Iran’s malevolent behavior and intent to destroy Israel and be in a situation of control over Saudi Arabia. Many of the suggestions that he makes are certainly supportive to us, and supported by us.

But unfortunately, we – and much of the Western world – have come to see what, who, and where is the weakest link. It is the United States, which sadly since president Barack Obama has fooled itself that it could delay or avoid taking strong military action against Iran, and left us almost surrounded by Iranian proxies.

The Saudis were clearly moving toward joining us in the Abraham Accords, but it has been very clear to those who understand the situation that a Saudi rapprochement with us was very dependent upon us having a very solid relationship with the US. That was present during the Trump administration, but the Biden administration chose to ideologically attack the Saudis, not support the heavy and very effective economic and financial sanctions against Iran, and distance itself from us with constant complaints and criticisms about our government and some of its members. 

The greater Saudi skepticism now has nothing to do with the Palestinians, but everything to do with Riyadh’s perception that the Americans are no longer solidly with us. MP Kawczynski’s wish for a group of vitally interested countries to more forcefully to confront Iran in a multitude of ways is undermined by the weakest link in the group, the US.

JOSEPH BERGER

Netanya

Coexisting peacefully

I agree with Mike Haltzel and Norm Kurz (“Standards before status: A precondition for Palestinian statehood,” January 29). After thirty years of Palestinian leaders rejecting every peace proposal and working to destroy Israel rather than building the infrastructure needed by a viable state, the Palestinians should not expect that they will get a state via the diktat of the Biden administration.

And, although Haltzel and Kurz don’t seem to have much respect for Prime Minister Netanyahu, he has already outlined the necessary preliminary steps – demilitarization of Gaza and deradicalization of the Palestinians. In the beginning, Israel will need to take control of security in Gaza, until Israel feels that it would be safe to put more control in Palestinian hands.

UNRWA should be dismantled, with Arab states in the Abraham Accords offering the “Palestine refugees” the choice of citizenship in their countries or the option of working to build a Palestinian entity, which would have the possibility of achieving full statehood, based on criteria to be established by Israel and her allies. The work of building the Gazan economy should be closely supervised by the US and the EU to ensure that donated funds actually go to their intended purposes.

Clearly, one important goal is that all involved must accept the necessity for the Palestinian entity and, hopefully, the eventual Palestinian state to agree to coexist peacefully with the nation-state of the Jews.

I would hope that when a Palestinian state is established in Gaza, and possibly in Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria, there would be free movement throughout Israel and the Palestinian entity/state, and that things would function following the example set by the Jewish communities in Area C, where Jewish businesses employ both Jewish and Palestinian workers and serve both Jewish and Palestinian consumers.

TOBY F. BLOCK

Atlanta

Weakness and appeasement

The Biden administration’s response to the deadly attack by Iranian proxies seems calculated to impress American voters in an election year while doing little to deter Iran (“US launches retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq, Syria; nearly 40 killed,” February 4). Shortly after the drone attack which killed three US soldiers and injured more than 40, President Biden stated, “I do hold Iran responsible, in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it.” He partially absolved Iran by suggesting that they have no direct control over their proxies.

The US took six days to respond even though potential target lists must have existed well in advance. They warned Iraq of the pending attack, allowing likely targets to be emptied and high-level personnel to escape. This minimized the response’s impact.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin then stated: “The president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces.” His bluster rings hollow considering that US military installations had absorbed 250 attacks from Iranian surrogates prior to and after October 7 with no meaningful reply.

Clearly, Biden’s overarching goal is to avoid escalation by forgoing direct confrontation with Iran. The result will be just the opposite. Biden’s policies of weakness and appeasement have allowed Iran to act with impunity. The mullahs’ provocative actions will only increase until they are shown that they and their country are directly at risk. Until then, many more US personnel may be injured or killed.

At the same time, Iran may use the response as an excuse to give Hezbollah permission to increase its attacks on Israel.

EFRAIM COHEN

Zichron Ya’acov