Heres the answer that I wrote Roger Waters in his recent letter questioning Scarlett Johanssons loyalty to SodaStream and Israel: Roger Waters, since Scarlett Johansson has the good sense not to answer your pitiful letter to her begging her to hate Israel like you do, I will answer the questions you posed, not for your benefit (because I believe your hatred has blinded you of the real facts), but for those who are genuinely unaware of the following facts: Q: Do they have the right to vote? A: Yes they do, they vote for their Palestinian leadership. In the previous elections, they voted for Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization. Q: Do they have access to the roads? A: Absolutely! I drive through Samaria every single day, and trust me, its FULL of Palestinian drivers. Q: Can they travel to their work place without waiting for hours to pass through the occupying forces control barriers? A: The Israeli barriers have one purpose only. To prevent Palestinian terrorists from entering Israeli and Jewish towns and murdering its citizens. A day doesnt go by without a Palestinian being caught at one of these barriers with some sort of weapon. How many lives do you think have been saved because of these barriers? Countless! So with all due respect, I think saving lives takes priority over someone having to wait while being checked at one of these barriers. Or perhaps you dont think that Jewish lives are worth as much as Palestinian time? Perhaps you think that Jews dont have rights to live? Q: Do they have clean drinking water? A: Yes they do. I know a lot of Palestinians, and they all have drinking water. And Im not just referring to those Palestinians who illegally tap into the national water system. Q: Do they have sanitation? A: Why dont you ask the Palestinian Authority whos responsibility it is to take care of Palestinian sanitation? Q: Do they have citizenship? A: Yes they do, most have Palestinian citizenship, some have dual Jordanian/Palestinian, and others have yet other Arab countries citizenship. Q: Do they have the right not to have the standard issue kicking in their door in the middle of the night and taking their children away? A: Anyone who deals with terrorism should and can be arrested. I assume that is who you are referring to, right? Terrorists? I can assure you that a very large majority of Palestinians have not had their doors kicked in and their children taken away. Additionally, if I, as an Israeli Jew, was to harm anyone in a violent matter as Palestinian terrorists do, my door would also get kicked in and I would be put in Jail. I think anyone in any country in the world faces these same conditions if they were to carry out violent attacks against someone. Q: Do they have the right to appeal against arbitrary and indefinite imprisonment? A: Of course they do. All Palestinian and Jewish prisoners are afforded an attorney, either one that they have paid for, or one that is appointed to them by the State if they cant afford one. And can we also mention at this point that Palestinian prisoners who serve jail sentences for terrorism in Israeli jails live in conditions that prisoners in Palestinian Authority jails could only dream of? Q: Do they have the right to re-occupy the property and homes they owned before 1948? A: Considering that Jews are the ones that were expelled from this land over around 2000 years ago, do we have this right in your opinion? The Palestinians who built homes on this land have built them on top of ancient Jewish towns and villages. Q: Do they have the right to an ordinary, decent human family life? A: Every human being should have this right. I wonder what their lives would have been like had the Palestinians accepted the numerous peace offers over the years that Israel has offered. It started in 1947 with their rejection of the UN Partition Plan, and continued in 1967 (Khartoum), 2000 (Camp David), 2001 (Taba), 2008 (Olmer offer), 2012 (Current negotiations). Q: Do they have the right to self determination? A: This is covered by the answer above. The question that needs to be asked is if thats what they really want? Dont you think that they should have accepted one of the above mentioned peace offers if they were really interested in self determination? Or perhaps they have far greater ambitions? Like ALL of Israel? Q: Do they have the right to continue to develop a cultural life that is ancient and profound? A: So Palestinian cultural life is ancient and profound, huh? Just how ancient is Palestinian culture in your opinion? Here are a few more questions that you can answer that might give us an idea of how ancient they are: When was Palestine founded and by whom? What were its borders? What was its capital? What were its major cities? What constituted the basis of its economy? What was its form of government? Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat? Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation? What was the language of the country of Palestine ? What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine ? What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur? Mr. Waters, may I suggest that you refrain from hitting your proverbial head in The Wall and release your deep hatred of Israel in order to advance true peace to this region? An obvious bias has the exact opposite result. Do you expect any Israeli to take you seriously when all we hear is your constant bashing of our one and only country? In all honesty Roger, we think youre a joke. Do us all a favor, and stick to music. Sincerely, Uri Silberman
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 00:44:44 +0000
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