Trump’s Lack Of Substance
Re “Clinton and Trump Primp for AIPAC” (editorial, March 25):
I agree with your complaint that there “was little of substance” in Donald Trump’s address to AIPAC last week. But is there anything of substance in anything he says on any subject?
From the beginning of his campaign he has engaged in extraordinary cold and callous demagoguery, demeaning Mexicans, women, a handicapped reporter, war hero Sen. John McCain, other candidates, and so many more too numerous to recount here.
His latest assault on what America stands for was to speculate (threaten?) that there could be riots if the Republican Party nominated anyone else as its presidential candidate.
Some months ago, after two Muslim terrorists inspired by ISIS killed 12 people in California, Trump said we should ban all Muslims from coming into America “until we can figure out what’s going on here.”
Using his own logic, I say we should ban Donald Trump from running for president “until we can figure out what’s going on here.”
Alan Howard
Brooklyn, NY
Trump’s Telling It Like It Is
Donald Trump’s detractors see a fascist-like threat to our freedom, but I see a successful businessman, not (yet) overly endowed with tact and diplomacy but imbued with an honest “tell it like it is” sensibility that resonates with millions of Americans.
Why? Because they (we) have been lied to and taken for granted for far too long by both of our major political parties.
Trump’s opponents accuse him and his supporters of Hitler-like behavior. But these same leftists and liberals have no problem when it comes to squelching free speech on many college campuses. Trump asks supporters at a rally to raise their hands, indicating they’ll vote for him, and the liberal media would have us believe he was encouraging a Hitler salute.
Trump’s success terrifies the establishment, the elites, the money crowd, the influence peddlers, and the lobbyists. He resonates because he’s saying what needs to be said, albeit at times in a non-politically correct manner.
Myron Hecker
New City, NY
New War Refugee Board
Re Dr. Rafael Medoff’s “They Say It’s Genocide – Now What Are They Going to Do About It?” (op-ed, March 25):
There are and have been great human atrocities in the Congo, Syria, and Darfur. While the United States cannot involve itself in the many ongoing regional wars, there are things that can be done.
It is of great significance that Dr. Medoff cited the work of the War Refugee Board. During the 1950s, Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz, zt”l, proposed establishing a new, permanent War Refugee Board to President Eisenhower to help persecuted minorities, especially in cases of genocide.
The War Refugee Board established by President Roosevelt in 1944 saved 250,000 people, including 200,000 Jews, from the Nazis. Why not have a War Refugee Board now, given the atrocities being committed by murderous groups like ISIS?
Rabbi Kalmanowitz was among the approximately 400 rabbis who went to Washington in October 1943 to demonstrate for a government agency that would work to save Jews during the Holocaust. He not only corresponded with the War Refugee Board, he visited its headquarters in Washington on many occasions. He was especially concerned with Kastner’s Bergen-Belsen train, which had been organized to save a number of Jews by transporting them to Switzerland.
Of course, Rabbi Kalmanowitz is best known for his key role in saving the Mir Yeshiva and sustaining its students during the war. In memory of Rabbi Kalmanowitz, The United States should establish a new War Refugee Board. Rav Kalmanowitz deserves the honor.
Reuven Solomon
Forest Hills, NY
Islamists Targeting Christians
There aren’t many Christians left in Pakistan, but that’s still too many for the Taliban. A splinter group of the Pakistani faction of the Islamist terror group claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack on Christians celebrating in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday.