Letters to the Editor, June 26, 2024: Our best tool

I was impressed with Uri Pilichowski's account (“The man who flew a swastika flag,” June 23) of how he, upon reading a news story of a Nazi flag flying outside an auto repair shop in Florida, traced down the number of that shop and called the owner.

What then transpired, as he describes it, was a bilateral exchange of opinions as each of them separately stated his point of view. Although this conversation seems remarkable by itself, I would have gone a step further and would have invited the man at the other end of the phone to schedule a visit to the nearest Holocaust museum and resume the conversation after the visit.

At the museum, he would follow the sequence of exhibitions depicting the inexorable path from  prejudgment to annihilation of Jews, and ultimately all targeted peoples.

As a Holocaust guide of many years, both here and in the US, I can almost guarantee that the next conversation would be more substantive and hopefully very different from the first.

As always, education is our best tool against prejudice and intolerance.

MARION REISS

Beit Shemesh

Records of belligerence

It has taken a long time to see any mention in the media about the unsuitability of the new president of the International Court of Justice to judge a case concerning Israel. At last, Liat Collins has highlighted it in her column (“An ugly war and ugly words,” June 21).

Firstly, Nawaf Salam has made several unpleasant remarks about Israel. Secondly, he is Lebanese. A country overrun by Hezbollah and with so much corruption is unlikely to have lawyers and judges of integrity. Worse still, he was Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations, a plum job in the diplomatic service, perhaps even the best, which he could only have secured with the blessing of his government, a country with which we have no diplomatic relations. Is there any doubt that had he ruled in favor of Israel, he would have been lucky to escape with his life, and at the very least lose his nomination to the court?

It is bad enough to see among the judges so many who are from countries inimical to Israel, but to have its president, who probably has the loudest voice, from Lebanon is preposterous. Michel Suleiman, serving as the country’s president from 2008 to 2014, repeatedly stated that Lebanon would be the last to make peace with Israel.

Would it have been impossible for Israel to argue that the presiding judge and those from countries with records of belligerence, hatred or antisemitism should recuse themselves, and if not, be removed? Countries with jury systems allow the defense to remove jurors they believe will be biased against them. Could there be any more bias than that on the part of Salam and several of his colleagues?

The previous court president, an American, managed to produce a decision not so damning to Israel and publicly clarified subsequently that the ruling did not say what so many pundits wrongfully claimed. We could never expect such behavior from Salam.

Has Israel said anything about it?

ALAN HALIBARD

Beit Shemesh

Enterprising members

I do hope that there will be some serious oversight of the use and distribution of the NIS 70 million earmarked to enable haredi men to more meaningfully and productively enter the workforce (“Will finance plan for haredim work without draft law?” June 24).

On more than one occasion, some enterprising members of the haredi community attempted to both have their cake and eat it. You can be sure that some recipients of these generous subsidies and loans will find ways to be seemingly preparing for viable employment while using public money for yeshiva study, child-tending or simply schmoozing with their buddies.

As your article explained, the existing draft law as it relates to the haredi sector provides no small challenge to the success and effectiveness of this incentive plan. I’m concerned, however, that Dr. Eitan Regev’s proposed solution – adjusting the length of IDF service to provide meaningful training while also keeping it acceptably brief for the haredi community – is a disservice to all the other youngsters who readily accept the responsibility of ensuring national security without tweaks or the promise of financial incentives.

I have yet to hear any national religious or Modern Orthodox rabbi encourage anyone to run off to Canada or wherever Israeli draft dodgers hide. I don’t buy the argument that IDF service is a threat to the haredi lifestyle. On the contrary, from what I hear and read, attempts to accommodate their specific needs and requirements are routinely made. Black hats and maroon berets can indeed work together.

BARRY NEWMAN

Ginot Shomron

Jewish roots

Like Tamar Uriel-Beeri (“Arye Deri will do anything to help his friends,” June 21), I am glad that the “Rabbis Law” hasn’t passed. In fact, no political party should have control of choosing rabbis or determining who is a Jew. Israel needs to maintain its Jewish majority and should be welcoming all Jews, whether they are haredi, national religious, Masorti, Reform, Reconstructionist, or secular.

Israel should, most certainly, be a place where all people who have suffered persecution for having Jewish roots can find a safe haven, even if they are not considered Jewish by Halacha.

It is a tragedy that the Israeli rabbinate put obstacles in the path to conversion for hundreds of thousands of olim from the Former Soviet Union who have Jewish fathers rather than Jewish mothers. This has resulted in a significant number of Israelis who are unable to marry Jews in Israel and has also resulted in problems across generations. One such scenario would be of a Jewish Israeli applying to get married but finding that his or her application has been denied because a bureaucrat’s investigation reveals that the applicant’s mother, who converted to Judaism, has not been observing Shabbat to the bureaucrat’s satisfaction.

The state needs to set the requirements for conversion, as well as setting standards for who can certify that the prospective convert has met the requirements. In addition, the state should recognize that people who’ve been living totally secular lives may find it easier to begin their road to Jewish observance in a non-Orthodox setting.

TOBY F. BLOCK

Atlanta

Total military victory

In “The failure of fear” (June 25), Joseph Nichol is correct in stating that deterrence in dealing with the religious ideologues heading Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and their ilk carries no weight in preventing war.

If we have learned anything in the last eight months, it is that total military victory is the sine qua non for achieving peace when dealing with those who have as their religion, the duty to remove Jews from what they consider Muslim territory. 

This means that achieving a diplomatic solution is not possible when dealing with Hezbollah and regime change is necessary in Iran. Anything less will see sporadic warfare in Israel’s future.

FRED EHRMAN

Ra’anana