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Arab Zionist's Warning
Should Be Heeded
Thank you Contributing Editor Robert
Sklar for recounting Kasim Hafeez's
presentation in great detail to help
readers comprehend how his trans-
formation from would-be terrorist to
ardent Zionist took place — and how
real was his indoctrination of hate for
the "evil Zionists" ("Standing Tall For
Israel!' July 3, page 16).
I am particularly grateful that
you ended your generous essay with
Kasim's warning: "If today you don't
say anything ... then tomorrow, when
your children are afraid to wear a
kippah ... don't look around and ask
what happened because we'll all be
responsible."
Your essay should stimulate think-
ing about the future safety of our local
Jewish community and not just for the
safety of Zionists/Jews in Israel.
Consider that Kasim made that
statement nine days before three
innocent Israeli teens, no doubt each
with a kippah on his head while
hitchhiking home after attending
their yeshivah high school, clearly
identifiable as Jews, were kidnapped
and slaughtered, "gangland" style, by
members of Hamas. Will Israeli youth
now be more afraid to wear kippot in
public, and will youth and adults here
be more afraid to wear them openly?
Consider the circumstances under
which you remove your own. Consider
when you know another adult male is
hiding his kippah under a baseball or
golf cap.
I think we are rapidly approach-
ing or may have passed the point of
comfortably wearing Jewish symbols
and are asking, "What happened to
make us so fearful of being identified
as Jews?"
On behalf of StandWithUs-
Michigan, I express appreciation
to the Greater Detroit Chapter of
Hadassah's Israel Focus Group and
to Sheryl Siegel in Grand Rapids for
hosting Kasim Hafeez's presentations
and for ZOA-Michigan Region's co-
sponsorship.

Barbara Moretsky, president
Stand With Us-Michigan
West Bloomfield

Palestinian Arabs
Have It Much Better
Thank you for your fine coverage
(and thoughtful editorials) regard-
ing the disturbing Presbyterian/
BDS issue. I have noticed that those
who have been selected to represent

the community on this issue often
accept the charge of our enemies that
Palestinians are suffering as a result of
the conflict with Israel. It is puzzling
that this claim is accepted without ref-
erence to the facts.
According to the World Bank,
Palestinian Arabs have a literacy
rate of 99 percent; 94 percent of
Palestinian children are enrolled
in school; and life expectancy for
Palestinians is 73 years of age.
According to the United Nations, the
standard of living in Gaza and the
West Bank is higher than the rest of
the Arab countries and exceeds Brazil,
Russia, India and China.
If we consider the larger Mideast,
the Palestinian situation looks even
better. In Syria, more than 150,000
Arabs have been slaughtered in 31/2
years, and half of the population has
been turned into refugees living in
the worst of conditions. Sadly, the
Iraqi people cannot hope for a much
better fate than the Syrian people.
The media does not report much on
Libya, but for the Libyan people, it
has become an ungovernable hell like
Somalia.
I understand the notion of wanting
to seem empathetic when we are over-
whelmed with claims of Palestinian
"suffering!" Yet, isn't it a smarter tactic
to stick to the facts and ask those
(inside and outside the community)
who relentlessly bash Israel why they
only have empathy for Palestinian
Arabs but are silent as to the real
suffering of Arabs in the rest of the
region?

Josh Baker
Birmingham

Our Tragedy: Murder
Of Three Teenagers
Lo hamachshava haikar elah hamaas-
eh — the thought is not the essence;
the deed is the essence.
While three families grieve for the
loss of three Jewish teenagers, there
will be words of grief and even of out-
rage expressed by Western democratic
leaders.
More important than any words of
condemnation by Western leaders is
the breaking off by Western nations
of relations with any Palestinian
entity that has Hamas as a partner.
Anything less would indicate that we
are moving back to a period in history
— the 1930s — when British Prime
Ministers Baldwin and Chamberlain
led the Western world into a period of
radical silence rather than leading a

fight against radical evil.
In the words of Psalm 30 v'lo
yidom — we may not be silent when
we have the duty to act to save many
lives by taking action that may lead to
Western countries, including our own,
to insist that Hamas not be included
in any Palestinian group negotiating
with Israel.
My heart goes out to the families of
the three Jewish teenagers who were
murdered by agents of radical evil.

Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz
Farmington Hills

Culture That Celebrates
Murder Unfit For Statehood
The Palestinians and their inveter-
ate sympathizers in the West (like
J Street/George Soros) should note
that a culture that too often openly
celebrates martyrdom and murder is
not fit for statehood, and that making
excuses for that culture only makes it
more unfit.
Postwar Germany put itself through
a process of moral rehabilitation that
began with a recognition of what it
had done.
Palestinians who want a state should
do the same, starting with the Muslim
mothers of bombers and killers.

Larry Freedman
Clawson

Acknowledge Suffering
Of Some Palestinians
Regarding your stories last week on
pages 1 and 5 — "Outrage Over Slain
Teens"; "We Saw The Evil"; "What
Happened At Kidnapping?" — is there
some way that the Jewish News and
the Federation and relevant agencies
can acknowledge the suffering that
some Palestinians have gone through
as a result of this conflict? It is hard to
believe that they are all evil.

Robert M. Citrin
Birmingham

Correction
• "Meet The Mohelim" (July 3, page
1) incorrectly stated that no Detroit-
area mohel is qualified to perform a
brit milah on an adult male. Rabbi
Avraham Cohen informs us he has
performed circumcisions on many
adult men including immigrants from
the former Soviet Union, converts
and some men who just never had
a brit. "All were done with excellent
results!' he reports. "The greatest
pain endured by an adult when I cir-
cumcise them, is the numbing serum
entering the system:'

prc

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