Newspaper Article

Letters

Avigdor Bonchek, Gilad Burg, H.K. Smith, B. Lynn, Ari Greenberg, Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold, Bruce Roth, Pesach Rogoway, Robert Selevan, Niall Brennan, Jeremy Cardash, Lilach Gretz

2004

Overview

Sir, - In his interview with the London-based Daily Telegraph quoted in \"Olmert: Sharon's plan split Likud\" (March 7), the Industry, Trade and Labor minister said: \"Since I don't believe in the transfer of people...\" and since the Palestinians can't be moved from where they are, \"we [Israelis] have to transfer ourselves.\" From this we can infer that Olmert does not consider Israelis to be people. Sir, - Amotz Asa-El turns quite a venomous pen against the rabbinical group headed by Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu, who are certainly the leaders with the largest number of \"divisions\" in the country (\"The rabbinical temptation,\" March 5). His statement that the rabbis \"scolded Sharon - the man who built more settlements than all of them put together ever would in their entire lives - for contemplating retreat\" is ridiculous. The contractor from whom I bought my apartment in Har Nof has built more apartments than I ever will in my entire life, yet that doesn't give him the right to remove one person from a single apartment. Sir, - Amotz Asa-El's column is unworthy of him and your newspaper. After devoting half his piece to fanning the flames of the falling out between Rabbis Ovadia Yosef and Aryeh Deri, he proceeds to take cheap shots at the Land of Israel rabbis for daring to express their halachic opinion about what is arguably the single most important decision Israel has faced in its lifetime. In the process, he accuses these 200 men of: lacking recognition/ gratitude for Ariel Sharon's past assistance; neglecting the people; not sending their sons to serve \"a decent military service\" (whatever that means); thirsting for power, and, disrespectfully, basing their judgments on \"holy books\" - all this while militantly representing \"conceit, aloofness, and hypocrisy.\"

• Publisher: The Jerusalem Post Ltd