Dealing with domestic abuse

Violence is a learned behaviour. Boys who grow up in homes with abuse and domestic violence are nearly four times more likely to perpetrate domestic abuse than those who grow up in homes without it. Because violence in the home tends to be a child’s first experience of it and is often defended as either inevitable or trivial, it becomes the root and justifier of all violence for many. 

We must intervene early. By doing so we can protect the women and children who become the first victims. 

Arguably one way to begin the process is for our Jewish schools to take their reporting of abuse under our laws more seriously. It is not about calling home, it is about calling Jewish Family & Child. 

Justice Marvin Zuker 
Toronto 

Bibi and Bougie go to D.C.

I take exception to the tone and message  in the editorial “Bibi and Bougie go to Washington” (Jan. 29). 

It seems to disassociate the primary concern of Israelis in the upcoming elections, the economy, from foreign relations, which ranked very low by comparison. 

To dismiss the visits of the leaders of two of the most important parties to Washington during this time is to display a shocking lack of understanding and appreciation for realpolitik. Like it or not, Israel’s very survival depends upon the support of the United States, and particularly its Congress. Building and expanding this support only strengthens Israel, while playing footsie with President Barack Obama is a proven waste of time. And a stronger Israel will have a more robust economy, better security and improved social justice. 

I welcome these visits, over just several days, during which ongoing relationships with key decision-makers will be strengthened and new ones established. It seems to me that these results would benefit Israel and all Israelis a lot more than another campaign stop in Ashkelon or Safed. 

Len Shara
Cote St. Luc, Que. 

Iran is not the threat 

A Feb. 5 letter “Dealing with Iran,” makes  some serious errors. 

It wrongly assumes that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. However, in March 2013, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed that Iran has not decided to develop a nuclear weapon and that it would be unable to do so secretly. 

It repeats the false accusation that Iranian leaders threaten to wipe Israel out. However, in 2012, then-Israeli deputy prime minister Dan Meridor acknowledged that then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said that Iran seeks to “wipe Israel off the face of the map.” While the western media regularly present Iran as a dire threat to world peace, Iran has in fact not invaded any country since the 1700s – in marked contrast to the United States and Israel. 

As for threatening Jews, the Islamic Republic, while anti-Zionist, is not anti-Semitic as manifested in its treatment of Iran’s Jewish community – the largest of any Muslim-majority country. The Jewish community in Iran dates back more than 2,000 years, continues to run kosher shops, Hebrew schools and synagogues, and has guaranteed representation in parliament. The main source of evil today is clearly ISIS, and an effective force countering ISIS is Iran. Therefore, it is fair to ask: which country is better confronting today’s evil, Iran or Israel?

It should not be difficult for Canadians to understand that the conflict the United States and Israel have with Iran is due to geopolitics, not ideology. Iran wants to be recognized as a major regional power, while the United States and Israel want to frustrate that goal to preserve their regional pre-eminence. Many informed Israelis freely acknowledge this reality. For example, according to Eliezer Tsafrir, former head of Israeli intelligence on Iran and Iraq: “However ideological and Islamic, everything Iran was doing was nationalistic, and even similar to the Shah.”

Jeffrey Rudolph
Montreal

Remembering the Shoah

U.S. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, upon visiting the death camp Dachau, summoned all the news photographers in Europe to the camp to take pictures. As he said, “In years to come, no one will believe this had happened.” His prediction was correct.

Paul S. Levin
Toronto