Don Krausz to the Star

Dr. Firoz Osman’s letter of 28-2-2012 refers.

 

In responding to my letter of 22 instant he states that there is no truth in quoting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (MA) having said that “Israel would be wiped off the map.”

I used it because it has been repeated in the press many times. So I did some research.

 

The result was astonishing. Iranian and Western experts in the Farsi language are in doubt as to exactly what MA said or what he meant by it.

 

Must the land of Israel vanish? Hardly, for then there would be nowhere for the Palestinians to return to. Must the Jews living there disappear? Not according to MA – he says that he loves Jews. Heads of states have interpreted his remarks as a call to genocide.

 

Saeb Erekat of the Palestinian Legislative Council commented that “we need to talk about adding the State of Palestine to the map, not of removing Israel.”

 

There are currently up to 40,000 Jews living in Iran and they are represented in parliament by a Jewish MP. MA has stated that in Iran Jews are respected by everyone.

He claims to love everyone in the world. That all-embracing love does not seem to extend to Homosexuals whom he hangs in public.

 

In August 2006 MA called for the “elimination of the Zionist regime” and claimed that the Middle East would “be better off without its existence.” He has said that Israel has no legal basis and is used by the USA as a cat’s paw for invasion and attack.

 

In December 2006 he once again stated that “the Zionist regime will be wiped out.”

 

On Israel’s 60^th birthday he proclaimed that “the Zionist regime is on its way to annihilation” and that “if the smallest and briefest chance is given to regional nations they will destroy it.”

 

In September 2008 at the UN General Assembly he accused Zionists of being criminals and murderers, acquisitive and deceitful and dominating global finance. He warned that Israel was on the path to collapse.

 

In September 2008 MA echoed blatant anti-Semitism against world Zionism worthy of the Nazis, the only difference being the use of the word Zionists instead of Jews. He also spoke of Zionists dominating the world and spreading corruption.

 

In May 2011 he described Israel as a cancer that spreads through the body unless it is removed.

 

If he had not said that he loved Jews, I would have been fooled.

 

The letter by Dr. Heidar Ali Balouji, Charge d’affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is also interesting. Unlike Dr. Firoz Osman he does not state that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reported statement that Israel should be wiped off the map is false. Dr. Balouji ought to know.

Monessa Shapiro to the Cape Times

I have pondered how to respond to Geffen¹s odious and nefarious likening of
Israel to amongst others, Syria, where the regime has in cold-blood murdered
7000 of its citizens in just a year.  Possibly the best way is to provide
him with facts.

On  www.freedomhouse.org  the countries of the world are independently
measured in terms of the liberties, both political and civil, that all their
citizens enjoy. On a scale of 1 ­ 7, where 1 is the most free and 7
indicative of no freedom at all, Israel was given 1 for political  liberties
and 2 for civil liberties, and termed a free society.  And because Freedom
House does not differentiate between the various religious or racial groups
within a country but assesses all the citizens equally, this 1 and 2 applies
to all the citizens of Israel:  Jew, Christian and Arab alike.  In contrast,
the countries mentioned by Geffen were allocated the following points in the
2012 Freedom House census: Syria was given 7 for both political and civil
liberties, Egypt 6 and 5, Jordan 6 and 5, and all were termed not free.
Geffen believes that Israel is no more democratic than Algeria that was
allocated a whopping 6 for political liberties and 5 for civil liberties and
was termed Onot free¹; or than Morocco that was allocated 5 and 4 and termed
Opartly free.¹  Geffen would do well to take up the cudgels with the
research analysts of Freedom House.

Geffen sites the Family Reunification law as a racist law.  This law was put
into effect in 2002, as a measure of security, after a Palestinian married
to an Israeli Arab and living in Israel blew himself up in a Haifa
restaurant killing 15 and wounding 40.  Between 2001 and 2010 there were 54
cases of terrorism carried out by Palestinians who had been granted Israeli
citizenship as a result of being married to Israeli Arabs.  Israel is
surrounded by enemies on all sides ­ enemies who want nothing less than its
total destruction and the murder of all Jews everywhere.  The law is an
unfortunate consequence of Israel¹s need to protect its citizens against
relentless terrorism.

Geffen maintains that Israel is singled out by the West for special
treatment.  How right he is.  No state has its legitimacy questioned as does
Israel, in spite of the fact that there is probably no other state in the
world that came into existence as legitimately.  No country in the world,
regardless of the atrocities it has caused, has been the recipient of so
many United Nations resolutions against it.  No other country in the world
has been threatened with annihilation, whilst the rest of the world remains
silent.  No other country has its citizens attacked on a daily basis and
then when it dares to respond is charged with aggression.

He goes on to blame people like me for his silence on the atrocities in
Syria.  He explains that he needs to talk out against Israel because there
are those of us who argue its case.  Rest assured Mr Geffen, the day that
you and your ilk desist from fabricating history and obfuscating the truth,
will be the day that I and my like-minded compatriots put down our pens and
microphones, and begin to enjoy that tiny slither of land called Israel for
all that it offers and gives to its citizens and to all the peoples of the
world.

Allan Wollman to the Cape Times

Terry Crawford-Browne’s Op-Ed of Monday 20th February predictable as expected clearly displaying his single-mindedness and obsession with what seems to now be his new day-job as all one hears from him is endless vilification of Israel.

Interesting indeed that the Cape Times will afford an Op-Ed of this nature while Syria is mired in a civil war that has claimed almost 10000 lives butchered by its bloodthirsty president, not to mention the many thousands languishing in Syrian prisons being tortured in the most vile manner. Egypt so hopeful after its Spring revolution continues to murder its Christian citizens and is no better off than under its previous dictator Mubarak. Libya also caught up in violence since the death of its dictator with armed militias roaming the cities killing at will. Yemen and Bahrain continue to commit acts of violence and atrocity against their citizenry.

Mr. Crawford-Browne seems to have very little appetite for concern over these tragic events in countries surrounding Israel. His appetite is even less for those Palestinians languishing in Lebanese refugee camps suffering a fate far worse than what apartheid ever inflicted on our own population which must beg the question – is this man sincerely interested in the welfare of the Palestinian people?

His Op-Ed regurgitates the Ruselll Tribunal in Cape Town – a dismal failure that attracted very little attention much to the dismay of the organizers. He also hangs on to the Goldstone report but ignores Goldstones own admission of its failings widely reported, as he ignores Goldstones rebuttal of the apartheid slander that the tribunal tried so hard to entrench.

So outrage at the pulling of a documentary deserves more space than outrage at the state of the Middle East embroiled in utter chaos, with one country on the brink of producing a nuclear weapon (which is obviously of no importance to someone so obsessed with the arms trade). Human rights issues in almost all of the Middle East fails to raise the ire of those intent on the destruction of the only democracy in the region that values human rights. But how easy it is to turn the truth on its head.

Don Krausz to the Star

Leong Cheong Pong’s letter of 20-2-2012 headed “Let’s speak in one voice against US” refers. Pong accuses the USA of sabre-rattling against Iran for developing a nuclear weapon.

 

In November, 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its quarterly report on Iranian nuclear activities. According to new evidence the Iranian regime is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability. The report is based on information provided by ten nations and has been independently verified by the IAEA.

 

The past century has seen many nations that were or became military powers. Hardly any used their might in ways that were beneficial to their own populations or to others over whom they held sway.

 

Two world wars in 31 years and millions of dead men, women and children made humanity realise that a form of overall control was needed if the horrors of the past were not to be repeated.

 

The solution appeared to be a United Nations General Assembly with a military arm called NATO.

 

Such a body was duly formed and although it has proved to be far from neutral and unbiased, it can be partially credited with the fact that we have not had a world conflagration in 65 years.

 

Since the advent of the atomic bomb many countries have acquired weapons of mass destruction. The fact that such a weapon can now be reduced to the size of a cannon shell makes our planet a very dangerous place indeed.

 

The world has had to live with such dangers. Despite every nation having a religion that encompasses some form of moral code, the main safeguard up till now has been the assurance of mutual destruction should nations possessing atomic weapons go to war.

 

However, these factors no longer present the same deterrent. These days we are faced with the menace of fanatics that believe in a religious imperative to murder all those who think differently. Martyrdom is their highest objective, taught in their schools and from their pulpits since infancy. There cannot be a more dangerous people or individual than one to whom death holds no fear, who is convinced that he has a God-given mandate and who does not feel bound by the restraints and compassions of other beliefs.

 

Iran appears to be such a country. The many nations that possess weapons of mass destruction have never threatened to “wipe another nation off the map.” Iran has.

It has also furthered terrorism across the globe, supplied training, weapons and far-ranging missiles to hate-imbued entities bent on genocide.

 

Iran is not only a threat to its neighbours. Its own unarmed civilians have been shot down in the streets when they dared to protest against their rulers. A recent rapport by the UN Human Rights Committee expressed growing concern regarding Iran’s worsening human rights record.

 

The Committee placed special emphasis on the continuing abuse inflicted upon the homosexual community, religious minorities such as the Baha’is, Christians and Jews and the high level of state sanctioned executions, many of them of children, being implemented in Iran.

 

A report issued last October by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran painted a damning picture of the worsening human rights situation in the country, one that leaves, women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, labour activists, dissidents and political opposition figures increasingly vulnerable to the capriciousness of the regime in Teheran.

 

I hope that the much maligned USA and its allies succeed in putting a stop to Iran’s threats against humanity.

 

Much of this information has been sourced from a report issued by IRAN 180, a human rights organisation.

Don Krausz to Business Day

Gunvant Govindjee’s letter in the Business Day of 1-2-2012 on page 10 refers.

This writer appears to have convinced himself that Israel and the US pose a military threat to Iran and the whole world. South Africa held the January chair of the UN Security Council. This has led to Govindjee demanding that South Africa must immediately introduce a resolution in the council condemning what he sees as bellicose statements and actions against Iran.

Let us see whether Iran presents a threat to world peace that  is so  severe that it demands immediate action by the other nations in the world as compared with the US and Israel.

Iranian belligerence dates back to the 1970’s when it attacked the US embassy and held the diplomats and staff there hostage for more than a year. These employees were humiliated and persecuted for carrying out the tasks of any other embassy or consulate.

 

Iran has been found responsible for supporting and equipping terrorists throughout the Middle East. Terrorist organisations condemned worldwide such as the Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon have been trained and armed by Iran, hence the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

 

Iran is racing to acquire nuclear technology which it claims is for peaceful purposes. The British Foreign Minister recently pointed out that for such harmless endeavours a country only needs to create fissionable material up to a concentration of 20%. He claimed that Iran has gone way beyond that level, making its assurances of peaceful use for such material highly suspect. 

Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has stated that a fellow member of the United Nations, the only Jewish state in the world, Israel, must be “wiped off the map” as he put it. Israel has been attacked by its Arab neighbours on five occasions and has prevailed, but only at a terrible cost. One third of the world’s Jews were murdered during World War Two, with much of the survivors seeking refuge in Israel. Israel has an obligation to prevent its own citizens and these European refugees from suffering a similar fate. That applies as well to the estimated 800,000 Jews that were expropriated and driven out of Moslem lands where they had lived since Nabuchadnezar. Their crime? Being of the same religion as the Israelis that had defeated the Arab aggressors in 1948.

 

Israel is presumed to also have atomic weaponry, BUT HAS NEVER THREATENED TO WIPE ANOTHER COUNTRY OFF THE MAP! Yet people such as Ahmadinejad warn the world that Israel is a threat to world peace!!

 

Iran is one of the most intolerant countries in the world. Homosexuals are hanged, women may be stoned to death in public, while Sharia law, with its restrictions on the rights of women, holds sway.

 

In June 2005, Prof. Donna M. Hughes, at a Congressional Conference, lectured on the IDEOLOGY AND STATE OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM. She stated that

“The clerics’ version of sharia law  imposes a  crushing system of gender apartheid on Iranians based on the  premise that women are physically, psychologically,  intellectually and morally inferior to men. The clerics made laws on how to control, punish, torture, and kill women and girls. Misogyny and violence against women were institutionalized.

And Govindjee asserts that the world must be protected from the US and Israel?