Jewish News Letters
Charlie Wolf And The US Election
Dear Sir
I enjoy reading Charlie Wolf's articles. I am surprised however that when he writes about the US Election that he does not disclose that he is the Communications Director of - and therefore a spokesman for - Republicans Abroad UK. I believe that your readers should be aware of this salient fact.
Barry Shine
Edgware
Charlie Wolf And The US Election
Dear Sir
I read Charlie Wolf's article with horror, shame and tears (Jewish News, 17 October). What kind of Jew can only see as far as the success of his very hardworking and also fortunate father/uncle.
Does he not understand that tzedakah means justice? A measure of society is how it looks after its weakest members. We, as Jews, have a responsibility to ensure that we look after the weakest members of our society. 'Spreading the wealth' does not equate with 'taking away from some to give to others' as Charlie Wolf states. While some adjustment to the US taxation system might be appropriate, Charlie Wolf's scaremongering anti-social justice approach seems less than dignified. There are many ways to ensure that the disadvantaged have access to a basic level of education, health and social care so that they in return can contribute to society. The clear choice for American Jews had to be to support Barack Obama.
S Rosen-Webb
Finchley
Concerned About US Presidential Election
Dear Sir
As somebody who is apolitical and has never supported any known "ism", whether 'right', 'left', or even 'centre', I am more concerned about this current United States presidential election than any I can recall in my lifetime. My concern is not simply about who wins this election, it is because never before has the corruption and influence of media, academia, and popular culture, been more pronounced. In America, at least three mainstream television channels publicly demonstrated their allegiance to one of the two candidates, Barack Obama.
In the television world of cable and other channels, independent journalist research made public the fact that 73 percent of all coverage accorded one candidate, Obama, has been positive; 34 percent of all coverage to one candidate, McCain, has been positive; 67 percent of all coverage to one VP candidate, Biden, has been positive; 17 percent of all coverage to one VP candidate, Palin, has been positive.
In terms of press, the imbalance between coverage of both tickets has been even more pronounced - it is factually correct to say that the American press, led by the New York Times, has been firmly "in the tank" for Obama since he won the Democrat candidacy from Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, press bias has not just been in the editorial comment columns,which is acceptable,but in the very nature and detail of the actual news reporting,which is totally unacceptable. It is clear that the BBC has been "in the tank" for Obama, and people can make up their own minds about whether our own British press and television coverage, as a whole, has been fair and balanced between Obama and McCain, Biden and Palin. I have done the analysis and have my own evidence on this.
Frankly, the reasons given by many as to why they are supporting Obama in this election, demonstrate more clearly than anything else, the fact that so many of the important issues concerning Obama's thinking, attitudes, background, record and past associations, have gone either unreported, ignored, or judged to be "distractions".
Interestingly, the Obama campaign and the Democrat party, having previously agreed to abide by agreement on maximising expenditure on the presidential campaign, has simply disregarded it and spent more than both parties comined ever in American history. Anybody who is anxious about Israel needs to consider that one candidate, Obama, expresses his determination to "continue America's strong allegiance to Israel", while the other candidate, McCain, has a proven unquestioned record of support for Israel over the last 30 years and is "committed to America's military support for Israel at all times". I fear that the media, academia (72 percent of American university tutors are active members of the Democrat party), popular entertainment culture, will have been successful in influencing this election. Let's hope the next eight years (if Obama wins he will definitely get a second term) will prove them right.
Harry Levy
Pinner
Israel Will Lose At The Ballot Box
Dear Sir
In a matter of months, the Israeli electorate will once again be going to the polls to choose a new government to lead it into the new post-Bush unknown where nothing now is certain, unqualified support could well be a thing of the past and the Jewish state may not have the 'Israel right or wrong' political policy still in place.
So who are going to be the real winners and losers in the election circus that is about to be unleashed on the population of the Middle East's only democracy.
To my way of thinking, the biggest losers are going to be the Israelis themselves, since for the first time for as long as I can remember there are few if any real choices. Israel's most charismatic leader for at least a generation lies in a comatose state and only the memory of his exploits as the victorious tank general who in the 1973 Yom Kippur War probably saved Israel from military defeat lives on in people's minds.
When the Kadima party emerged from the seismic explosion that shockedIsraeli politics when Mr Sharon left the Likud, the Labour party, for so long the party of government literally disintegrated as all its leading personalities scrambled for jobs so as not to be left out in the cold. This to all intents and purposes means that the next election will be basically a two horse race between the Likud led by Bibi Netanyahu and Kadima led by Tzipi Livni.
Whilst both of theses people will no doubt honestly believe that they have the credentials to lead Israel in the post Bush era neither in my opinion have the force of personality to be able to carry the Israeli people forward through some very painful decisions that they may well be forced to make in the future.
In the past there was a Begin, a Ben Gurion or a Shamir who in times of extreme danger to the State were able to lead from the front, make statesmanlike decisions and carry the day. Israel has in the recent past been shaken by Presidents who have been forced to resign and of Prime Ministers with secret family bank accounts.
In these forthcoming elections although there are experienced and responsible leaders at the helm of the two major parties, neither of these people are, I believe, capable of making those fateful decisions that will shape the future of the Jewish state. So who will be the winners and losers in the forthcoming elections, the winners have yet to be decided but the losers will be no doubt the Israeli electorate themselves.
David Maurice
Roe Green
Past Letters' pages
- Praying For Some Silence In Shul
- Dear Sir
Regarding Silence in Synagogue (Jewish News, 23 October). Stefan Reif, in his book 'Judaism and Hebrew Prayer', refers to a collection by A. Yaari of "Miy sheberakh" prayers from about the twelfth century.
- Thursday 30th 2008f October 2008 - Poland's Record
- Dear Sir
As a Polish Jew, I read Ambassador Tuge-Erecinsca's article with particular interest and gladdened by Poland's strong support for Israel in the international arena (Jewish News, 2 October). - Thursday 23rd 2008f October 2008 - Memories Of Leslie
- Dear Sir
Having read many of the tributes in the national and Jewish press on the death of Leslie Hardman (Jewish News, 10 October),I would like to add my personal account of my connection with this exceptional man. - Thursday 16th 2008f October 2008 - UN Must Slam Iran
- Dear Sir,
Like me, do you ever long for the time when the Secretary General of the United Nations will stand up and publicly inform the Hitler-ite, anti-semitic president of Iran that Israel will exist for eternity and Jews, whether Zionists or not, will live there in a democratic nation state the nature of which they will be free to decide? - Friday 10th 2008f October 2008 - These Terrorists Will Never Succeed
- Dear Sir
Once more the horrific results of a terrorist attack were seen on Jerusalem's streets. A car driven by what one can only assume was a member of one of the terrorist groups ploughed into a line of soldiers waiting at a bus stop. - Thursday 2nd 2008f October 2008 - We Should Follow Olmert's Example
- Dear Sir
'In an unprecedented move, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week expressed his 'sorrow' for the fate of those Palestinians who lost their homes during the 1948 War of Independence' (Jewish News, 18 September). - Thursday 25th 2008f September 2008 - Disengagment And The West Bank
- Dear Sir
Re: Reengaging with disengagement (Jewish News, 11 September)
How foolish of the appeasement government of Ehud Olmert to place the withdrawal from the 'West Bank' back on the agenda. - Thursday 18th 2008f September 2008 - Blaming Britain And Poland For Shoah
- Dear Sir
Your paper two weeks ago (Jewish News, 28 August) seemed to be one where correspondents offered historical revisionism as real history. - Thursday 11th 2008f September 2008 - British Culpability For The Holocaust
- Dear Sir
I must take issue with Stephen Hugh-Jones (Jewish News, 28 September). Britain did abandon Jews to their fate and to its shame has still not admitted this. The destruction of European Jewry suited the then British Foreign Office. - Thursday 4th 2008f September 2008
