A Halachic Trade
I have two responses to “Can Women Serve in the IDF According to Halacha?”
1) Avner Porat quotes the Gemara as stating: “It’s a man’s nature to make war, and it’s not a woman’s nature to make war.” Does that mean that a charedi male who refuses to enroll in the IDF is denying his male nature?
2) If it’s forbidden for women to serve, perhaps the charedi community should propose the following deal to the government: Our men will serve in exchange for ending the draft on women.
Stephen B. Vogel
Scrap the Parliamentary System
I’m not a maven on Israeli politics, but I strongly believe the parliamentary system serves Israel poorly.
Israel needs a strong and stable leader who can act decisively in the face of danger without the constant threat of his government being dissolved by one of his political “partners.” He should have a fixed term of office defined by a written constitution.
The American system – in which the chief executive and legislature are elected separately – would serve Israel’s critical needs to a much greater extent than its current parliamentary system does.
Jerry Terdiman
Woodcliff Lake, NJ
Why Is the IDF Discriminating Against Jews?
The name Neriyah Zaroge is undoubtedly unfamiliar to most readers, but this young man was just recently served an IDF military order banishing him from his home in the hilltop outpost of Kumi Ori for a period of three months.
There is no legal basis for this order or any evidence of wrongdoing on his part. It’s part of what appears to be an ongoing trend of favoring land-grabbing Arabs over Jews who simply want to hold on to Jewish land.
Another example of the IDF favoring Arabs over Jews occurred recently at Amichai, a community in the Shomron on the outskirts of Shilo built for the expelled Jews of Amona by the government. The Arabs are now planning to build a community adjacent to Amichai with the apparent consent of the military. At a recent protest over the development, which was entirely peaceful, the Jews – not the Arabs – were restrained and threatened.
Israel must apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. That’s the only answer to the many anti-Jewish positions taken by the military. Idealistic Jews living on hilltops raising their families and holding onto the land should not have to endure discrimination from their own people.
Helen Freedman
Co-Executive Director, AFSI
Weprin’s Strange Priorities
Queens State Assembly member David Weprin was a guest speaker at the Lifers and Long-Termers Parole Summit held at the Otisville Correctional Facility on September 27. Earlier this year he introduced legislation that would make some prisoners convicted of murder or rape eligible for parole once they reach 55 and have served at least 15 years of their sentence.
Weprin seems to be more concerned about breaking bread with those who have committed crimes than the victims of murder, arson, rape, muggings, and robberies. Just remember that when he runs for reelection to the State Assembly in 2020. He does not deserve your vote, or financial contribution.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, NY
The Biden Hire
Who would hire a drug addict who was just thrown out of the U.S. Army, a man with an alcohol problem and known to frequent women of ill repute? And who would pay him $50,000 a month to work in a field in which he has no expertise?
But a Ukrainian gas company did hire such a man. His name is Hunter Biden, who just happened to be the son of the vice president of the United States at the time. A Ukrainian prosecutor searching for corruption sensed something wrong and began investigating. Joe Biden responded by threatening to withhold a billion dollars in American foreign aid unless the prosecutor was fired within six hours. He was fired.
With the Democrats pointing the finger at President Trump, the Biden story has necessarily faded into the background. But I believe the American people are wise enough to see through this political trick. As President Lincoln said, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Arthur Horn
Fort Lee, NJ
Shame on Engel
Thank you so much for your editorial on the “The Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2019.” You could not be more correct in writing, “But the issue here is that it was Qatar – which has notoriously supported Palestinian terrorism for years – that got its way with Rep. Engel, a longtime supporter of Israel. And that is a very big deal.”
The Qataris didn’t like the fact that the bill mentioned their massive financial support for Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority didn’t like the fact that it would have penalized regimes that assist Hamas. So the text of the bill, which was authored by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Florida), was changed.
The language regarding Qatar was removed, and loopholes were added so that “humanitarian” aid to Hamas wouldn’t be blocked. I put “humanitarian” in quotation marks because we all remember how concrete that was intended for humanitarian purposes – i.e., to build homes – was instead used to build tunnels to kidnap and murder Israelis.
We need to be clear: There is no difference between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PA. All three work every day for the destruction of Israel. This bill would have made life harder for them. So shame on Engel for caving, and shame on the many Jewish leaders who are giving him a pass on this.
Moshe Phillips
National Director, Herut North America
Liberals Are Not Socialists
Most Americans don’t seem to know that “liberal”/“progressive” is not synonymous with “socialist.”
A socialist wants all businesses and workplaces to be owned and controlled by the state/government/workers/people – not by individuals who run them for profit. Democrats who want our federal government to spend more on social programs to help the lower and middle classes may be liberals or progressives, but they are not socialists.
Stewart B. Epstein
Rochester, NY
Impeachment Backfiring
Over the years, I’ve been critical of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters, Adam Schiff, and Jerrold Nadler. Today, though, I’m singing their praises. By their unnecessary calls for President Trump’s impeachment, they have succeeded in increasing the number of Trump voters.
I wonder: Are these people totally unaware of the nation’s mood? Do they have even a vague notion of the unpopularity of their actions? Even polls unfriendly to the president find 61 percent of the population against impeachment.
A “whistleblower” that has only second-hand knowledge of a conversation by the president is the basis of this impeachment push. Imagine the apoplectic uproar if such a weak basis had been used against Barack Obama. The media’s selective outrage only lends more credence to Trump’s mantra of “fake news!”
Myron Hecker