EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
LETTERS
Letters are posted
and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
At The Core
"Who is the thief that tore up our land?"
"One should beware of Jews because they are liars and treacherous."
— English translation, Palestinian school textbook excerpts
I
n Palestinian Authority schools, children learn that Jews are "the enemy"
They are taught it's okay to kill Jews in the name of Islam, and sacrifice their
lives if Jewish blood is shed in the process.
Young men, and now young women, who aim to blow themselves up as
suicide bombers — and kill or hurt Jews — become martyrs while earning their
proud families PA "rewards" of $10,000 or more.
Each day, 800,000 students in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are exposed to anti-
Israel propaganda at school and in the community. Research shows
that the Palestinian Education Ministry is officially indoctrinating
the next generation to hate Jews and destroy the state of Israel.
Witness last week's blast at a Jerusalem pizzeria, where a suicide
bomber killed 15 Jews, including seven younger than 16, and
wounded nearly 100.
Shockingly, a Nobel Peace Prize winner presides over this sadis-
tic way of life. Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat tells his
people one thing in Arabic and the rest of the world something
ROBERT A. quite different in English. You can't bargain with a murderer and
a terrorist who clearly has no regard for peaceful coexistence.
SKLAR
I began to think about the core reason behind the sustained
Editor
Palestinian hatred toward Jews when I read a Jewish Telegraphic
Agency story last week about a former Detroiter's quest to expose the brainwash-
ing of kids living under the rogue regime of Arafat's Fatah faction.
"It's incredible," says Molly Resnick in the story. "They are promoting jihad
[holy war] in their grammar and language books. The Palestinian textbooks are
the only government-sanctioned curriculum anywhere in the world that promotes
violence against Jews."
Resnick, Bulgarian-born, Israeli-raised and a former NBC News producer, is a
founder of Mothers Against Teaching Children to Kill and Hate (MATCKH), a
grass-roots movement founded in 1998 in metro Detroit.
MATCKH emerged after a group of Oakland County mothers and grandmoth-
ers saw a mock Sesame Street-styled weekly Palestinian TV program on which chil-
dren as young as 5 were singing the glory of jihad and the virtue of becoming
"suicide warriors in battle dress at the gates of Jerusalem."
On Target
MATCKH is not without critics. Some say Arabic is vague, so trying to trans-
late it could distort the intended meaning. Others say it's useless for our kids to
send MATCKH-initiated letters exhorting peace to Palestinian kids without a
concurrent productive adult dialogue.
No matter.
Molly Resnick, now a New Yorker, is right: Peace won't come
without core changes in the Palestinian educational system. I
applaud the work she and her MATCKH compatriots have done
to publicize the Palestinian folly
Though noble, the simple efforts of MATCKH alone won't
force Palestinian leaders to expunge hate from their culture or
promote Jews and Israel as neighbors. Remember, we're dealing
with a people that sends its young "to war" with nail-spiked
explosives strapped to them.
Limor Fisher
But MATCKH efforts can contribute to a blueprint for lasting
peace. It must haunt Arafat and his operatives that Jews in the
Mideast haven't lost their will to be there.
I'm taken by Limor Fisher's fortitude. Fisher, 25, of Rishon Le-Zion, is a coun-
selor with the Israeli Scout Friendship Caravan, a singing troupe on U.S. tour.
The scouts, all 17, await Israel Defense Force service next year.
I met Fisher when the Caravan came to town last week. "We live in a so-called
war," she told me. "We have our regular life to worry about — work, school,
home — but we must also keep our happiness. It's the only way we can be strong,
and the only way we can bring peace to our community, even it takes longer than
we had thought."
Better To Judge
The Whole Person
Kudos for writing an insightful, bal-
anced and accurate portrayal of
Elizabeth Berkley ("Catch A Rising
Star," Aug. 10, page 59).
I watched Elizabeth grow up at
Miss Barbara's Dance Centre and
always knew her to be a sweet and
delightful person. Liz's plight after
her starring role in Showgirls brings
up a lesson for us all to consider:
We should all think before we are
so quick to judge a person on one
deed. How good the world could be
if we would take the time and com-
passion to step back and look at the
whole picture, the whole person.
When you step back and look at
Elizabeth in totality, you see a beau-
tiful person, both inside and out. If
Woody Allen gets that, then I guess
the rest of us certainly can, too!
Janice Tracht
Commerce Township
Young Adult Committee
Proudly Presents
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FREE
Festivities for
Young Kids of
ALL
ABILITIES
•
Sunday,
August 19th
1:00 to 3:00 PM
Irving and Beverly Laker
Education & Youth
Complex
2075 Walnut Lake Road
West Bloomfield
(2)
Star Also Shines
As Vegetarian
It was news to me that Elizabeth
Berkley ("Catch A Rising Star,"
Aug. 10, page 59), who will be
appearing soon in the new Woody
Allen movie The Curse of the Jade
Scorpion, is Jewish and that she
comes from this area — Farmington
Hills. What is old news is that she is
a vegetarian and an activist.
She has been a strict vegetarian
her whole life. In her activist "role,"
she is known as a "lettuce lady" in
one of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals' more positive
campaigns.
In her own words, "I was thrilled
to help PETA enlighten people on
how vegetarianism can enhance
their lives. No one. needs to eat ani-
mals."
We are happy for her success and
hope she will be a long-time inspira-
tion to the rest of us.
Maida Waldner Genser
Michigan Area Jewish Vegetarians of
North America
Royal Oak
LETTERS on page 6
FRELE
INDOOR 8 Gunmen
FONT
Carnival Games • Arts n' Crafts
Magician • DJ • Moonwalk
Airbrush Tattoos
Mini Train Ride • Prizes
Free Treats for Everyone
For Mara
Information or
to RSVP:
(248) 538-6610, ext. 349
30301 Northwestern Hwy.
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
8/17
2001
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