Opinion: In Tuesday’s Letters to the editor
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Readers offer their take on last week’s elections in Israel in Tuesday’s Letters to the editor.
Reacting to this pair of Op-Eds by M.J. Rosenberg and Danny Ayalon, Michael Tanenbaum of Beverly Hills rejects the notion that Israel’s right wing has upended the peace process. He writes:
Let me get this straight: It is because of right-wing politics that the peace process has foundered. Right-wing politics. Not Hamas rockets. Not Hezbollah missiles. Right-wing politics. M.J. Rosenberg has confused cause and effect. It is not right-wing politics but a combination of the failed policies of successive governments of all political stripes, Palestinian intransigence and the rise of the Hamas terror state in Gaza that have rendered Israel bereft of left-leaning peace options.
But Samir Twair, president of the Arab-American Press Guild, writes from Los Angeles in praise of this Times editorial urging Israel to extend more freedoms to its Arab citizens:
Israel cannot be a Jewish and a democratic state at the same time. If it is to survive in today’s world, it has to be either an exclusively Jewish state or a democratic state. If it opts for the former, it will become fascist. If it chooses democracy for all its citizens -- including the occupied West Bank and Gaza -- then it strengthens its chances for legitimacy and survival.
In other news, letter writers offer a good riddance to former Commerce secretary nominee Judd Gregg, who withdrew his name from consideration for the post last week. Orange’s Kim Haman sees larger political significance in Gregg’s exit:
...Perhaps now President Obama will accept that Republicans simply cannot be bipartisan. Like the rest of his cohorts in the House and Senate, Gregg is simply unable to look beyond his party’s own narrow view to what is best for the country. Obama should now focus on bringing about the change he promised. If that means moving forward without Republicans, so be it. He’s given them ample opportunity to work with him, and they’ve rejected his every overture. They’ll reap the consequences of their decision in 2010, when voters remember how Republicans refused to work with Obama to help the country out of the quagmire GOP policies sank us into.
Timothy Tunks, of Santa Monica, meanwhile, sees humor:
Judd Gregg’s hokeypokey He put his left foot in, he pulled his left foot out. He put his right foot in, and he shook it all about. ... And that’s what it’s all about.