Saturday, February 26, 2005

Update to Links

I have included a link in the "Israeli Newspapers" section to the new English edition of Yediot Acharonot. It is the most widely-read newspaper in Israel.

Also, I have removed the link to Blueear.com, which ceased publication last week. Blueear was good while it lasted, but apparently Ethan Casey just didn't have enough time to devote to it. Its successor is called "Globalear". Blueear was very good as an edited set of pieces on varied topics by writers from around the world. Then it changed into just another discussion forum posting board. The new edition needs an editor, and needs to return to the old format.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

New Letter in the Jewish Week

I finally got a letter into the Jewish Week after a number of unsuccessful attempts.

This one is in response to an article in which Nathan Laufer characterized Ariel Sharon as a latter-day Korach.

The extreme settlers and their allies have been writing in the most heated terms (guess I can't really blame them, since they're about to lose). I thought this particular op-ed was noticeable for being exactly 180 degrees from reality.


Sharon’s Legitimacy

Nathan Laufer has Korach and Moses mixed up (“Legality Vs. Legitimacy in Gaza Pullout,” Feb. 18). Today it is Sharon who is Moses, and the opponents of disengagement, some of whom are threatening to use violence to disrupt the government’s policy, who are Korach.

Mr. Laufer’s thinly veiled extremism leads him to compare Ariel Sharon, a democratically elected leader whose policies are supported by the majority of Israelis, with Henri Petain, a Nazi quisling —yet another regrettable instance of the extreme wing of the settlers and their allies comparing Ariel Sharon to a Nazi for evacuating Jews from Gaza.

It is time to end this incitement, and for people like Nathan Laufer to realize that it is they who represent the threat to legitimacy and legality in Israel, not Israel’s democratically elected, overwhelming popular leader.

Michael Brenner
Woodmere, N.Y.