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Kushner Donates $1M to Chabad of UAE
Dear Editor:
Ivanka and I are saddened by the loss of Rabbi Kogan, who was senselessly murdered to stop the historic bridges he was building between Jews and Muslims in the UAE. The success of his work, in partnership with the bold and positive vision of the Emirati government, has been a shining light in the world and a strong counter to the history of division.
Before World War 2, Jews and Muslims lived together throughout the Middle East in harmony for many centuries, celebrating their shared values, and the UAE is leading us back to that time.
In the UAE, people of all faiths and backgrounds thrive together in an environment of mutual understanding and respect. Ivanka and I will be donating $1 million to the Chabad of UAE and will redouble our efforts to work with the Jewish community and the country’s leadership to build a resilient, vibrant Jewish community in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We welcome others to join us in this effort.
The constant scapegoating of Israel and the Jewish people benefits no one, other than inept leaders who use hatred to deflect from their own shortcomings. It’s time for the world to channel its collective energy to uplift our shared goals and ambitions.
To all who wish to aggravate these historic divides, know that your efforts only strengthen the resolve of the Jewish community to contribute to societies that respect and welcome us. History has shown that those who embrace the Jewish people benefit, and those who persecute the Jewish people ultimately face spectacular defeat.
Let us come together from all faiths to pick up where Rabbi Kogan left off and bring his work, and the work of those building the UAE into a thriving destination of tolerance, bridge building and mutual benefit, to new heights.
Sincerely
Jared Kushner
The Corruption of the ICC
Dear Editor:
Surely by now we are convinced the United Nations and its myriad agencies are corrupt.
The latest outrage is the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas officials. By what perverted logic has the ICC equated Israel, a thriving liberal democracy with a robust judiciary, with Hamas, the internationally recognized terror entity which has occupied Gaza since driving out the PA in 2007?
Where are the warrants for Iranian and Hezbollah leaders who planned and directed the Oct. 7, 2023 bloody massacre of innocent Israeli civilians?
Where is the warrant for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose government pays Palestinian terrorists and their families for murdering Jews?
The UN has 193 members; 56 are Islamic and one is Jewish. Few are true democracies. The dictators use their majority to bully and to suck money out of the West.
Democracies generate wealth by respecting the individual’s ability to succeed or fail as talent and circumstances allow. Autocracies, some blessed with oil, govern by force; wealth flows to the few in power. Abbas, for example, lives in a $30,000,000 home on Palace Row in Ramallah
The UN is dominated by the Russians and Chinese and the Islamic states.
The Russians, whose Soviet KGB created the PLO and the Palestinian people in 1964, have a dedicated following.
China, with its vast economic global ties, is the up-and-coming dominant super-power.
The Islamist states dream of replacing the Infidels with a Caliphate. To this end they flood the West with migrants who have no intention of adapting to their new homes and who work to dominate academia and indoctrinate our pliable, immature youth.
The UN’s crowning glory is UNRWA, the fraud that provides cover for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others. They perform Gaza’s municipal services, freeing up the terrorists.
They run ‘refugee’ schools, teaching children that killing Jews and wiping Israel off the map is their highest calling.
UNWRA rejects the 2-state solution offered by Israel several times since 1947. It demands, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. It means, free of Jews.
UNRWA went from being a temporary organization, tasked with finding homes for the 700,000 Arabs who fled the 1948 war, into a 30,000-man conglomerate which considers everyone with a link to the British Mandate for Palestine, to be their clients.
We have been conned into going along with this madness.
The 20th century saw millions of refugees who were resettled and got on with their lives. Only the Palestinians are treated as perpetual beggars.
Is the problem the United Nations or we who fund it?
Sincerely
Len Bennett, Author of ‘Unfinished Work’
Deerfield Beach, Fl.
AP’s Ongoing Pro-Iran Initiative
Dear Editor:
Is the Associated Press implying that had Israel not bombed Hezbollah structures in Beirut, Hezbollah would have refrained from launching rockets at Israel? If so, it would be an incorrect assumption because Hezbollah on orders from Iran has been rocketing Israel every single day since Oct. 8, 2023 to punish Israel for going into Gaza to attack another Iranian proxy, Hamas. Both Hezbollah and Iran have stated that only when Israel leaves Gaza will they stop launching rockets at Israel. The AP has reported this, so one can only assume that the current report is part of the AP’s ongoing pro-Iran initiative to blame Israel for the conflict, something in which the Guardian is an reliable partner. AP failed to note that after Israel left Gaza in 2005, 18 years before the current war, Hamas was rocketing Israel, not to protest Israel’s presence in Gaza, but Israel’s presence in the world.
Sincerely
Larry Shapiro
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
More on Congestion Pricing
Dear Editor:
What will happen on January 5th, 2025 when the $9 dollar base Congestion Pricing toll kicks in? When it advance the promised $15 billion in carryover capital projects from the previous $51 billion 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Program paid for by this funding source? There will be $15 billion in Congestion Pricing funded capital projects, $5 to $10 billion in ongoing capital projects and programs not funded by Congestion Pricing from the current $51 billion 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Plan, whose work will be carried over into the next Five Year Capital Plan.
These are along with new projects and programs under the new $68 billion 2025–2029 Five Year Capital Plan. Having $68 billion assumes that Governor Hochul and the State Legislature will find other new funding sources to make up for the current $33 billion shortfall to finance the new 2025–2029 Five Year Capital Plan. Based upon past history of previous Five Year Capital Plans going back to 1981, it is doubtful that the MTA can complete potentially up to a record $93 billion worth of capital projects and programs within the next upcoming five years. Remember that this does not include billions worth of additional routine maintenance, inspection and safety related projects and programs, all while operating 24/7 NYC Transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, MTA bus, Long Island and Metro North Rail Road service all year around.
The MTA has yet to provide any updated Force Account (its own track, signal maintainers and other specialized craft employees), Track Outage, Procurement, Construction Schedules, Routine Asset Maintenance and Safety Inspection, Schedules or Staffing Plans to validate any technical capacity to successfully manage all of the above between 2025 to 2029.
Commuters, taxpayers, MTA Board members, MTA employees, transit advocates, local, city and state elected officials deserve transparency and answers from Governor Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber to these reasonable concerns and questions prior to January 5, 2025.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
