Letters to the Editor, May 8 2024, Very puzzling

Very puzzling

In “The dark reign of Seyyed Ali Khamenei” (May 5), Erfan Fard offers a very puzzling article on Iran that throws up some serious questions. He omits some very important considerations in trying to paint a picture of an Iran that he suggests is crumbling internally in a manner similar to the implosion of the USSR communist empire in the late 1980s.

From what we know, Iran is being flooded with money. Openly from the United States directly, from the Obama-Biden relief of the sanctions imposed by president Trump, and especially from the very open access to the oil markets that Trump had stifled.

The writer suggests that the successor of the son of Khamenei might emulate the bad example of the biblical figure Rehavam, who divided the Kingdom of Israel after the death of his father Solomon, by instituting negative hardline policies. Yet, in the case of current Iran, such policies are already being implemented by President Raisi, who the writer doesn’t even mention.

As for Iran becoming a “pariah,” we can only say: if only. Russia, China and other major countries cozy up to Tehran, and the deeply misguided US still wants to be friendly with the regime, at Israel’s expense.

That there is major internal dissension is clear. Unfortunately, every significant attempt in recent years to remove the current leadership has been brutally squashed. Ultimately, such a situation may be unviable, but the changes that we would desire may take a very long time. 

JOSEPH BERGER

Netanya

Endless articles

If there is any column in the Post which I look forward to the most, it’s “Letters to the Editor.” Yet, instead of more letters, the issue of May 6 had only two.

These days, I skip most of the paper, which has endless articles on what polls say about the chances of politicians in a yet non-existent election, on what’s going on at US campuses, on those anti-Netanyahu demonstrators who have now piggybacked on the unfortunate terrible emotions of the families of hostages, and so on.

I would much prefer to see more letters; a full page from my fellow citizens residing in our beloved Israel. Leave the letters from Diaspora readers to your Internet site.

AVRAHAM FRIEDMAN

Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut

A seed of hope

Ifat Ovadia-Luski’s “A story of rebirth” (May 6) should become required reading in every Palestinian classroom. Seeing how the Jews, while never forgetting their past, rebuilt their lives following each persecution and expulsion, might plant a seed of hope in the children. Indeed, perhaps a change of heart might occur in teachers who have been preaching Jew-hatred to children and urging them to seek martyrdom by killing Jews.

Perhaps Palestinian leaders will arise who would begin work on building the infrastructure needed by a viable state, admitting that no state can be born from efforts to destroy Israel. They might even free the 6,000,000 Palestine refugees from the refugee limbo imposed on them long ago by the Arab League, and grant them citizenship in the Palestinian state which would be a good neighbor to the nation-state of the Jews.

TOBY F. BLOCK

Atlanta

Wake-up calls

”Climate change a major factor in increase and spread of dust across Middle East” (May 6), and your other recent articles about severe climate events, including the ones about the disastrous floods in Kenya and Brazil, should be wake-up calls to the urgency of addressing climate threats.

Yet, while climate change is an existential threat to Israel, the US, and indeed, the entire world, former US president Donald Trump, running again in the upcoming presidential election, is in denial about climate threats, and has called it a “Chinese hoax.” If elected in November, he would likely appoint other climate-deniers to key environmental positions and do everything he can, along with Republican congressional members, to roll back legislation which was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as he did during his administration. 

Trump is unaware of, or chooses to ignore, the significant increase in the frequency and severity of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, and other climate events. Climate experts warn that the world may soon reach an irreversible tipping point when climate spins out of control, with catastrophic consequences.

Because of the above and Trump’s many other flaws, it is essential that he not be reelected.

RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ

Shoresh

Beg to differ

I agree with Tova Herzl’s premise (“‘From the river to the sea,’” May 7) that although there were many offers of a Palestinian state, the Arabs always rejected them. However, I beg to differ with her that the Jewish people’s belief that the entire Land of Israel is our inheritance is equal to calls by Arabs for a Judenrein Palestine.

Maybe this government is on to something. What have the Arabs ever done to prepare for a state? During the British Mandate, the Jews set up the infrastructure for a state by establishing the Histadrut, healthcare, an education system, etc. The Arabs have done nothing but educate their children to hate us and reward them for slaying us.

Jews have lived as loyal citizens all over the world in countries that are not ours. There is no reason why the Arabs in Judea and Samaria can’t live in the one and only Jewish state as their Arab-Israeli brothers already do. It is no wonder that the “two-state solution” is obsolete. After living through intifadas and October 7, Israelis are waking up to the fact that a Palestinian state within our slim borders is suicidal.

A people have to deserve a state. 

CHAVA LEBOWITZ

Jerusalem