Skeptical Of All Media
Today I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read “Stop the Censorship…I Don’t Believe the Liberal Media.”
I agree it’s not good to believe the liberal media. But I also believe it’s not good to believe the conservative media. Yes, they each present some truth – but it’s colored by political agendas.
I say we should find the kernels of truth in all media and then make up our own minds.
I’d like to ask those who have that anti-liberal media bumper sticker, “How much of what President Trump says do you really believe?”
Joel Allen
Brooklyn, NY
Peace Is Up To The Arabs
What is commonly called the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” is, in fact, the “Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The Arab states rejected Israel’s independence in 1948 and made war against it multiple times. UN Resolution 242 was designed to provide Israel with the security and legitimacy it had been denied by its accepting Israel’s control of territory beyond the 1949 Armistice Line until the Arabs came forward.
Demonstrable Arab acceptance of UN Resolution 242 would pave the way for the “secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force” to which Israel is entitled.
That could also pave the way for a return to the 1993 Oslo Accords, which made no mention of statehood for the Palestinians but which envisioned a “permanent settlement based on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.”
Radical Palestinian nationalism threatens the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan more than it does Israel. Without further discussion between the Palestinians and King Abdullah II, an important American ally remains at risk. But a settlement based on UN Resolution 242 could include a Palestinian relationship with both Israel and Jordan that is more than autonomy and less than statehood, with economic and social integration across the Jordan River.
It is useful, too, to remember that American support for the Palestinian experiment was not full-fledged support for statehood without conditions.
President George W. Bush said in 2002: “When the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States will support the creation of a Palestinian state whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement.”
The burden is on the Arab states and the Palestinians to meet obligations dating as far back as 1948 and proceeding through 1967 and 1993. Only when they arrive in the 21st century can a workable solution be found for Israel, the Palestinians, and Jordan.
Brian J. Goldenfeld
Woodland Hills, CA
Combating Terrorism
The recent terrorist attacks in England have focused the attention of the world on the death, pain, and suffering caused by these murders. Meanwhile, the successful prevention of terrorist attacks generally fails to garner similar publicity.
An example of this was the largely unreported capture of two separate Palestinian terrorists trying to enter Israel last month while carrying pipe bombs. In both cases, these men were caught by metal detectors at an Israeli checkpoint.
Critics of Israel frequently complain that the checkpoints are difficult or even humiliating for Palestinians. However, if the choice is terrorist bombs hitting major civilian targets on the one hand and an inconvenienced population on the other, most people would opt for the later. England and other nations would be wise to copy the Israeli model.
Arthur Horn
East Windsor, NJ
Darwinism And Racism
Re: “How Two New York Rabbis Responded to the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial” (op-ed, May 5):
At the time of the Scopes Monkey Trial the teaching of evolution was very much tied up with promoting eugenics, racism, and social Darwinism. The standard high school biology text at that time was A Civic Biology by George William Hunter. A Civic Biology was racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-poor southern white people.
The frontispiece had two pictures with the caption “Compare the unfavorable artificial environment of a crowded city with the more favorable environment of the country.” It had an obvious anti-immigrant, anti-dark skin subtext. The city picture showed a background of dark-skinned people (Italian, Greek etc.) and pushcarts. In the text, southern whites were referred to as “lazy” and “shiftless.” This was the standard high school biology text of that period.
William Jennings Bryan was not only involved in a science vs. religion debate. He was very upset by the damage inflicted by social Darwinism. Eugenics was a pseudo-science. Jews were considered one of the inferior races. American eugenics very much influenced the Nazis.
The eugenics/social Darwinist/racist agenda was largely responsible for the restrictions on United States immigration during the 1920s. This was a contributing factor to the Holocaust, as so many Jews were left in Europe to be murdered.
Reuven Solomon
Forest Hills, NY