Actions, reactions
Regarding “Jerusalem furious over US bombshell at UN” (December 25), the Israeli government has never specifically challenged the phrase “illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land,” so it has now become accepted usage, even by leaders friendly to Israel.
It has proved to be a completely misguided policy, and even at this late hour, it should be changed. To refute this statement won’t mean that a possible arrangement with the Palestinians becomes impossible; rather, it will put us in a stronger position to find an equitable solution. MICHAEL BLISS Netanya
In light of the UN Security Council resolution, it is time for Israel to be resolute and remove the United Nations from its illegal occupation of Government House in Jerusalem, and reestablish the structure as the official seat of the president.
Government House, built as the seat of British high commissioner in the 1930s, was handed over by the British to the International Red Cross in 1948. When the Red Cross established that it was not needed in the immediate vicinity, it illegally handed the complex over to the UN.
In the 1967 Six Day War, the Jordanian army displaced the UN from the complex, which was retaken by the IDF, with the supreme sacrifice of 22 Jewish lives. But the government at the time returned it to the UN, and successive governments have not had the courage to dislodge the illegal occupier or even make it pay for services provided.
It is time for us to show the world we are a sovereign power in our land. COLIN L. LECI Jerusalem
A few settlements in Judea and Samaria will make no difference to any peace between Israel and what is known as “Palestine,” but the UN will do nothing to stop the holocaust in Syria.
The UN is made up of countries that hate Israel and would do anything to bring its demise. For goodness sake, can we please have some sanity back? JUDY FORD Petah Tikva
The UN once again found time to reprimand Israel for building homes, but has no time to look for a way to stop Islamic State from destroying thousands of homes and butchering hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. This is equivalent to giving ISIS a green light.
The next time there is such a resolution, the UN delegates should consider whether their vote will save a life or endanger one. They should remember that Jewish lives also count! CHARLES OREN Herzliya
Israel should draft a United Nations resolution calling US settlement in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas illegal occupation of Mexican land.
These territories were seized by the United States in 1847 in an unjust, offensive war. All US citizens living there should be designated as criminals under international law.
The UN should then call for negotiations between Mexico and the United States at a conference hosted by Cuba and Venezuela, with only Latin American socialist and former-Soviet-bloc countries invited to attend and set the terms and outcomes. DAVID M. FEIGENBAUM Netanya
As an Israeli-American national with an abiding love of both my country of birth and my adoptive country, the UN resolution was very dismaying to me.
Since Israel became a member of the UN, it has experienced an uninterrupted succession of one-sided resolutions, with only its best friend and ally, the US, there to use its veto power and prevent outrageous miscarriages of justice. This time it didn’t happen, and this is extremely worrisome.
As a lifelong Democrat and a person who voted twice for President Barack Obama, I am deeply disappointed at what is being called by some his parting shots over a less-than-friendly relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I think Obama was a good president, but I wish he didn’t stray from what was a hallowed American tradition – to be the only protector of a great friend and ally inside a hostile organization. RACHEL KAPEN West Bloomfield, Michigan
Senegal will be punished for co-sponsoring the UN resolution. So will New Zealand. Egypt must be punished for its initiative, regardless of its subsequent retraction under pressure.
The United Nations as a whole must be punished as well, with all UN personnel barred from Greater Israel immediately, and all UNRWA personnel expelled permanently.
Perhaps when the UN realizes its agencies can no longer effectively carry out their “important” work in the territories (clandestine missile storage, anti-Israel incitement, illegal Arab construction), it will recognize that actions have consequences. NOAM COHEN Efrat
I am deeply troubled by the notion of suspending aid to nations in need as a result of a disagreement over political policy. Friends do not agree all the time – especially regarding settlements – and relationships should not be suspended as a result.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repellent threat of exacting “a diplomatic and economic price” as a result of the UN vote (“Netanyahu’s gamble,” Analysis, December 26) and Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon’s absurd and intellectually barren comparison between the situation in Jerusalem with that in London, Beijing and Paris (“Would you have dared to question the right to build in Paris?”) will not uproot the greater philosophical alignment that bonds Israel to the civilized world. DARRYL PITT New York
The UN Security Council vote should be a wake-up call, telling Israel that is has only one friend it can rely on – and that is God, who has protected us throughout history and given us Israel as a non-negotiable inheritance.
Until the nations of the world recognize this, there can be no permanent peace. DAVID L. NEMTZOV Netanya