ANNE HORENSTEINRa’ananaNo laughing matterSir,– Cory Franklin’s sense of humor leaves much to be desired (“It ispossible to laugh at Adolf Hitler,” May 3). There is nothing funnyabout the originator of the Holocaust and initiator of a world war thatcost an estimated 60 million lives (40 million of them civilians).Franklinmisguidedly cites the Three Stooges’ You Natzy Spy (1940), CharlieChaplain’s The Great Dictator (1941), Jack Benny’s To Be or Not to Be(1942), and a wartime Daffy Duck cartoon as examples of laudable – andJewish – satire of Hitler. The epitome of this genre is supposedly MelBrooks’s The Producers (1968).What Franklin ignores in thisfacile cinematography is that the three movies and cartoon were madebefore the Holocaust, when satirizing a mere dictator was perhaps theboldest move of which Hollywood was capable in defense of democracy. Ittook many decades after the war for the film industry to come to termswith the satirized dictator who became the perfecter of genocide. TheProducers did not target Hitler, but used him as a plot device in thescheme devised by the lead characters.The YouTube parody thatFranklin defends – and any similar unthinking attempt to make light ofa person who was responsible for so much human suffering – does notonly trivialize the Holocaust, but reveals a basic lack of ethicalvalues, if not common sense. Franklin’s decision to conclude hisapology for “Hitler humor” with a pathetic attempt at a joke aboutwould-be Jewish assassins places him solidly in the company of DaffyDuck.ILAN CHAIMJerusalemA little good news?Sir,– I imagine that I am far from being the only person in this countrywho is profoundly distressed, disturbed and depressed by the unendingdaily fare of horrific violence and sadism offered on the local newsand media, and which for past year or more has become our staple newsdiet.We seem at times even to be outdoing Sodom and Gemorrain the torrent of criminal deeds of members of our society who run thewhole gamut of wrongdoing from teenage gang-rape (“Police arrest fourBat Yam teens for allegedly raping 12-year-old,” May 4), pedophilia,murder (“Oshrenko family murder trial begins in Beersheba,” May 4) andchild-abuse, to more mundane misdemeanors such as high-level corruption(“Might Ehud Olmert be indicted yet again?,” May 4) and drunk driving.No sector of Israeli society seems free from infection.We have to stop and ask ourselves: Is this the society that Herzlenvisaged? Is this the society prevailing in a Jewish state? What hashappened to our vaunted Jewish values? Where are the religious and layleaders setting an example to stem the tide of lawlessness andviolence? What is wrong with our society? Is it weak education? Is itthe difficult economic situation that turns the young and unemployedinto criminals? Is something wrong with the Jewish-Zionist ethositself? Is it the arrogance of freedom run riot?I do not know. But I do know that I often cringe with shame whenlistening to the local horror news, and switch it off. We all know thatthis country is capable of far better things, of many noble andselfless acts and great achievements, but the telling of this islargely confined to days such as Independence Day. Perhaps the newsmedia should realize that drowning us in exposure to our sins is onlylowering the individual and national morale. Because this is not thesociety we came here to build, and the sooner the Almighty sends themessiah to halt our self-destruction, the better!DAVID HERMANJerusalem
May 5: Proximity peace
Proximity talks should lead to proximity peace, without preconditions.
ANNE HORENSTEINRa’ananaNo laughing matterSir,– Cory Franklin’s sense of humor leaves much to be desired (“It ispossible to laugh at Adolf Hitler,” May 3). There is nothing funnyabout the originator of the Holocaust and initiator of a world war thatcost an estimated 60 million lives (40 million of them civilians).Franklinmisguidedly cites the Three Stooges’ You Natzy Spy (1940), CharlieChaplain’s The Great Dictator (1941), Jack Benny’s To Be or Not to Be(1942), and a wartime Daffy Duck cartoon as examples of laudable – andJewish – satire of Hitler. The epitome of this genre is supposedly MelBrooks’s The Producers (1968).What Franklin ignores in thisfacile cinematography is that the three movies and cartoon were madebefore the Holocaust, when satirizing a mere dictator was perhaps theboldest move of which Hollywood was capable in defense of democracy. Ittook many decades after the war for the film industry to come to termswith the satirized dictator who became the perfecter of genocide. TheProducers did not target Hitler, but used him as a plot device in thescheme devised by the lead characters.The YouTube parody thatFranklin defends – and any similar unthinking attempt to make light ofa person who was responsible for so much human suffering – does notonly trivialize the Holocaust, but reveals a basic lack of ethicalvalues, if not common sense. Franklin’s decision to conclude hisapology for “Hitler humor” with a pathetic attempt at a joke aboutwould-be Jewish assassins places him solidly in the company of DaffyDuck.ILAN CHAIMJerusalemA little good news?Sir,– I imagine that I am far from being the only person in this countrywho is profoundly distressed, disturbed and depressed by the unendingdaily fare of horrific violence and sadism offered on the local newsand media, and which for past year or more has become our staple newsdiet.We seem at times even to be outdoing Sodom and Gemorrain the torrent of criminal deeds of members of our society who run thewhole gamut of wrongdoing from teenage gang-rape (“Police arrest fourBat Yam teens for allegedly raping 12-year-old,” May 4), pedophilia,murder (“Oshrenko family murder trial begins in Beersheba,” May 4) andchild-abuse, to more mundane misdemeanors such as high-level corruption(“Might Ehud Olmert be indicted yet again?,” May 4) and drunk driving.No sector of Israeli society seems free from infection.We have to stop and ask ourselves: Is this the society that Herzlenvisaged? Is this the society prevailing in a Jewish state? What hashappened to our vaunted Jewish values? Where are the religious and layleaders setting an example to stem the tide of lawlessness andviolence? What is wrong with our society? Is it weak education? Is itthe difficult economic situation that turns the young and unemployedinto criminals? Is something wrong with the Jewish-Zionist ethositself? Is it the arrogance of freedom run riot?I do not know. But I do know that I often cringe with shame whenlistening to the local horror news, and switch it off. We all know thatthis country is capable of far better things, of many noble andselfless acts and great achievements, but the telling of this islargely confined to days such as Independence Day. Perhaps the newsmedia should realize that drowning us in exposure to our sins is onlylowering the individual and national morale. Because this is not thesociety we came here to build, and the sooner the Almighty sends themessiah to halt our self-destruction, the better!DAVID HERMANJerusalem