Letters

• Published in: The Jerusalem report 2011-09, p.2
• Main Authors: Schwalb, Susan, Boykan, Martin, Stein, Francine, Goodman, Jerry, Baker, Josh, Ben-Tzvi, J, Stephenson, Lynne, Greener, Doug, Siegal, Eleanor, Erb, Jana, Kaufman, Fredrick, Weisman, Martin J, Kaine, Herbert
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Obama, Barack; Schwebel, Ivan; Yaari, Eliezer
• ISSN: 0792-6049

First of all, the US Congress is not led by Republicans as the article asserts. Republicans control the House of Representatives and Democrats control the Senate. The assertion that [Barack Obama] "has fervently reiterated his pledge to veto" the UN resolution regarding Palestinian statehood is also false. Obama has said close to nothing in public that would reassure Israel supporters and it is still an open question whether the US will veto the resolution. Even if Obama vetoes the misguided resolution, American supporters of Israel are bracing for an Obama demand for even more Israeli concessions as payback for Obama doing what is ultimately in the US interest. Douglas Miller called attention in "Letters" (August 29) to the media's repeated use of the term "the West Bank" for what I and many other Jews refer to as "Judea and Samaria." Another way of describing the use of those terms is to refer to them as "narratives" - the narrative of the Jews vs. the narrative of the media. I'm sure that the Arabs have their own term for that same territory, according to their own narrative. [Eliezer Yaari]'s cute letter to American friends offers a new dimension of chutzpa. A fair writer would have disclosed the crucial role played by the New Israel Fund, which Yaari formerly headed, in providing the initial money for the protests, as well as at least five professional organizers and agitators employed by the NIF, who are leaders and spokespersons of the demonstrations. Apparently, it doesn't hurt if "grass roots" get a little "fertilizer" to grow.