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No Such Thing as “Law of Return”
Dear Editor:
The article entitled, “Law of return, not two states, key to peace in Middle East, Nov. 11, 2024” is totally fallacious. There is no such thing under international law as a ‘law of return’. There is no precedent in history where the perpetrators of a war of aggression were entitled to return to the homes they lost or fled from.
The descendants of Germans forced out of the Sudetenland during World War Two are not entitled to return or restitution.
The Mandate for Palestine was designated under international law as the reconstituted Jewish homeland, just as Lebanon was to be a Christian haven.
Haj Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, rejected the League of Nations and United Nations’ resolutions and attacked the indigenous Jews. 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 survivors.
Husseini spent the WWII years in Germany. He established the Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS troops. He broadcasted Nazi propaganda. He intervened in the rescue plan for 4,000 Hungarian Jewish children and had them shipped to the gas chambers. He was captured by the French who let him escape to Beirut.
By 1948, half the Arabs in the mandate were recent immigrants. Soon after, half the Jews of Israel were refugees from Arab lands.
Husseini’s militias and 5 Arab armies attacked Israel as soon as the British withdrew. The Arabs were defeated. Transjordan and Egypt occupied Judea, Samaria and Gaza. 700,000 Arabs fled.
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”.
The Oslo Accords, 1993-95 allowed 100,000 PLO members to enter Israel and govern Areas A & B of Judea and Samaria until such time as a 2-state solution could be established. Arafat’s suicide bombers, in 2000, ended any peaceful resolution.
In 2005, Israel gave Gaza, free of all Jews, to the PA. Two years later Hamas revolted and drove out the PA and Bedouin.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked southern Israel. Their brutality ended any possibility for an independent Palestinian entity in part of Israel.
Israel, in response to centuries of cruel discrimination in Christian and Muslim countries, created the ‘right of return’ for Jews who wished to emigrate. It is their right to establish laws for their nation. It is no-one else’s business.
Sincerely
Len Bennett
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
Hochul & The Funding of the 2nd Ave Subway
Dear Editor:
This past Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reiterated her support during a post-election press conference for the $7.7 billion MTA NYC Transit Second Avenue Subway Phase 2. She stated “He (President elect Trump) needs to support the Second Avenue subway,” she said “I’ll work with him on those efforts to benefit New York.” What Hochul neglected to mention is that the Federal Transit Administration in October 2023 previously offered and the MTA accepted a Capital Investment New Starts Full Funding Grant Agreement for Second Avenue Subway Phase 2.
It included $3.4 billion in federal funding. The grant was approved based upon the legal requirement that MTA put up $4.3 billion in matching local funding. MTA’S source for its commitment was based upon implementation of Congestion Pricing, which was supposed to raise $15 billion. Hochul previously placed Congestion Pricing on pause months ago. She has said it will resume some time between January 2025 and when the new state budget is adopted on April 1, 2025. Hochul, not Trump is placing the MTA’s $4.3 billion local share in limbo. This could result in the future loss of FTA’s FFGA and accompanying $3.4 billion in federal dollars. Hochul should put her own fiscal house in order when it comes to financing the $7.7 billion Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 before lobbying Trump for federal funding, that unlike the MTA, has never been placed on “pause.”
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former Director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for NJ Transit, MTA, NYC Transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus, NYCDOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ.).
Gallant’s Dismissal is Not Unusual
Dear Editor:
A recent JTA news article by Ron Kampeas described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as “a drastic step while Israel is fighting on multiple fronts.” In fact, dismissing a senior military official in wartime is hardly unusual. President Harry Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, at the height of the Korean War because MacArthur disagreed with Truman’s war strategy. President Barack Obama fired the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for disapproving of aspects of Obama’s war policies (and the officials implementing them). Not surprisingly, Yoav Gallant’s criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s policies led to a similar outcome. Netanyahu deserves to be judged by the same standards that are used to judge Truman, or Obama, or any other elected leader, not constantly disparaged for making decisions that are neither “drastic” nor even unusual.
Sincerely,
Moshe Phillips
National Chairman
Americans For A Safe Israel
New York, NY
afsi.org
Say “No” to Replacing Carbon Fueled Vehicles
Dear Editor:
With the explosion of natural disasters in our Southeastern states, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, we have to examine the reality and feasibility of replacing our current fleets of carbon based vehicles, especially emergency ones, with those powered by electricity (EV’s). Could you imagine, during or after a violent hurricane, earthquake or other major occurrence to have such EV’s respond to scenes where electricity would be shut off for days, even weeks? How would they continue to function without being recharged?
Our current source of power for most on the road vehicles is gasoline, which is plentiful, safe and easily stored for future use. Rescuers, during emergencies, can travel far and wide, carrying with them fuel for countless miles. Rather EV vehicles have to be near sources of electricity which are rarely available during emergency operations.
In short, let’s be realistic and put off replacing carbon fueled vehicles until the time when electricity is available in portable form.
Sincerely,
Carl Siegel
Brooklyn
