Israel

BEIRUT -- The big bulldozer of Boutros Farris pawed the ground. It caught, and with a snort of diesel smoke and clank of moving steel, ripped out the columns yesterday from under the old U.S. Embassy here.The left third of the six-story building collapsed in a shroud of dust. A heap of rubble replaced the bombed-out building that has for 11 years stood as a grim symbol of the cost of U.S. involvement in the tangled Middle East.A suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 killed 63 people and crushed American delusions that it could solve the problems in this region by sending in the Marines.

Alfred Sommer, a former Johns Hopkins University dean who discovered the importance of vitamin A in preventing child blindness, will accept an award Sunday in Israel honoring his contributions to preventive medicine. Sommer was chosen as a laureate of the Dan David Prize, bestowed in various fields by Tel Aviv University. He shares the $1 million prize with Esther Duflo, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist being honored for her work on poverty. The Dan David Foundation awards three prizes each year - one for achievements focused on the past, one for the present, and one, as in Sommer's case, for the future.

Letter writer Abel J. Merrill expresses disappointment in President Obama for "demanding" that Israel withdraw to its pre-1967 borders ("Obama shows ignorance or malice toward Israel," May 25). Mr. Merrill must watch Fox News exclusively, since the president said no such thing. What he said is that negotiations must begin with the 1967 borders. Like all complex issues, peace negotiations require intelligence and a willingness to compromise. In the 21st century, war is less and less an option.

Erika Brannock saw flashes of yellow and orange, and she felt as if her body was falling in slow motion when the first of two homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon exploded inches away from where she stood near the finish line. She heard people crying and screaming. "I thought I was going to die, and I had this conversation with God in my head, and I said, 'I am not ready to go yet,'" Brannock, a 29-year-old Towson preschool teacher, said Monday. After 50 days at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Brannock became the last of the bombing victims to be discharged.

The article "Britain's Cameron calls Gaza a prison" (July 28) quotes Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron: "Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change ... Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp." World leaders and international aid groups continue to condemn Israel's starvation blockade of the civilian population of Gaza, calling on Israel to end, not just ease, their blockade. Unfortunately, the U.S. continues to finance, arm and give political support to Israel, due mainly to our politicians' fear of confronting the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

True to form, President Obama began backpedaling from his statement to Prime Minister Netanyahu that Israel needs to return to her 1967 borders when he later explained to AIPAC( American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) that his statement was "mischaracterized. " It's hard to know if he is arrogant or just naïve concerning the underlying conflict, or if he is actually less than genuine toward Israel and its fight to survive as the only true democracy in the Middle East and America's staunchest ally.

Before the Jewish community of Baltimore accepts Vice President Biden's rebuke of Israel's announcement that it will expand the settlements in East Jerusalem as further evidence that the Obama administration is unsympathetic to Israel, please consider this: • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has advanced his position among his supporters by acting despite apparent American opposition; • Mr. Biden and the Obama Administration advance their political interests by appearing to deny lock-step support for every Israeli action; • America appears to be a more independent broker to the Arab world and to the rest of the world; • Settlements are built and the issue of of further expansion becomes a bargaining chip in negotiations rather than a prenegotiations concession by Israel with no prid pro quo. Israel's "insult" to Vice President Biden -- "shocking" him during his visit by making the announcement of their intention to expand the settlements was, I submit, prearranged.

Thank you for publishing the lucid, information-rich op-ed piece by Laila El-Haddad ("Israeli brutality on land and at sea," June 3). Ms. El-Haddad has pointed out the arbitrary nature of the restrictions that Israel imposes upon 1.6 million Gazans. No wheelchairs or paper or children's books. Also, no coriander or house plants. These, and many more banned items, are Israel's means of inflicting collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Convention. A related topic is the significance of the natural gas reserves that have been discovered off the coast of Gaza and the business negotiations connected with this discovery.

Four women who graduated from local high schools helped Israel's women's lacrosse team to victory at the EC12 Festival Championship Friday in Amsterdam. According to the Israel lacrosse website, the team trailed by four goals before rallying to defeat the Global Players club, which is based in the United States, 8-7 in overtime, in the final. Israel had lost to Global Players twice in round-robin competion. Kim Dubansky, a McDonogh and Johns Hopkins graduate who currently serves as an Eagles girls assistant coach, led the team with three goals.

Can anyone explain to me why it is OK for Israel to have a nuclear capability and not Iran ("Iran nuclear advances seen," Aug. 24)? Iran has never attacked its neighbors (other than the US-fostered war with Iraq); Israel has attacked all its neighbors and still illegally holds territory in Syria and Lebanon, not to mention Palestine. Israel has actually threatened to use its nuclear power, in its 1973 war with Egypt. Israel admits that Iran, even if it had a nuclear bomb, would not be foolish enough to use it against Israel.

Your report on the Israeli strike on missiles in Syria bound for Hezbollah shows how the warmongering nation of Israel continues to use the billions of dollars in military aid it receives from the U.S. every year to wage war against its neighbors - for which we get the blame ("Israel defends strikes in Syria," May 6). Israel has bombed not only Syria, but also Lebanon and Gaza twice, while threatening Iran on a daily basis. In addition, Israel brutally occupies the Palestinians, stealing their land and water.

The article by Zainab Choudry and Saqib Ali on Israel's supposed discrimination against Arab-American and Muslim citizens is missing a big part of the story in the Arab and Muslim world ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30). Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had to personally intervene to allow Jewish reporters on his plane to enter Saudi Arabia, since Jews weren't allowed. Christians in Arab lands are harassed and persecuted on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Muslim women are considered property upon marriage, and the Arab Spring in Egypt has replaced one dictator with another.

Israel and Syria continue to fight, Robert Downey Jr. continues to  pretend to fight, and in sunny, pastoral northern Pennsylvania, a former judge is still getting international attention a week after his sentencing over what amounts to a human-trafficking scheme. Welcome to your daily trends report for Monday, May 6, 2013. Mark Ciavarella, a former common pleas judge in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was sentenced early last week for his role as a cog in the prison-industrial complex. Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, received kickback money from private jail operators to fill their beds with children as young as 10 without due process, often on first-time offenses.

In their commentary, Zainab Choudry and Saqib Ali ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30) objected to Senate Bill 462 (the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013) introduced recently in the U.S. Senate that advocates Israel's right to deny entry into its country of certain people. Therefore, according to them, this bill would allow Israel to "discriminate against select groups of Americans, including Americans who expressed criticism of its policies. " Ms. Choudry and Mr. Ali also misguidedly disapproved of U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin for supporting the bill.

It is unfortunate that the authors of the recent commentary, "Don't let Israel discriminate," (April 30), distort the purpose and the effect of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act. This bill merely states that the State of Israel is designated as a country that is eligible for the Visa Waiver Program. This Visa Waiver Program waives the necessity of obtaining a visa for certain foreign visitors that meet certain requirements. These requirements include that the country of origin is friendly to the U.S., that it has in place high-levels of security so that adequate information on the visiting persons helps assure that they are not threats, that the visitors enter the U.S. for a limited time and for valid business purposes and that the visitors have plans to return to their country of origin.

I appreciated reading the commentary, "Don't let Israel discriminate," (April 30) This is a concern that has been long documented by the State Department and a new bill in Congress has been written to provide a "look the other way" response to these racial policies and afford Israel visa waiver status. Rather than supporting this legislation, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin should be promoting the interests and needs of Maryland residents first. If there are citizens of Maryland who are discriminated against and refused entry into Israel (or any other country for that matter)

The recent article about President Barack Obama's speech at the United Nations ("Obama stands by Israel at U.N.," Sept. 22 ) should have been headlined, "Obama caves in to Israel again. " President Obama's vow to veto Palestinian statehood at the U.N. is the fifth time that he has embarrassed himself and our country by pandering to Israel and its powerful lobby. The other times were over borders, settlements, Israel's invasion of Gaza and its massacre of nine peace activists on the Gaza flotilla.

When gauging Iran's threat to Israel, its important to remember that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proclamations about "wiping Israel off the map" have been rebutted by Ayatollah Khamenei, who as Supreme Leader of Iran has more authority than the president and more influence on foreign policy ("Nuclear saber-rattling," Feb. 6). But Israel knows this, of course, just as surely as it knows that the Iranian leadership is not crazy or suicidal and so wouldn't attack Israel with nuclear weapons even if it could or wanted to. With the existential threat fig leaf stripped away, the bullying behind Israel's saber-rattling becomes plain to see. Also, remember that President Barack Obama allowed the sale of bunker-buster bombs to Israel - the kind needed to reach underground nuclear facilities - which gave Israel the credibility to threaten and bluster.

Any sovereign nation has the right to exclude any individual who might be considered to be a threat to that country ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30). Keeping its citizenry safe is a primary requirement of any country, including the U.S., as well as many other nations that do not accept another country's passport as an automatic granting of entry. Anyone who has indulged in foreign travel knows that a U.S. passport is not sufficient for visiting a country with many nations requiring a visa issued by that nation.

The Annapolis Democratic Central Committee will pick a replacement for former Alderman Richard E. Israel on Tuesday night. Three men have applied to replace Israel, who resigned from the City Council earlier this month because he is moving to an assisted living facility that's outside of the ward he represented. Israel has Parkinson's disease. The replacement alderman will serve the remainder of Israel's term, which runs through this fall's city elections. The applicants seeking to finish Israel's term are Joe Budge, Paul Clar and Thomas McCarthy.