Nelson Marans Silver Spring, MD
Biden Had It Wrong
Vice President Biden recently told a group of Conservative rabbis that President Obama has been the “best friend” of Israel’s since Harry Truman.
Two points:
First, by his words, his actions and indeed his body language, Obama has not comported himself as a friend, let alone a dear committed friend. His amateurish approach to Middle East policy, his numerous snubs of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his infamous “1967 lines” speech say it all for me. His childlike adulation of Arab potentates is disheartening and quite worrisome. How any American can view Obama as a friend of Israel is beyond my comprehension.
Second, Biden’s reference to Truman’s being a great friend and supporter is simply inaccurate, though years of Jewish revisionism have succeeded in making it seem so. Truman was dragged kicking and screaming into recognition of a Jewish state, and only after a tearful visit by his Jewish former business partner.
After Truman’s recognition, not an iota of arms or equipment was forthcoming from the U.S., while the invading Arab countries had no such restrictions placed on them by their friends.
Bottom line: I trust Romney far more than I do Obama with Israel’s security.
Myron Hecker New City, NY
The Need For Unity
Re Abe Novick’s article about Abba Kovner (“Abba Kovner and the Real-Life Jewish Avengers,” op-ed, May 11):
Kovner, who, as Novick tells us, was a Jewish resistance guerrilla leader during the Holocaust, was a member of the left-wing Zionist organization Hashomer Hatzair. Hashomer Hatzair was a driving force in the Jewish guerrilla resistance movement in the ghettos and forests during the Holocaust.
Another important Hashomer Hatzair Holocaust resistance leader was Mordechai Anielewicz, after whom Kibbutz Mordechai was named. There was an important battle fought at Kibbutz Mordechai during the Israeli War of Independence. Another crucial battle in the War of Independence was fought at Hashomer Hatzair’s Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek.
Tragically, one of the worst Jewish faults has been our tendency to quarrel with one another, even at the most dangerous hours in Jewish history. In the Warsaw Ghetto there were two Jewish commands, one under the leadership of the left-wing Zionists, the Bund, and the Communists; the other under Betar. The Irgun ship Altalena, which was bringing arms to Israel during the War of Independence, was fired upon by the Israeli government. Many people were killed.
The great chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, zt”l, said that just as the Second Temple was destroyed because of needless hatred, so Israel will be redeemed due to needless love.
Reuven Solomon
Rego Park, NY