May 29, 2008
The Great Shave, the anti-Semitic professor in the U.S. Mail, Barack, Orit, Hillary and Suissa
Follow JewishJournal.com on 
(Page 2 - Previous Page)
Neil J. SheffLos Angeles
Election 2008
If The Journal insists on involving itself in the presidential election, which is its every right, how about some evenhandedness, lest it be known by those of us who support Sen. Barack Obama as the faux Jewish Journal.
This month, two letters were published that favored Sen. Hillary Clinton ("Diversity Lost," May 2) and Sen. John McCain ("The Wright Flap and the Black Candidate," May 9).
Nothing on your pages revealed that Clinton has run a deceptive and negative campaign that has openly invoked racism and sexism, and now her despicable reason for continuing her lost campaign, implying the worst could happen to Obama before his official nomination. Only because Clinton is a woman we should look past her negative tactics, because somehow she is therefore entitled to be president.
Similarly, the continued guilt by association rap against Obama because of his pastor, despite the clear record, both by action and words, that he is 100 percent pro-America and pro-Israel -- the latter confirmed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
George Magit
Northridge
Editors Note: The Journal has published 12 articles and op-ed pieces about the Obama campaign since January.
Many in our community still doubt Sen. Barack Obama's and Sen. Hillary Clinton's Mideast strategies.
What is often overlooked is that their proposals for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would enhance long-term Israeli security, in addition to providing major benefits to the United States.
Iran and Syria support militias and terrorists in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and elsewhere. Our ability to demonstrate a credible military force as part of an aggressive diplomatic push to convince these states to restrain their anti-Israel clients is severely hampered by our immersion in a series of costly internecine sectarian conflicts within Iraq.
This immersion also diverts attention from the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. U.S. ground forces are stretched so thin that the primary tool to support diplomacy vis a vis Iran and Syria is the unthinkable bombing option.
Recall that shortly after the destruction of Saddam Hussein's army, skeptics suspected that the war was initiated under false pretenses but that it would convince Iran and Syria of our steadfast interest in maintaining Mideast stability. We demonstrated our willingness to use force or threat of force in support of diplomacy. But the situation shifted in their favor, as we continue to be bogged down in the Iraqi morass.
We contend that a carefully staged withdrawal would invigorate America, refresh our military and provide more flexible options. When combined with aggressive diplomacy, these options are more likely to preserve U.S. and Israeli security.
Jerry Aroesty and Robert Reisbaum
West Los Angeles
Future of Israel
Avraham Burg writes that Jews are fearful these days for the Jewish future ("Survival Hinges on Being Light Unto Nations," May 16).
He even suggests that Israel, our first guarantee of collective Jewish security in millennia, is the source of Jewish insecurity.
Israel has given the Jewish people a reservoir of security, self-reliance and resources we previously lacked. That said, Israel does face serious threats.
Therefore, might I suggest that some introspection is appropriate on Burg's part for his enthusiastic support for the concessionary Oslo policies toward a Palestinian leadership committed to eliminating Israel that has brought about so much of Israel's current perils?
It is the Oslo policies Burg advocated that have resulted in over 1,000 dead and thousands of maimed Israelis. More Israeli civilians have been killed in the 14 years since Oslo than in the 47 years that preceded it. Today, rockets hit daily Israeli towns and cities.
For all that, Israelis remain resolute. Polls show that in increasing numbers, they reject more concessions to Mahmoud Abbas. It is Burg, who has compared Israel to Weimar Germany and headed off to live in Europe, who has lost his nerve.
Morton A. Klein
National President
Zionist Organization of America
Sabra Love
A great deal of ink has been used lamenting the dwindling Jewish population and intermarriage, in particular ("Sabra Love," May 16).
At its extreme end, you have the Schwartzie debacle, but in truth, that event is emblematic of a prevailing idea that a signal cause of diminishing Jewish shidduchs is the pilfering of Jewish men (who, in turn, are easily beguiled and utterly pilferable) by more brazen and desirable non-Jewish women.
Enter Orit Arfa into the controversy. I think I've never read a sadder commentary on the hunt for a mate than Arfa's, but I'm not feeling sad with her, but rather for her and her pathetic outlook on dating.
Lusting after studly Sabras, they of hard abs and chiseled arms, hasn't worked. She yearns for intelligent JDate chats with men she values for their bodies.
Fellow immigrants remind her of the "dorky American Jewish men" who were, it seems, a catalytic reason for her emigration in the first place. Apparently there are no Jews in between, because her solution to this dilemma is Scandinavians, who will, "10 seconds after meeting you," satisfy her twice-mentioned criterion of importance, buy her a drink.
And there in all its shallowness is yet another answer to a demographic dilemma. You go, independent Sabra girl!
Mitch Paradise
Los Angeles
Museum Expansion
David Suissa doesn't miss much, and he's spot on about the proposed Museum of Tolerance expansion ("
