Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

President Musharraf’s Speech
Re: Musharraf’s Historic Speech, Daniel Pipes, Foreign, September 20, 2005]
Recent articles in your paper about the speech to Jewish leaders last weekend by the president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, indicated some positive aspects of the speech while ignoring much else which is both negative and disturbing, including the following:
“I do not have an iota of doubt that the Israeli-Palestinian problem lies at the heart of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond.” Yet Muslims have been murdering Jews before Israel existed, let alone conquered Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Nor do terrorist bombings in New York, Bali, the Philippines, Britain, and Spain or wars between Iran and Iraq or Iraq and Kuwait have anything to do with Israel. It is noteworthy that when Al Qaeda listed its reasons for war with the West in 1997, Israel did not make it into the top five.
“Any final settlement must respect the international character of Jerusalem as well as international law and the resolutions of the UN Security Councils.” In short, Mr. Musharraf was supporting internationalizing Jerusalem and Israel bowing to numerous hostile resolutions of the United Nations, which suffers from institutional bias against Israel and has been a poor ally of democratic states.
“The relationship between Muslims and Jews had always been wonderful and that the past 6 decades are an aberration in the long history of Muslim-Jewish co operation and co-existence.” Mr. Musharraf ignored the fact that Muslims massacred Jews who refused to convert when Islam first began 1,300 years ago. Even in the past century, Arab Muslims murdered Jews in 1920-21, 1929, 1936-39 – before there was a Jewish state.
“We must look at the motivations of terrorists … at the root causes of terrorists … that pushes them to such extremes of desperation.” Yet the roots causes of Palestinian terrorism are the same as the root cause of the Nazi murder of Jews – they educate throughout their society to hate and murder Jews.
Mr. Musharraf also said that Pakistan cannot recognize Israel because there is no Palestinian State. Yet several Muslim states have relations with Israel, including Egypt, which was once formally at war with Israel. If Egypt can have relations, why not Pakistan, which is not party to any conflict involving Israel? Nor was there any condemnation of continuing terrorism against Israel, something that ought to have been said, especially before a Jewish audience.
These statements and omissions are very damaging because, coming from someone now perceived as a moderate reaching out to Jews, they might actually reinforce extremist attitudes to Israel and Jews in the Muslim world.
MICHAEL GOLDBLATT
Chairman
Zionist Organization of America
Manhattan
Katrina Rebuilding
Re: “Mayor Urges Bush To Pay Workers Union Wages for Katrina Rebuilding,” Julia Levy, New York, September 21, 2005]
After blasting President Bush for suspending Davis-Bacon (you cannot pay below union wages on government contract work), how does Mayor Bloomberg justify turning down Dennis Rivera’s request that he unionize 20,000 privatized home health care workers by shifting them into his union?
While addressing a union gathering, he argues that Davis-Bacon is necessary to ensure quality performance in reconstructing the city. But does this mean that we do not care about the quality of performance of our home health-care workers? Or does it mean that, well, as most all economists agree, Davis-Bacon doesn’t really improve quality, only cost?
This business, following his attacks on the Iraq war on terror and on Justice Roberts, makes one think that Mayor Mike has deep-sixed all his principles except for one: Get me re-elected!
DAVID M. O’NEILL
Manhattan
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