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Redirect Outrage
Several board members of Ameinu
Detroit, in their letter "In Pursuit Of Peace"
(March 18, page 6), repeated the view that
the recent kerfuffle over an Israeli mid-
level bureaucrat's approval in a four- out of
seven-step process for housing permits in
north Jerusalem was an insult or affront to
the United States and the Obama adminis-
tration in particular.
Did they actually intend to echo
their ideological predecessor Neville
Chamberlain in their choice of closing the
letter with "Still hoping for peace in our
time?" Recall that the then-British Prime
Minister Chamberlain made a similar
declaration in 1938 upon his return from
Germany, having sold out Czechoslovakia
to Hitler in a misguided effort to maintain
European peace and prevent war — the
so-called Munich Agreement.
We all remember how well that kind of
diplomacy worked out for humankind and
European Jewry in particular!
The Obama administration could be
forgiven if this type of reckless policy
had occurred centuries ago or at least not
during the lifetime of those fortunate to
survive the horrors of Nazi Germany con-
centration camps, the creation of which
was a ghoulish consequence of British
appeasement policy.
It would be so refreshing if Ameinu
voiced the same outrage in its let-
ter regarding the so-called moderate
Palestinian leadership honoring terrorists
responsible for the murder of innocent
civilians in the name of Islam as it does
over the potential future housing starts
in an overwhelmingly Jewish area of
Jerusalem, which everyone, including the
Palestinian leadership, acknowledges will
never be part of any prospective — and I
use that term reservedly — peace deal.
Marc Weinbaum
West Bloomfield
Stand With Israel
Regarding Ameinu Detroit's letter "In
Pursuit Of Peace" (March 18 page 6):
Why is a new negotiated peace agree-
ment between Israel and the Palestinians
necessary? Did not then-Prime Minister
Ehud Barak, head of the Labor party, offer
a wonderful peace agreement (negoti-
ated with PLO leader Yasser Arafat) to the
Palestinians in 2000?
Everyone said that it was an irresist-
ible peace agreement. Not only did the
Palestinians resist the agreement, they
also started an intifada, a war of vicious
attacks against Israel.
And what happened when Israel,
without even requiring a peace agree-
ment, gave Gaza to the Palestinians? They
elected Hamas, a party of terrorists, as
6
April
2010
their leadership. Hamas promptly turned
Gaza into a launching pad for missile
attacks into Israel. When, after eight
years of patience, Israel retaliated, there
was universal condemnation. Evidently,
every nation has the right to defend itself
— except Israel.
An Israeli said to me, "Sometimes we
Israelis act wisely and sometimes we
make mistakes, but it doesn't matter what
we do. The Arabs don't want a Jewish state
in the Middle East."
Certainly, it was a mistake to announce
additional building in east Jerusalem,
precisely when U.S. Vice President Joseph
Biden, a true friend of Israel, was visiting
the country. But it is not a mistake to carry
out that building. East Jerusalem is in the
Green Zone and was thus left out of the
American-Israeli understanding about
cessation of settlement building. Actually,
an acceptance by Arabs of an undivided
Jerusalem as the capital of the State of
Israel would be a real sign that peace is
possible.
But don't hold your breath. Daniel
Gordis, who lives in Israel, has written a
book Saving Israel, How the Jewish People
Can Win A War That May Never End.
That is the reality of the situation. The
president of Iran only voices the goal of
all Arabs with some exceptions. This is
the real impediment to President Obama's
goal of peace.
Israel needs solidarity, not a scolding.
Shoshana Woloek
Oak Park
Divestment Call, Again
I read with interest your "Repudiate
Divestment" editorial comment (March 11,
page 39).
First, I enthusiastically support the
newspaper's position. It effectively points
out that the Student Government at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn clearly
missed — or ignored — numerous factors
in its decision to petition the university's
Board of Regents to approve the divestment
of companies that invest or do business
in the West Bank or that supply goods to
Israel's military. I won't repeat the editorial's
main points here, but the issue surfaced at
the Dearborn campus nearly five years ago.
When the school's Student Government
held a public forum on the issue after
the group approved its recommendation
be forwarded to the university's Board
of Regents, I, as chairman of the school's
Jewish student group, asked why my group
wasn't informed of the matter before the
Student Government acted on the divest-
ment issue so a more balanced argu-
ment could be made. A leader of the
divestment committee of the Student
Government sheepishly replied that he
didn't know there was a Jewish student
group on campus. I then informed him
that a simple call to the Student Activities
Department would have revealed that
indeed there was such a group.
Part of the political atmosphere at the
Dearborn campus is that there are at least
three active Muslim or Arab-American
student groups and no thought was given
to the possible existence of a Jewish stu-
dent organization.
By the way, the Board of Regents at that
time either ignored the Student Government
request for divestment or formally rejected
it. The regents clearly understood that there
was a steady campaign among colleges
across the country to discredit the state of
Israel at every opportunity.
Your readers should be aware that the
administration of the Dearborn campus
has been very supportive of open discus-
sion of policy issues, but insist that a full
debate be held, not just a perfunctory dis-
cussion among a small group of persons
or organizations of like minds.
Leonard Poger
Westland
Toughen Sanctions!
It is stupefying that the Obama adminis-
tration and Congress exploited all kinds of
maneuvers to expedite passage of health
care reform, but are stalling the enactment
of sanctions to stop Iran from becoming
a global nuclear threat. That this diddling
goes on despite nearly unanimous support
for sanctions in both the U.S. Senate and
House is an outright sellout of Israel by
this White House.
All that was needed to move sanc-
tions forward was reconciliation of slight
differences in the two bills from both
chambers. But the administration scuttled
reconciliation, instead returning to the
already protracted diplomatic "dialogue"
and carving out exemptions for China to
the petroleum sanctions. So much for the
"crippling" sanctions that were the last
best hope for deterring Iran! And to think
the U.S. strung Israel along in this charade
for the last 14 months — time that Israel
has now lost to take pre-emptive action to
safeguard her very existence.
If it already wasn't patently clear to
Israel that she cannot depend on the
U.S. at this critical juncture, the dress-
ing-down of Israel by the administration
served as the exclamation point. But
if the U.S. reneges on its commitment
to Israel and idly watches as Iran goes
nuclear, our nation will have also reneged
on its commitment to the safety and
security of our country and the entire
free world.
Support Literacy
In April 1999, the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit, now
known as the Jewish Community
Relations Council (JCRC), answered a call
from President Clinton to help combat
literacy. Leonard Fein, founder of the
National Jewish Coalition for Literacy,
promised to recruit 100,000 Jewish lit-
eracy volunteers nationally. The Detroit
Jewish Literacy Council (DJLC) was
formed, with more than 20 Jewish organi-
zations and volunteers taking part.
During the past 11 years, Hadassah, the
National Council of Jewish Women, ORT,
B'nai B'rith Women, sisterhoods and indi-
viduals went into schools to read to and
tutor children in grades K-3 who needed
assistance with reading. The DJLC was the
clearinghouse, with an AmeriCorps fellow
organizing workshops and helping locate
schools in need of support. The program
grew to more then 300 volunteers.
Children in suburban as well as Detroit
schools are still being tutored, or read to,
by many of the same volunteers. I current-
ly volunteer at Thurgood Marshall School
in Detroit with several others.
The DJCL did not begin the literacy
project; but it expanded under the Jewish
Community Council and coordinators
Lauren Marcus and Phyllis Jarvis.
Kudos to those who volunteer with the
program recently started in Detroit and
even more kudos to those who continue to
help children read under the DJCL.
There is room for more volunteers
under either program. Call the office of the
JCRC, of which I am a board member, to
express your interest: (248) 642-2656.
Micki Grossman
Farmington Hills
Control Teen Dating
I want to express my appreciation for the
very informative and important commen-
tary "Confront Teen Dating Abuse" (March, 4,
page 27). Certainly, the use of texting, tweet-
ing, etc., has become much more prevalent
with children whom we do not even consider
to be adolescents. This has the effect of influ-
encing their behavior and judgment.
For the past five years, National
Council of Jewish Women/Greater Detroit
Section has presented our Teen Dating
Abuse Awareness program to the Jewish
Monday-night schools, Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield and many
public schools in Metro Detroit.
We are also offering this free program
to parent groups. To schedule a presenta-
tion, call (248) 355-9936 or send an e-mail
message to TDA@ncjwgds.org .
Arlene Frank, NCJW/GDS
Robert Stulberg
Teen Dating Abuse Awareness chair
Farmington Hills
Detroit