No monopoly on sanity

Regarding “A middle-of-the-way government can restore sanity to the system” (August 27), the writer exhibits the Left’s estimation of itself as intellectually superior to any other section of the population.

The Left constantly proclaims Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and yet denies both at the same time. The human brain can strangely accept and believe two opposing ideas at the same time. Leftwing secularists view the Bible as a man-made myth, disregarding the fact that the Bible is the only basis for the State of Israel to claim that this is Jewish land. At the same time, they constantly charge that the government is destroying democracy here, although it is democratically elected.

The Jewish people, including those Jews who disregard it, is defined by our religion. If the State is Jewish, then the public face of Israel must demonstrate this by keeping Jewish religious laws in public and that includes non-desecration of the Sabbath. Those who favor building the bridge over the Ayalon on the Sabbath say it is the cheapest way of building it – so they wish to abandon Israel’s Jewishness for money.

The writer then displays contempt for Israelis who voted for the parties on the right – who fear that the Left’s obsession with giving away parts of Eretz Yisrael to gain the approval of the international community, which will last no longer than yesterday’s newspaper before they pressure us for more concessions – by saying, “If Israel had the sort of government that it should have...” She seems to believe that only she and her ilk know what sort of government the Jewish people should have – certainly not the Israeli man and woman on the street, who she considers ignorant and contemptible.

No matter how highly she values her views, the writer has no monopoly on sanity. CYRIL ATKINS

Beit Shemesh