Letters to the Editor

EU Condemns Israel’s New Settlements

Dear Editor:

The EU must be reminded of Mid-East history.

There is no Palestine today.

There was no Palestine before 1920.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, there was the British Mandate for Palestine. It was one of the collection of mandates created by the allies who defeated the Germans and their WWI partners, including the Ottoman Empire. The Mandate for Palestine was designated as the reconstituted Jewish homeland, just as Lebanon was to be a Christian haven, among the vast expanse of Islamic entities.

Haj Amin al Husseini, Hitler’s partner, was the enforcer of Middle East antisemitism and terror. The British named him Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. His first pogrom was the murder of 2 Jews and the wounding of 200 in Jerusalem in 1920. The slaughter of the Jews of Hebron in 1929, induced the British to move out the remaining Jews, a pattern repeated in towns around Jerusalem.

The Muslim Brotherhood, created in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, formed the ideology for replacing the West with a Caliphate.

During the years of the Mandate, only Jews were referred to as ‘Palestinians.’ To call an Arab a ‘Palestinian” was akin to calling him a ‘Jew’.

By 1948, half the Arabs in Palestine were recent immigrants. Within a few years, half the Jews of Israel were refugees from Arab lands.

To quote Khaled Al-Azm, Syria’s prime minister after the 1948 war, in his 1972 memoirs: “Since 1948, it is we who demanded the return of refugees. … while it is we who made them leave”.

In 1964, the Soviet KGB and Egypt created the Palestine Liberation Organization. They simply called Israel, excluding the West Bank and Gaza, ‘Palestine’ and started calling Arabs ‘Palestinians’ for the first time.

The Oslo Accords, 1993-95 allowed the PLO to enter Israel and temporarily govern Areas A & B of Judea and Samaria until such time as the PLO and Israel could settle on a 2-state solution. Area C, which is 61% of the territory, was left in Israel’s hands.

Area A (18%) is under full Palestinian Authority control.

Area B (21%) Is under Palestinian administrative and internal security control. Israel controls external security.

Israelis in Area C are governed by Israeli law. Arabs are under Israeli military law and live in both legal and illegal settlements.

There are no Israelis in Areas A & B.

In 2005, Israel gave Gaza, free of all Jews, to the PA. Two years later Hamas revolted, drove out the PA and Bedouin, and set up the terror network that exists today.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Gazans attacked southern Israel. Their brutality ended any possibility of a 2-state solution.

Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran itself, the head of the serpent, joined in, firing thousands of rockets into Israel. Their reconning is yet to come.

Hamas started this war. It will end when they surrender. Thousands have lost their lives. Millions of Israelis and Gazans are internal refugees, forced out of their homes.

Israelis building new towns in their homeland is legal under international law, whether the EU likes it or not. Europe would better focus its attention on preserving its own sovereign integrity.

Sincerely
Len Bennett, Author of ‘Unfinished Work’
Ontario, Canada

Biden Should Freeze Overall Spending

Dear Editor:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, our current $34.866 trillion national debt will soon grow to $2.9 trillion annually reaching $56 trillion by 2034. Today’s tab averages $103,471 per citizen or $266,952 per taxpayer. (Source: June 30, 2024 — National Debt Clock)

President Biden and Congress should freeze overall spending. Any future extension of the debt ceiling should be matched by corresponding real cuts in spending.

Implement “pay as you go” budgeting, means testing for all government assistance and sunset provisions for agencies and programs that have completed their missions.

Install national debt clocks in both Congress and the White House. They can see how much they are adding to long term debt every time they pass spending bills dependent upon borrowing to pay the tab.

Government, the private sector and citizens must make difficult financial decisions on how to use existing resources. Americans prioritize their own family budgets. They make the hard choices on how existing household financial resources will be spent. The President and Congress should do likewise.

Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Great Neck

Biden Campaign in Trouble

Dear Editor:

The roof has caved in on the Biden campaign after The Debate that will live in infamy, or until a Democrat dictator/demagogue eventually erases it from our history books and annals. But after a week-end of discussions, articles and commentary, one fact stands out in importance to me: Why did those powerhouses in the know, who were surely aware of his condition, perhaps a year ago, the leaders of the party and Joe’s family permit this sadly mentally, feeble man to continue in office until Thursday’s fiasco? They put the lives of all of us, 300 million plus on the line. They imperiled our nation. And all knew that the man was surely doomed to crash when he faced off against Trump. I hear no apologies or excuses coming from either camp.

The leaders of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran most certainly were long aware of Joe’s condition. The recent attendees at the G-7 Summit in Italy were certainly conscious of his inability to function normally. And word gets around fast in those circles. So why were we the last to know and the most vulnerable to suffer the possible dire consequences due our lack of leadership?

So what happens now? Apparently, the screwed up Biden family, Jill, Hunter and the rest of the whackos are fighting to have Joe continue in office. Who is running the asylum? Who is at the wheel? Who is thinking of the future of the country? Are we a nation adrift? For the answer, just ask the opinion of your tattooed diner waitress or the teen-aged checkout clerk at the supermarket. Their opinion is as good as any. Maybe better.

Thanks,
Irving Gottleib
Merrick, NY