April 1- 7, 2004

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Correction

Charles Suarez-Penn did not tell police he saw Ralph Pitt kill Jena Tadrzynksi as reported in the March 11 Pretzel Logic, only that he saw Pitt dump her body. City Paper apologizes for the error.

Altman the Schmuck

Regarding ["Fear and Loathing," Pretzel Logic, Howard Altman, March 25, 2004]: Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, there has been "pan-Arab unity" since 1948. The Arabs have been dedicated to destroying the Jewish state literally since the day it was founded, when the armies of five Arab nations attacked Israel the very day it proclaimed independence. There have been several more wars of aggression launched by the Arabs against Israel since then.

For at least the last 20 years, this aggression has taken the form of homicide bombers targeting innocent civilians (and large rewards for the families of the bombers paid by Arab leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat) to the firing of missiles and mortars at Israeli towns and cities (such as during the 1991 Gulf War and today by Hezbollah terrorists operating out of Syrian-occupied Lebanon).

For some reason, Mr. Altman has forgotten or cares to ignore history as well as current events, instead playing the popular game of Blame the Victim. He relies on a senile fringe Israeli politician, Uri Avnery, as his lone "expert."

Let's get it straight, Howard. Sheikh Yassin and his ilk encourage and dispatch explosives -- shrapnel and rat-poison-laden bombers aboard Israeli buses, into Israeli cafes and even into religious observances to kill and maim as many people as they can.

Further, to compare an arch-villain like "Sheikh" Yassin to the democratically elected Mr. Sharon is not only ludicrous, but immoral. When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon orders the Israeli military to go after terrorists and their leaders, the Israelis try to keep the loss of civilian lives at minimum. That is why they launch precise missile attacks, use light bombs and even warn people to evacuate targeted buildings. Yassin's and Hamas' goals have been the more casualties, the better.

Perhaps Howard was considering nominating Yassin for the Nobel Peace Prize so he can have that much more in common with Howard's hero, Yasser Arafat.

Steve Feldman, Executive Director

Zionist Organization of America
GREATER PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT

Upon reading "Fear and Loathing," I became so incensed that I really had to write you to point out a few things that you seemed to have missed.

You talk about firstly, "true pan-Arab unity" and how ferocious the Arab world now is toward Israel. Arab unity has existed before. Let us point to the wars of annihilation against Israel. Lots of unity there. It just failed. Ferocious? More ferocious than the 478 Israelis dead this year, blown to the heavens? The poisoning of a whole generation of Arabs? My God, man, the mind disease which is being practiced over there needs a cure. We have not found it yet. Nor have the Israelis. And truth be told … they are tired of the parlay. What has it bought Israel? Twelve-year-olds with bombs packed on them. "Have a good day dear, and don't forget your schoolbooks." What madness! And never quote Uri Avnery, a man who believes literally that Israel should turn the other cheek 478 times and still not answer these blows. …

You talk of George Bush and Sharon as simpletons who can't understand that they are supposed to let their people bleed at the hands of these killers without the slightest reaction on their part except to beg for mercy. "Can anyone really be this stupid?" (Your words.) Howard, stop playing games. …

P.S. For your information, I am not Jewish. I'm a white 44-year-old Catholic who remembers an old Arab proverb I learned long ago: "A scorpion meets a turtle on the banks of the Jordan. "Swim me across or I shall sting you,' he says. Halfway across the scorpion stings the turtle. As they both start to drown, the turtle asks "Why? Why have you done this? Now we both shall die.'"

Michael Egan
VIA E-MAIL

Your shortsighted view of Israeli reality is evident.

Although you back your opinion with the words of an Israeli politician from Gush Shalom, you (and he) fail to acknowledge the fact that NOTHING that Gush Shalom offered to the Arabs stopped the killing of Jews. Gush Shalom supporters made Jewish orphans, widows and parents, whose parents, spouses and children were murdered by Arabs, pay the price for their illusions.

NOTHING that Israel does in response to the murder of its children inspires the type of Pan-Arab hatred you present. This hatred has been and continues to be the reality for ALL Arabs in the Middle East. They perpetuate it. For the past 56 years, every Arab child has been taught and continues to learn -- there is no place for Jews in Palestine (meaning ALL of Israel).

This is the impediment to peace.

Your comparison of Yassin to Sharon is more than obscene. It is a lack of fundamental understanding of morality of action. Whatever Sharon may have done, compared to the type of destruction Yassin preached and practiced, Sharon is a saint. Predictably, you do not grant Sharon a bit of the well-deserved indignation and fury you seem so willing to grant to ALL Arabs. Has he not seen during his lifetime enough Jews die at the hands of Arabs simply because they wanted to live in PEACE in a legitimate Jewish state?

Your measure of reality has been twisted by Arab propaganda and your arrogance to presume that exposing Israel to Arab "goodwill" for the umpteenth time will protect them is even more obscene. However, the Arabs appreciate your cowering and your support.

To bestow Sheikh Yassin with the protection of [the title of] religious leader is no different than bestowing such honor on Osama bin Laden. Yassin's paralytic hands were bathed in Jewish blood as he called for the annihilation of ALL Jews. May his followers follow him.

Mila Raclaw
VIA E-MAIL

While I respect your opinion on how Sheikh Ahmed Yassin should NOT have been executed, I strongly disagree.

This religious "leader" has promoted suicide bombings as a way to kick the Jews out of Israel (If you believe Hamas and Arafat want to peacefully coexist with the Jews, I have swampland at the corner of 12th and Lehigh I want to sell you for $4.50 per acre.) to disenfranchised Palestinians (kill many Jews -- get 72 virgins in paradise for free). You can't expect ANY foreign leader to put up with this type of individual and the followers who obey his message.

What if Jerry Falwell suddenly encouraged his "followers" to blow themselves up along with a abortion clinic or anyplace that homosexuals hang out? Wouldn't you want the president to either arrest Jerry Falwell or shut him up FOR GOOD?

I could go on and on, but, to sum it up -- Sheikh Yassin wrote a big, fat mouth-check that the Israel government just cashed. (And unlike the attacks perpetrated by the Sheikh's followers, no innocent civilians were killed in this one.)

P.S. If "martyrdoom" is so good -- why are all the young Palestinians doing it instead of their old, decrepit leaders?

Phillip Gilliam
VIA E-MAIL

Tax and Mend

Mayor Street is again putting off tax reform ["A Big Fat Budget Mess," Amy L. Webb, March 25, 2004] this time to 2006.

Instead of a $500 million Economic Investment Fund (as vaguely defined as the NTI and just as wasteful, but helpful to developers, not to poor communities), he, and hopefully City Council, should be adopting the whole Tax Reform Commission's recommendations which would have an immediate effect and turn Philadelphia around without being another suspicious pay-for-play private scheme. Your readers should go to www.PhiladelphiaForward.org to easily contact the mayor and City Council to enact the Tax Reform Commission's recommendations NOW. This is a better than cutting recreation centers and libraries (the basic needs of a civilized, informed society).

Joan Sage
VIA E-MAIL