Letters

• Published in: The Jerusalem post
• Main Authors: Berlinger, Batya, Himmelfarb, Jacob, Peterseil, Yaacov, Vogel, Dan, Miller, M, Wind, Olga P, Newman, Aryeh, Rosenbaum, Raphael, Rotenberg, Mattias, Chinitz, Jacob
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jerusalem The Jerusalem Post Ltd 12.11.2009

Sir, - The French foreign minister should take a look at why the peace movement has all but disappeared ("Kouchner: Israelis no longer aspire to peace," November 11). If only Israelis are willing to give up territory, while Palestinians continue to deny Israel's existence, and if only Israelis agree to a two-state solution, while Palestinians ingrain in their children and their children's children "Kill the Jews for Allah," then the Israeli peace movement has been all but pre-empted by the Palestinian hate movement. Sir, - In "Fears of proxy war loom as Saudi navy blockades north Yemen coast" (November 11), you reported that "The rebels also confirmed that Saudi air strikes were continuing Tuesday, saying new villages had been hit deep inside Yemen, killing two women." We expect the UN Human Rights Council to assign Richard Goldstone to investigate this brazen attack on a civilian target. Sir, - The article on Lord [Jakobovits] ("A modern prophet," November 6) was a beautifully written description of a towering rabbi, brilliant scholar and community leader. He was also prescient. In his article "Rabbis and Deans, which appeared in Tradition, the journal of the Rabbinical Council of America in the early '70s, Lord Jakobovits foresaw the dangers awaiting Jewish life if the rabbinic leaders of the yeshivot, the Deans as he called them, abrogated the influence and authority of community rabbis. He felt that community rabbis were in closer touch with their congregants and more sympathetic to their needs and the pressures of their everyday lives. The Deans, enclosed in their yeshivot, were isolated from the people and therefore tended to be much more demanding and extreme. How sad it is that he was so accurate and that even he and other leading community rabbis have been overshadowed by the extremism so rampant today.