LETTERS

LETTERS

from page 5

Directions," June 29, page 14):
1) There is no question that to fulfill
its mission, the Holocaust Memorial
Center must have more space.
2) Let there be no mistake, the
Holocaust Memorial Center would
have clearly preferred to expand on the
Jewish Community Campus. In fact,
the multiple proposals by the H.MC
over the years to the Jewish Federation
leadership to come to an amicable
solution have been regularly thwarted
or given conditions that the Federation
leadership must have known could not
be met.
3) The city of Farmington Hills has
graciously welcomed our expansion to
the Orchard Lake Road site, and we
thank them.
By obtaining this sizable site, the
Holocaust Memorial Center can better
serve to commemorate, educate and
inspire the generations.
The Holocaust Memorial Center's
new facility will be a brilliant jewel. It
will expand, further enrich and be a
source of pride for the Jewish commu-
nity.

Fleischman Res

• Complete Kos
Personal Care
■ Medication Adm
■ Health Clinic
a Safe, Secure Enviro
• Daily, Shabbat, and Holiday
Services in our Synagogue
■ Recreational Programs
'Adult Educational Classes
■ Laundry, Housekeeping,
Transportation
■ Beauty / Barber Shop
■ Nosh Nook and Gift Shop
■ Respite and Guest Rooms

for application, contact:

Tracey Proghovnick, m.s.w, c.s.w.

Director of Admissions

available evenings for appointments

6710 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield

Dr. Michael H. Treblin

Troy

Did Israeli Bullet
Kill Arab Boy?

Your Israel correspondent, Larry
Derfner, equated the brutal lynching of
two Israel reservists in Ramallah, which
was carried out with the- complicity of
the Palestinian Authority police, with
the accidental shooting of the child
Mohammed al-Dura in Gaza. The
child was killed in crossfire between
Israeli forces and those of the PA
("Caught Red Handed," June 29, page
25).
Derfner states that the child was
killed by "an Israeli bullet." How does
he know?
The Israeli government claims that
there is good evidence that
Mohammed was killed by a Palestinian
bullet. Examination of the positions on
the opposing forces (which can be seen
on the Israeli government Web site
www.rnfa.gov.i1) proves that the Israeli
bullet would have had to make a right
turn in order to kill this child. This
incident has been used very effectively
in the propaganda of the Palestinian
Authority. So we know who benefited
from it.
In a similar incident, an Israeli sol-
dier, stationed near Netzarim, told a

reporter that a PA policeman walked
toward his position firing a weapon
with one hand and holding an infant
in the other.
Derfner's approach to this story is
consistent with a left-wing "my coun-
try's enemy right or wrong" approach.
Would it be possible for the Jewish
News to have a more objective, Middle
East reporter?

Dr. Herschel L. Schlussel

Garden City

Dry Bones Cartoon
Demonizes Moslems

The July 6 cartoon in which a charac-
ter denies there is any difference in
"Moslem forces" in several different
places around the world displays a
prejudice and an ignorance that I
found startling ("Dry Bones," July 6,
page 29).
We are all aware of the different
issues that motivate "Moslem forces" in
these disparate countries. Within the
people of the Moslem faith, there are
competing, even warring, factions.
Whether we agree with their diverse
motivations or goals, clearly there are
differences between the fighting in
Chechnya, the turmoil in Afghanistan
and, of course, in Israel.
All these locales have their own com-
plex issues. The cartoon seems to
homogenize, over-generalize and
demonize these Moslem groups in a
classic underpinning to prejudicial
thinking. While I would not assume
what the goal of the cartoonist is, we,
as Jews, know all too well what this
kind of prejudice and demonization is
about.
It feels to me that this editorial car-
toon is destructive to clearheaded
thinking of people who strongly sup-
port Israel or who care about what
goes on elsewhere in the world.

Ed Tobes

Ann Arbor

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