Font ResizeLetter showed anti-Israel bias
After reading Paul Larudee's June 22 letter, "Israel, South Africa do have some similarities," I wondered what kind of history student he is, if not a biased one.
When did Israel expel its non-Jews? That's certainly news to me. It's the only country in the region that supports at least two major religions besides Judaism: Christianity and Islam.
Has Larudee visited Israel or lived there as I have? How is Israel racist? Has he seen the Africans and multiethnic citizens in Israel or spoken to representatives of its Arab citizens?
He may be upset Israel has reduced the number of fatalities from Palestinian suicide bombers by making it harder for them to reach their targets. I see him as anti-Jewish and painting with a broad-brush stroke the perceived evils of which he accuses Israel.
Since Larudee advocates a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, I suggest he add to his boycott list the medical, scientific, agricultural and climate advances Israel has produced and shared with the world.
Maybe he should boycott the lifesaving and limb-restoration stem cell achievements Israel has discovered. Boycott the medications, surgical techniques and anything else Israel has achieved to help mankind. That should certainly teach Israel a lesson, but not the one he thinks it will.
Evie Groch
El Cerrito
This is not to pile on Pleasant Hill Police Chief Pete Dunbar, but to point out what a terrible system we have for California taxpayers. According to the Times website, his salary for 2011 was $197,077 and he does not get overtime. The total cost of his fringe benefits was $134,211 (pension $97,685, medical $25,880, other $10,646). The total cost to the city to employ him for 2011 was $331,288.
That seems like a lot of money for a city the size of Pleasant Hill with a police department that had only 61 employees for 2011. The Times showed that Sheriff David Livingston had a salary of $177,092 and a total compensation cost of $341,3994. It did not say if he had the job for all of 2011.
It would be nice to see what the chief's annual pension will amount to. A few years ago, the fire chief from Moraga/Orinda and San Ramon both retired and their pensions were at least 20 percent more than their last year base annual salary.
Richard Nishkian
Walnut Creek
Primary concern must be for U.S. veterans
It is all very well and good to want to help the supposedly innocent ones brought here by parents. However, if they all apply for work permits, what about the almost 425,000 of the nearly 1.5 million service persons returning from the Middle East who are now looking for jobs, with more to come?
I believe that President Barack Obama should show concern for those who cannot find work. His loyalty should be to the returning service members, rather than his concern for adding voters from the illegal residents here.
I do not believe that he truly cares about the illegal children brought here, but his executive order is rather a selfish wish for more votes in November.
Elisabeth Pforr
Brentwood
Propaganda about Israel should stop
It puzzles me why the Times publishes such propaganda from Paul Larudee on a regular basis. I've been to Israel a few times. In 2002, I was at a community center in Haifa and there were groups of Jewish and Arab children in dance classes and other programs.
I visited an Arab village where they were expanding their homes for their expanding families. In Tel Aviv and other cities, you see mosques, churches and synagogues with people getting along. In hospitals, there are Arab doctors and Arab patients side-by-side with Jewish patients. There are Arab judges and representatives in the government. A couple of years ago there was a Bedouin consul in the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. Gays in Jordan and other Middle East countries are flocking to Israel where they can live freely.
Jews have lived for 3,000-plus years throughout the Middle East. Today there are no Jews left in Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq, and the few left in Syria can't leave. The remaining Jews in Yemen are being murdered. Copts are being murdered and raped by the citizens in Egypt and Iraq, but that doesn't bother Larudee.
Judith Brickman
Walnut Creek
