May 5, 2011

Hi Rhonda
 
I am very pleased with the article you wrote.
 
Thank you very much.
 
- Irma Penn

Dear friends,
 
I represent an organization called Kosovo-Israel Friendship Association “Dr. Haim Abravanel” from Prishtina, Kosovo. Scope of our activities is not very large but very fruitful. I will send you summary of our activities so that you’ll get the information about us in order to cooperate in the future if you see it useful.
 
The reason I am writing is also because of the last event we had it in NATO Military camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. It was an exhibit of pictures of the Albanian Muslims from Kosovo who saved Jews during the 2WW. It would be a good opportunity to have the info on your web-site in order to show to your readers about this unknown and maybe forgotten factual history. One of the Albanians who saved Jews (died 2 years ago) is also awarded by Yad Vashem with “Righteous” award.
 
Recently members of our organization participated in Passover ceremony in the same Camp. On Sunday, 2 May, an official (Dr. Berkovitz) organized commemoration evening in memory of 96 old Mr. Rema who died recently. He helped Jews during the WW2 to get the safe transfer from Kosovo or Macedonia to Abania, as the only country at that time where no Jews were killed.
 
If you are interested to get some short articles on our activirties from us please answer whenever you have time.
 
Our official web-site is: www.kosovaisrael.org
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Xhangyle Ilijazi
Interpreter/Translator
DC Gjilan- Judges Team
Gjilan
Cell. 049-781 821
off. 043-78 8864

April 24, 2011

To the Editor,

Thanks Rhonda. I’ll put this article on the Chinese Community newspaper with your permission.

- Edmond Lip
Manitoba China Times

Editor’s response: You have my permission. Would you be able to send me a copy of the edition in which it appears?

Edmond Lip: Thanks, I’ll send you a copy of the edition when it is published.

April  22, 2011  

Dear Rhonda,

Thank you.

I'm Andrew White, London-based lawyer and founder of the Beyond Images project. We do Israel education and advocacy (it is a spare time volunteer activity for me - I work full time as an attorney in an international firm). 

We have an information website - www.beyondimages.info - and I run seminars, and network people together. 

I am always on the lookout for materials which tell the other side of the story, including challenging the common assumption that the Palestinian society is ready for peace and the compromises necessary to achieve it. I thought that your article 'First Hand Account: My Visit to UNWRA Palestinian Refugee Camps' was extremely valuable, and I would like to reproduce it verbatim on the site.   I have three questions for you:

1. Are you OK for us to do this?

2. I would be extremely interested to know how you came to be on the trip to the camps in the first place - could you give me some background, and permission to publish it, as part of the lead-in to the piece (or would you prefer that that be kept confidential?)

3. You mentioned your participation in the recent J-Street conference.  May I ask, are you active in J-Street, or a Canadian affiliate?  Or did you go as an external guest?  I personally feel that it is particularly important that actiivsts in J-Street understand Palestinian intransigence, rather than downplaying it, which is why your insights are particularly powerful.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.       

Thanks in advance,
 
- Andrew White
Beyond Images, London

 
Editor's short response: Yes, you can post the article on your site, not able to give more background at this time, went to J-Street Conference as a reporter.

April 21, 2011

Do Jews hate Sarah Palin - well, liberal Jews, yes. But not conservative and Orthodox Jews. Sarah is one of the most pro-Israel politicians. When she recently came to Israel, Israelis appreciated her supportive stance on the issues.

Why do liberals Jews hate Palin? Simple: the liberal media portrays Republicans as the devil incarnate. Sarah Palin was a threat to the liberal pro-life movement, and the Tea Party was becoming a valid force in the political dialogue, so they did a campaign smear against her. I hope thinking Jews will realize that Conservative politicians are not ignorant cold-hearted-haters of the poor and working classes as the media tries to make us believe. They care about America and want the best for all the people, and they have a common sense approach as to how to solve the economic crises.

- Leah Urso
Israel

April 21, 2011

Dear Rhonda,
 
Good on you re CIC conference re Iran.
 
I`ve also attempted to dissuade them from going ahead with it.
 
- David  Kilgour

April 21,2011
 
To the Editor.

 See;  Ezra Levant vs Islamic contributions to free speech

http://tinyurl.com/3etpb4k

- Marvin Levant

April 20, 2011
 
To the Editor,

What an interesting article, but I am wondering why you did not write anything about the conditions in the camps?

- Carly Sloshower, Winnipeg

Editor 's response: I will do that in a future article.--

April 19, 2011
 
Rhonda,

Your reporting about the refugee camps was great and very informative and revealing! Keep up the great work!
Hag Sameah and Happy Passover!
 
- Shoula  Romano Horing

April 18, 2011
 
To  the Editor,
 
Has  Democracy Become Israel's Golden Calf and Are The Gershon Baskins of Israel, the New Golden Calfers
 
This is a response to the Winnipeg Jewish Review article on Gershon Baskin's views presented at last month's J Street Conference:  BASKIN OF IPCRI: IF THERE’S NO PALESTINIAN STATE SOON, PA SECURITY FORCES WILL NO LONGER CO-OPERATE WITH ISRAEL - Click here. 

The only interest a Jew with a kop would have in this article is to learn, if they did not already know, that Gershon Baskin is just one more left wing useful idiot for the Palestinians.  Baskin when asked to explain his reasoning on a number of positions he advanced, he was unable to do so. 
 
His inability to do that, is that his positions asserted are driven solely by his left wing ideology and not by fact, reason and common sense.  That ideological flight from reality also marks the views and positions of J Street.
 
Baskin is a 5th columnist in Israel, like others that Israel tolerates in the name of democracy. 
 
Think about it for a moment.
 
If any other Western democracy was surrounded by enemy states, such as Israel is, where citizens of those states are daily indoctrinated with hatred for that Western democracy and filled with hate filled dreams for the demise of that state and its people, would that democracy tolerate 5th columnists like Baskin  in their midst?
 
Would we Jews be here today if  those Jews losing patience and hope  for Moses' return from Mt. Sinai not only forgot Moses' teachings, but faith in Hashem and used the opportunity of Moses' absence, to turn all their fellow Jews away from Moses and Hashem and to instead put their faith and hope in the golden calf they made and whatever God it represented?
 
Would Moses on his return have been able to win back the Jewish people from their newly chosen path of faith and hope? 
 
Would Moses even have been allowed to live by a people so turned against him and Hashem?
 
So what saved the Jews at the foot of mount Sinai from turning away from Moses and Hashem?
 
It was the fact that even with Moses not physically present amongst them, not all Jews were turned away by the golden calfers from belief in Hashem and Moses' leadership and teachings in the name of Hashem.
 
Is anti-Israel world opinion based on anti-semitism and the views of those nations and people that tolerate, appease or ignore it to serve their own interests, not like Pharoh's armies chasing after the Jews to kill many and again enslave the rest?
 
Has the the Government of Israel's belief in democracy and the lengths she takes that belief to convince the world that she is the ultimate best of democracies where even the likes of 5th columnists like the Gershon Baskins in her midst are tolerated, not made democracy Israel's new Golden Calf and enabled those Israelis like Baskin who seek to convince Jews to their views, the new Golden Calfers?
 
These are questions that each of you should be raising and discussing around your Pesach seder tables tonight and tomorrow night.
 
Happy Pesach to all.
 
- Bill Narvey

April 18, 2011
 
To The Editor,

Gershon Baskin is an extreme leftist who works against the state of Israel at every turn.

His writings and conclusions are pure nonsense.

He says that "that the security co-operation that has been occurring between Israel and the Palestinian security forces “will not continue if there’s no paradigm for a Palestinian state”.

Unfortunately, there has been little cooperation between the two for years. It was the PA security troops who turned against the IDF during the Oslo intifida in 2001. The PA educates to hate and deny the existence of Israel. Please don't send me any more of his article.

- Reesa Stone , Israel

April 17, 2011

Dear Editor,

I believe it is very unfortunate that the Jewish Community is being manipulated by Steven Harper.  As a Jew, I think it is wrong the way Harper has courted all ethnic communities including the Armenians, Jews, and Sikhs.   Historically, the Jewish Community is independently minded, intellectually vibrant, and has a strong social  conscience----none of the values that Steven Harper embodies.  I speak for a large number of Jews who see the Jewish Community as diverse and not monolithic. 

Thanks-you for listening. 
Brian Allen, Toronto

April14th, 2011

Dear Editor,

I would like to turn readers’ attention to the following disturbing announcement: “Islamist group ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America) hosting a rally with Michael Ignatieff on March 28 ‘11 in Mississauga”.

This announcement appeared on a recent Facebook posting by author, broadcaster and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress Tarek Fatah.  In this posting he warned: “For the uninitiated, ICNA follows the ideology of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan and the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Albana.  The spiritual head of the ICNA is the late Syed Maududi who was once sentenced to death for his role in the pogroms aimed at liquidating the Ahmaddiya Muslims in Pakistan in 1952.

Tarek Fatah says: “How on earth will the leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, explain why he got himself in bed with ICNA?  Well, if Rob Oliphant can have lunch with a pro-Taliban politician, Imran Khan, then ICNA promoting a Liberal candidate should be no big surprise.”

Well, are you at least a little more concerned about the possibility of getting a Michael Ignatieff government?

Ziggy Eckardt,

Burnaby, B.C.

April 14, 2011

Dear Rhonda,

Of course the refugees have not given up on their right to return to their land or receive compensation.  It's a right guaranteed to all refugees under international law.  The fact that Israel has refused to recognize this right and to begin negotiating with refugees is one of the main obstacles to peace.-

-  Diana Ralph , Toronto

April 13, 2011

To the Editor,

 
Rhonda, Excellent and powerful description of your visits. Can we circulate it as well? What about posting in on our website?

Robert Jacobs

Northwest Regional Director

[email protected]

StandWithUs Northwest

Editor’s Response: Yes, you may post the article on your website.

April 13, 2011

To the Editor,

Thank you for this story - and for taking the initiative to go to a Palestinian refugee camp.  Many people must have told you it wouldn't be safe.

The 'right of return' is an important sticking point regarding peace in the region.  Your story clearly depicts the entrenched positions regarding whether this will ever happen or not.
 

I'd like to suggest that the conversation needs to go deeper, and you do take it deeper for the Israeli side - a deep-seated understanding that all of the Palestinians returning would effectively be the end of the Jewish State - and thus the end of a secure place for the world's Jewish populations. This begs the question - 'What is the Palestinian's deeper concern?' 
 

It could be that they need to hear recognition from Israel that they were 'unjustly displaced', or however they might like it framed.  By going deeper in this way, a way forward might be found in which there is another way to meet their deeper need than to have them return, and/or preserve the security of the world's Jewish populations.
 

In these deep-rooted conflicts, the real issue is rarely only the tangible one - the more significant issue may be intangible - 'recognition', 'security', 'belonging', etc.  That's where the conversation needs to be. 
 

Having said that, when people are stuck in limbo in a refugee camp -whether they've chosen it or not, and others are hanging on to a small spit of inherently insecure land, of course there are also real tangible concerns - the refugees do need to go somewhere - and in this case the solution is neither obvious nor simple.

My point is that where the Palestinians live can't be solved until the deeper issues are addressed.  Counter-intuitively, the tangible issues will remain unresolvable until the deep-rooted issues are resolved - and then the tangible ones will fall into place.

David S. Pankratz, Director, Institute for Community Peacebuilding, Menno Simons College,
Canadian Mennonite University Campus at the University of Winnipeg.

April 12, 2011

To the Editor,

 
We would like to wish you a chag samaich for pesach. Please ponder the question:

What if Moses had Facebook? How the Exodus would have gone if all of Social Networking was available.

See a funny 2 minute clip at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIxToZmJwdI

- Haskel, Tina, Rachael, Channah, Noah, and Boaz Greenfield
 
 
 

April 12, 2011

To the Editor,

I have received five emails in the last 10 days from Jewish friends who are inciting me to vote for Harper because of his strong support for Canadian Jews and Israel.

I am personally suspicious of his strong support of Jews, but that’s another issue. How does supporting Harper for this one reason, knowing that that his leadership and government is so flawed, portray Canadian Jews to all Canadians?  It makes Jews look self-serving, lacking responsibility, one-dimensional, and thoughtless. If you want to vote for Harper for this one reason, please don’t shout it out for all of Canada to see.

Ron Sloan

April 8, 2011

To the Editor;

I read Prof. Schwartz’s almost 6,800  word essay,  PROPOSAL FOR AN ISRAELI PEACE INITIATIVE, not for his insights, which are nothing new, especially if one is familiar with  Obama’s and the world’s insights, if you can call it that, concerning Israel and the Israel – Palestinian/Arab ongoing war that leads Obama and the world to incessantly demand that Israel alone must prove she is sincere about achieving peace by making ever more unilateral and unreciprocated concessions to Palestinian demands. 

Rather my interest in Schwartz’s piece was more akin to just wondering where he ultimately would end up.

Shwartz’s views on the status quo and what Israel needs to do to change it for the better, are all stitched together with the threads of  ifs, ands, buts, couldas, shouldas, wouldas, maybes, hopes, possibilities, perhaps and the like. 

Moving from point to point, that often are just variations on or re-statements of points earlier made, Schwartz repeatedly offers the same views in support thereof.

Guessing that Schwartz would end his piece from where he began,  with what Israel and only Israel must do for the sake of peace and to turn the tide of world anti-Israel conventional opinion, was a safe bet. 

Schwartz  neither surprises nor disappoints in that regard. 

Schwartz’s views, insights and advice to Israel however, certainly do surprise and disappoint.  His proposal for an Israeli peace initiative is fundamentally premised on the principle that “might makes right”.

Schwartz’s advice to Israel on how best to secure peace and the world’s good will, therefor amounts to nothing more than  counseling Israel to capitulate to the will of the majority world opinion.

Great advice that.  NOT! 

Bill Narvey

April 8, 2011

To the Editor,

When Obama demanded that Israel cease building in the West bank for a period of ten months there was no quid pro quo demanded of the Palestinians..ie...The fullfilment Of Oslo, recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, removal of hateful passages in school books...So when Bryan Schwartz sets up his… orderly proposal it is strikingnly naive because all the genuflecting is on Israels side and again nothing demanded of the Palestinians..........The other thought of his, this victims concept of the goal post of a settlement moving further off  is once more the fearful thought of victim mentality eg ..we better settle quickly or we are done for...His whole treatise in my view is nothing but a document of fear couched in legalise format....introduction, itemized paragraphs, numbered contentions all unreal.. It’s simple, Fatah can never make peace because Hamas would never allow concessions.In fact there exists now a de facto peace  and this may be the only modus vivendi available  for decades to come.

Morton Simcoe, Winnipeg