Letters to the editor

Rogue assembly

To the editor:

It is with great sadness that I have been observing the recent actions of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, and with reluctance that I label them a Rogue Assembly. My concern is over their passing in recent weeks of 1) an ordinance to extend the seats of Assembly members and the Mayor from three years to four years, and 2) an ordinance to allow political affiliation to appear on the election ballot. The votes on those ordinances were made by the very body that will benefit from the action. Those actions should have been placed on the ballot in November with the residents of the Borough deciding the issue, not politicians.

Extending the term of Assembly members benefits the politicians who serve on the Assembly. The residents of the Borough should have been the ones to decide that issue. Placing the issue on the ballot was recommended to the Assembly, however they ignored those comments made by the public.

The same argument applies to the issue of allowing political affiliation on the election ballot. No other municipal jurisdiction in the state allows political affiliation on the ballot. This has been the practice for 60 years. Any change should be voted on by the residents of the Borough.

It seems to me that the Assembly is blatantly ignoring the voting public. This behavior needs to be stopped. What could happen next? Would they remove Term Limits, allowing members to possibly serve an indefinite number of years.

I urge residents to speak up about this disturbing trend. The residents of the Valley should make these decisions, not the body that benefits from them.

Patricia Fisher,

Mat-Su Borough

The Israel War

To th editor:

Various people and groups are saying that Israel’s attacks on Gaza are horrific and unconscionable. This position requires a response.

Israel has existed as a Jewish state along the eastern Mediterranean shores over 3000 years ago. With the beginning of the Islam religion around 600 AD, and the associated ill will towards non-Muslims, the dispersion of Israelites out of their ancient ancestral homeland and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the world began.

In other parts of the world, especially Europe, life for Jews did not get better. The Holocaust during WWII resulted in the killing of approx. 6 million Jews, by the Nazis and their associates, and the deportation of hundreds of thousands.

After WWII ended, the United Nations in 1948 decided it was time to create a new state of Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean area where ancient Israel has existed, a place where dispersed Jews could finally return home.

From the beginning, Israel offered citizenship to all Arabs living there, but many Arabs rejected this offer. As soon as the UN partition resolution was signed, five adjacent Arab states attacked Israel, declaring ‘we must destroy Israel’. These anti-Israel groups have never stopped trying, even though in all the major wars that followed, 1949, 1967, 1973, Israel prevailed. The only reason these defeated countries gave lip service to peace agreements was to get the lands back that Israel occupied in these wars. But such peace agreements never lasted for long, as most of these Arabs have never given up on their goal to destroy Israel. This effort has been continued by the jihadist group call Hamas.

Israel has finally decided that after 75 years, it is time to deal with this enemy in the only way the Israel destroyers can understand.

As for the media’s focus on hostages and a cease fire, that has played right into the Hamas plan.

Most Palestinians are not innocent bystanders; Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas and the goal of destroying Israel.

Israel must now wage war for as long as it takes to send the clear message to all the anti-Israel Arabs, from Palestine to Lebanon to Iran, that if they want a REAL PEACE …. they must end their goal of the destruction of Israel.

Israel’s attacks on Gaza are NOT “horrific and unconscionable”. Rather this war is absolutely necessary.

James Lieb,

Palmer