Checkpoint biased

Why has Matthew Hays given Eric Scott’s "not-yet-finished" film Checkpoint: The Battle for Israel’s Soul a feature review [Cover "Bringing down walls," Aug. 21]? Usually a filmmaker has to wait until a film is completed to get such a review. Hays makes it easy for pro-Israeli Canadians to get press coverage while ignoring the standard questions regarding the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Hays is very soft on "committed" Zionist Eric Scott who says, "I am for Israel having a strong army. We need one, it’s a rough neighbourhood." Although Scott uses the term "we," he is not an Israeli citizen. What does the "we" denote? Is it code for something?

Are the Israeli checkpoints the real issue? Why does Scott not address the land snatching by settlers from Toronto etc? Or is the real issue to make Scott look as though he has captured the moral high ground? One should note that pre-Darwinian Scott feels that Israel has a "soul." How can anyone who thinks that certain members of humanity have a "soul" make a rational documentary? Why is the National Film Board of Canada funding this with our tax dollars?

In the interview Scott tactically shuts his mouth on the current Israeli land snatching. He prefers to bleat on and on about checkpoints - the surface of the problem. Scott should have directly raised the following questions:

(1) Should Palestinians (as Jews do) have the unconditional right of return to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza? (2) Why are the suicide bombers persisting? (3) The Canadian government has barred Canadians from sending money to many support groups in Palestine: should Canadians be made aware of exactly which public and private institutions are sending money to Israel? (4) Has the NFB (where the obedient "visible minorities" work) ever allowed Arab-Canadians to show how some Canadians support Israeli violence in the West Bank and Gaza?

» Julian Samuel, Rawi Hage, James Ramsay and David Hogarth

Elderly woman
deserves better

I’m writing in response to an article that I read last week regarding the eviction of Micheline Handfield from her apartment on Sherbrooke W. ["Landlord lockout," Aug 21]. I’m completely appalled by the actions of Ms. Handfield’s landlords, and although I normally don’t write letters about news articles, I can’t help but voice my feeling that this wonderful (and clearly very patient and understanding) woman deserves better.

I can understand that Ms. Handfield doesn’t feel that she should personally fight this injustice, but there’s surely someone who has a background in law or tenants’ rights out there who would be willing to help her find some kind of compensation from her former landlords. This just isn’t right; elderly people shouldn’t have to deal with this type of stuff. As part of the younger generation (I’m 23), I feel that people my age should take the responsibility to give a helping hand to the people who gave us all we have now.

» Rob White

Gays and Satan

Jean Chrétien keeps asserting that he won’t let people’s religious objections alter his stance on same-sex marriage. Why is Mr. Chrétien reversing the course of our culture? Is it a political ploy? Does he think he’ll get more votes at election time?

Marriage is a holy union of one man and one woman in which they commit, with God’s help, to build a loving, life-giving, faithful relationship that will last for a lifetime.

On Nov. 15, 1972, Pope Paul VI said: "The devil is the enemy number one. He’s the tempter for excellence." So we know that this obscure and exciting being really exists, and that he still acts with treacherous wiles. He is the hidden enemy spreading errors and misfortune in human history. He is the killer from the very beginning and father of lies as Christ defines him. He is the subtle tempter of man’s moral balance. It is him the treacherous, cunning enchanter who can insinuate himself inside us through the senses, fantasy, lust, utopian logic or irregular social contacts in order to bring about harmful deviations - in spite of their apparent conformity with our physical or psychic structures.

The existence of the antichrist is written in the Gospels. "Prince of this world," Jesus calls him. "Enemy who came at night to plant the darnel in the corn field." The devil managed to get into human history through a temptation into which man fell. The Original Sin was born as the devil won, as he wants evil and because man is free. The devil always tries to seduce man, and his great cleverness lies in disguising himself. It’s convenient for the so-called modern mentality, which withdraws willingly behind its scepticism, that he isn’t there. But there he is. Nowhere does he dominate with greater security than where men mock of him.

Same-sex marriage is similar to when Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets. The people who were waiting for him were caught in acts of lust, having unnatural and abnormal sex and worshipping false gods. I’m sure at that time they tried to convince Moses that things had changed, that the people were not hurting anyone - it was love, and how could love be bad? But God taught us then that it was wrong. Why would it be different now? Also, in the Garden of Eden God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.

» Bernice L. Seguin, Cornwall, Ontario

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