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January 9, 2004/Tevet 15 5764, Vol. 56, No. 16
Letters to the EditorJanuary 9, 2004
Federation dollars at workEditor:Thank you for including the article "'Baby Help' aids Argentine parents." (Jewish News, Jan 2) It stated that approximately 35,000 of Argentina's 200,000 Jews receive American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) support; of them, 803 babies under the age of 3 and 98 pregnant women live below the poverty line. Not since the Great Depression has an entire middle class been wiped out as completely as Argentina's. Thousands of Jewish families face financial ruin. Argentina's Jewish community needs financial support to sustain itself during this critical period. The funds we raise through the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix annual campaign support this program and all JDC programs in Argentina. We also give financial assistance to families who want to make aliyah to Israel. In the past three years, thousands have come from Argentina to a land at war to find peace. Thank you to everyone in this community for your continued support of our campaign. We are trying to reach out to more people to tell them what we do. Please join us in this effort. We have touched so many people and have brought blessing to their lives. Mim Kent Bottner Campaign Chairwoman, Jewish Federation Campaign for Jewish Needs Israelis, not Palestinians, are immoralEditor:I found myself in full agreement with your commentary ("Do not lose hope for peace," Jewish News, Jan. 2) until your boldly audacious statement: "The Israelis are not only more technologically and militarily advanced than the Palestinians; they also are more morally advanced." On the first note, you could not be more right. By being funded by the United States, the Israelis are significantly more technologically and militarily advanced than the Palestinians. However, I, as a Palestinian, was incredibly offended by your rudeness concerning the supposed morally advanced state of Israelis. If being colonialists, forcing people off their land, killing children at whim, imprisoning men randomly, raping women and being the proud supporters of three Palestinian genocides (Sabra and Shatila, Deir Yassin and Jenin) makes a people morally advanced, then your statement could not be more correct. However, by any other moral standard, your statement is null and void and logically, morally and ethically defunct. Issam Khoury Washington, D.C. Editorial lacks proper perspectiveEditor:I was surprised and disappointed to read the opening paragraphs of your editorial, "Reasons to Hope" (Jewish News, Dec. 26). In your analysis of the "bad news" with which 2003 ended, you poignantly identified the threat of bio-terror, the deaths of our county's servicemen and women in Afghanistan, and rising unemployment nationwide as reasons to cry and show concern. However, your agenda-driven equation of those heart-wrenching realities with a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court that its soldiers must honor the orders of their superiors and serve to defend any part of our ancestral homeland was absurd and shocking. Even if you believe that the Jews who live in Judea and Samaria do not deserve safety, how could Jewish News take the position of equating the Court's decision with the tragedies that were listed? Rabbi Ariel Shoshan Phoenix Community Kollel & Aish Hatorah Scottsdale Parenting column strikes a nerveEditor:I am upset by the article "Leave those kids at home" (Jewish News, Jan. 2), written by Beth Olson. The article is certainly not newsworthy and an utter waste of space. It is obvious that she is not a child-centered parent. Sure, kids don't belong in fancy restaurants or adult movies, perhaps not bridal shops either, but the grocery store? She would benefit greatly from reading the Dr. Sears "Baby Book" to see just how far off base she is. Alicia Messing Phoenix
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