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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
If the Afghan people were to democratically elect the Taliban, or the Iraqis’ Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the western world would abandon them to the sorry fate that they chose for themselves, and certainly not give them money nor any moral support. So why is it different for the Palestinians?
Hamas, which has shown in recent days its sheer disregard for the lives of the people that they are responsible for, did not come to power in a vacuum. Hamas, whose very raison d’être is anti-peace, anti-Jewish, and dedicated to the destruction of Israel, was democratically elected by the Palestinian people.
It is time for the international community to recognize this fact, and make the message clear to the Palestinian people that while they support a Palestinian state, statehood comes with responsibilities. The last thing the world needs is another terrorist state.Michelle Moshelian
Israel
• • •
To the editor,
Israel has just launched a major ground offensive into Gaza to eliminate Hamas rocket arsenals that have been terrorizing Israeli cities. Inevitably, this will lead to more debate in this country over who is to blame for this most recent escalation of violence. Over the past months, city Democrats who define themselves as “progressives,” including our new mayor and a number of City Council members, have expressed solid support for Israel. Unfortunately, some have attacked them for this unequivocal support.
As the former district director for two Republican members of Congress (Vito Fossella and Bob Turner) and a former Republican-Conservative candidate for the Assembly and City Council in Brooklyn, I do not usually defend attacks on “progressives” in New York. However, I will, relating to their defense of Israel.
The executive director of the Arab American Association of New York in a recently published op-ed, criticized Mayor DeBlasio and councilmembers for their decision “to stand with a handful of political elites to show unwavering support for Israel” in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. My question is how do we not stand with Israel against a group that says that they do not have a right to exist?
Like many New Yorkers and Americans, I watched the interview on CBS with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How could we not be moved by the first-hand account we heard of bomb sirens in the background signaling incoming rockets into Israel from Hamas, and then the all-clear for Israeli citizens to come out again? Defenders of these attacks on Israel point to the unfortunate deaths of Palestinian civilians.
However, it is Hamas that uses these civilians as human shields to try and protect their missile launchers. So, Israel is in a catch-22, do they just allow the launchers to continue to shoot rockets into Israel threatening their citizens because Hamas forces their civilians around them, or do they take them out? I know what I hope our president would do if faced with a similar decision. As Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, “The difference between us is that we’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect the missiles”.
Prime Minister Netanyahu went on to apologize for any accidental civilian death, but said Hamas bears complete responsibility. This expression of sorrow for civilian death by Netanyahu is in stark contrast to the reaction of the recent kidnapping and murder of three young Israelis.
As Sen. Charles Schumer has stated, “How did Hamas and too many parts of the mainstream Palestinian community respond to the kidnap and murder of three young Israelis? They cheered. The official Hamas spokesman called the kidnappers ‘heroes.’ The mother of one of the suspected kidnappers, Abu Aysha, said, ‘If he [my son] truly did it, I’ll be proud of him till my final day.’”
To our “progressive” mayor and councilmembers who have unequivocally stood with Israel — job well done.Bob Capano
Bay Ridge
Mid-easted out
To the editor,
There is no doubt that the Israeli-Palestinian-Gaza conflict is yet another horror show that speaks to the dark side of humanity. To be very clear, I am not intending to imply or condone a damned thing by asking this, but when was the last time you heard about or read something about children dying as a result of Afghan violence? Or at the hands of Assad in Syria? Or at the hands of poverty in Bangladesh, or poverty, abuse, and neglect in Central America — El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras come to mind regarding the current border crisis? Or child labor issues in Asia, or human rights violations in North Korea, or the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Burma?
I know that it is “current” news, hot off the presses, but so too are all the other incidents. What is horrible about the Gaza crisis is happening, and in huge ways, across the globe.
So, why the constant barrage about the Gaza-Israeli horror, and not the others? In my hope to gain some insight I am wondering if there is something else at play that puts so much focus on the Israeli-Gaza crisis?Barry Brothers
Homecrest
Reader wars
To the editor,
I beg to differ with Ilan Lerman’s comments about today’s immigrants (“Shav’s divine,” Sound Off to the Editor, July 11). They are just as decent and hardworking as those that came before.
If you check city welfare rolls you will find that just about 80 percent are people born in this country. My immigrant neighbors are all working and though they may not have advanced computer skills they have a strong work ethic.
Also, Lerman’s remarks about Afro and Latino immigrants was horrible. This country is benefitting significantly from the Latino immigration of people who believe eight-hour work days are part-time. This is what all of my friends agree on. I feel sorry for him, as I do for all bigots. Dorothy Berman
Midwood
Executive hols
To the editor,
I agree that Mayor DeBlasio’s timing for a vacation, even for 10 days, was inappropriate, but the media is incorrect in saying that former Mayor Bloomberg never took a vacation.
Where was he when we had the blizzard in Jan. 2011? Why didn’t he delegate his deputy mayor or a commissioner to take charge during his leave from the city?Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Jo’s right
To the editor,
Joanna DelBuono is right that the Supreme Court’s ruling, which gave companies like Hobby Lobby the right to deny their employees contraception, was clearly motivated by sexism (“Jo reveals the Hobby Lobby folly,” Not for Nuthin’, July 18).
In the guise of granting freedom of religion to these companies the Supreme Court has in fact denied the religious freedom of the employees — that is, freedom from the religion of one’s employer. By denying birth control to their female employees they actually contribute to the number of unwanted pregnancies, and thereby increase the number of abortions performed.
But there is something we can do. New York City may not have any Hobby Lobby stores, but Eden Foods, a manufacturer of organic products, was one of several companies suing for the same exemption. Their products are carried in local health food stores and in supermarkets.
The Brooklyn-Queens chapter of the National Organization of Women has called for a boycott of Eden Foods. Join us by going to your local health food stores or wherever you see Eden Foods’ products and ask the owner to stop doing business with them.Shirley Ranz
The writer is the treasurer and Political Action Committee president of the National Organization for Women’s Brooklyn-Queens chapter.
Dead wrong
To the editor,
Am I the only one who finds it disturbing that Greenwood Cemetery is now hosting parties for hipsters (“Playing dead! Green-Wood party pays tribute to long-gone theater,” online July 16)?
The story had a picture of a scantily-clad woman dancing with hula hoops upon the graves of the city’s founding fathers.
Greenwood is not only the final resting place for many historical figures, people are still being buried there. I can’t imagine that the site of frolicking hipsters is very comforting to the families who come to remember loved ones who have recently passed.
Hipsters, have some respect. Greenwood Cemetery, shame on you!John Gorman
Gravesend
Nil Hill
To the editor,
No, Robert Lobenstein, I’m not going to vote for Hillary Clinton (“Capitol ‘Hill,’” Sound off to the Editor, 7-11).
She says she didn’t know what her husband was doing in the same building she slept in. How can such a naive person like her rule the greatest country on earth?Linda Della Badia
Sheepshead Bay
Sounding off
To the editor,
It seems every time we don’t like something like the birds at the airport, swans at Prospect Park, swans in Sheepshead Bay, cats in Plumb Beach we kill them off. It just makes me sick to my stomach to keep reading all these horror stories, over and over again. The list goes on and on, starting with the westward expansion — the Indians were either killed off or put on reservations where they still reside. How awful is this?
I remember when I had a fight it was a one-on-one only with fists. One or two things would happen. Either we’d be friends or just walk away. Somehow things changed when one child said he would get my father, then an uncle, to do battle. Why this was I have no answer. Then when I reached high school, a classmate was making a zip gun in a shop class. Of course nothing then compared to what we see and hear on the streets today.
How many times have we heard about someone being excluded from a party or thrown out of a bar only to come back with a gun and shoot whoever is in the way? It’s no different when we read stories these past few months about children under the age of 5 being killed by gun violence. When will Congress man up and pass a bill that will control guns that time after time flock our city? I often think why do we need a gun buy-back program, which only stops guns until the next gun buy-back? What a sham that we must live this way.Jerry Sattler
Brighton Beach
Gov. stand-off
To the editor,
Current Republican Westchester County executive Rob Asterino running against Democratic Gov. Cuomo could learn a lot from Andrew O’Rourke, the late former Republican Westchester County executive.
In 1986, when no one else would step forward, he took up the challenge as the Republican-Conservative Party candidate to run against then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat. With overwhelming voter registration numbers, favorable polling numbers, and a huge campaign budget with many more millions than O’Rouke, Cuomo was the odds-on favorite to easily win a second term. O’Rourke had no money to run a media campaign. His only hope was to engage Cuomo in a series of debates around the state. Even with all his advantage, Cuomo would not debate O’Rourke.
Too many incumbent elected officials at all levels of government, including Cuomo, followed the infamous Rose Garden strategy of ignoring their respective challengers, by refusing to participate in any public debates until the last minute. Cuomo ended up agreeing to only one, knowing full well that their election was already preordained.
As an incumbent elected official, Cuomo started out with many advantages not available to challengers such as O’Rourke. During Cuomo’s first term of public office, incumbents have daily television, radio and newspaper exposure, press conferences, newsletters, guest columns in newspapers, letters to the editor, and speaking engagements on a regular basis. Don’t forget the perks of public office, including announcements of member items (many of which taxpayers consider local pork-barrel projects) which are used to raise name recognition and assist in greasing the wheels of re-election.
Up until the 1980s, both Democratic and Republican primary candidates participated in numerous television and newspaper editorial board debates. Voters could look beyond the 30- or 60-second TV commercial sound bites to learn about real views and issues among the candidates.
Those candidates who refused to participate in these debates would be subject to critical newspaper editorials. They ended up losing any chance of newspaper endorsements and usually went down to defeat in either the primary or general election.
In the 1980s, a new Rose Garden strategy emerged embraced by Cuomo. Incumbents or officially designated incumbent candidates of both parties refused to debate lesser-known, under-funded opponents in either the primary or general election. They had no interest in providing a free forum for challengers to get their message directly out to voters. Too many newspapers and good government groups failed to speak up and shame these incumbents into participating in open forums and debates. Daily and local community newspapers were the only opportunity for underdog candidates to communicate their views to voters.
Things were so bad for O’Rourke, that he took to taking a giant cardboard cutout of Mario Cuomo around New York. It was the only way to debate Cuomo. Never let it be said that O’Rourke did not have a sense of humor.
Will Asterino suffer the same fate as O’Rourke running against son Andrew Cuomo? The apple (Andrew) doesn’t fall far from the tree (Mario).Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.