As you've alluded to, the responsible exercise of the right to express an opinion involves informing oneself about the subject matter at hand (a task made that much easier by the existence of media outlets such as this one). Nevertheless, one of the main points in my article was that we as a society have decided that ignorance does not disqualify someone from the right to an opinion (though, again as you noted, it certainly might undermine the substance of the opinion itself). No less troubling than ignorance itself, perhaps, is the frequent tendency to presume ignorance on the part of an opinion-holder with whom one disagrees (which it seems to me you may have done, for example regarding the State Department, although I am not certain this was your intention).

One point I'd like to explore further is your apparent equation of freedom of conscience (or the right to a critical opinion) with the application of political pressure. While I agree that they are related, I see pressure is a matter of power, not of right. An individual's, organization's, or government's ability to pressure Israel to discontinue policies with which it disagrees stems entirely from the degree of economic or other influence it can exert over Israel, not any moral principle. Because of their levels of relative dependence on the other, Israel will likely need to pay more heed to Canadian concerns than Canada will to Israel's. Right or wrong (and I can understand why it might trouble you), political realists would remind us that this is (descriptively) how the world has always functioned. This, however, was not the subject of my article (any more than were the merits of the E1 construction proposal which you defended at length).

As you've alluded to, the responsible exercise of the right to express an opinion involves informing oneself about the subject matter at hand (a task made that much easier by the existence of media outlets such as this one). Nevertheless, one of the main points in my article was that we as a society have decided that ignorance does not disqualify someone from the right to an opinion (though, again as you noted, it certainly might undermine the substance of the opinion itself). No less troubling than ignorance itself, perhaps, is the frequent tendency to presume ignorance on the part of an opinion-holder with whom one disagrees (which it seems to me you may have done, for example regarding the State Department, although I am not certain this was your intention).

One point I'd like to explore further is your apparent equation of freedom of conscience (or the right to a critical opinion) with the application of political pressure. While I agree that they are related, I see pressure is a matter of power, not of right. An individual's, organization's, or government's ability to pressure Israel to discontinue policies with which it disagrees stems entirely from the degree of economic or other influence it can exert over Israel, not any moral principle. Because of their levels of relative dependence on the other, Israel will likely need to pay more heed to Canadian concerns than Canada will to Israel's. Right or wrong (and I can understand why it might trouble you), political realists would remind us that this is (descriptively) how the world has always functioned. This, however, was not the subject of my article (any more than were the merits of the E1 construction proposal which you defended at length).

You have as much right to criticize Israeli government policy as I have to criticize Canadian government policy. You have the same right to pressure the Israeli government into changing its policies that I have to pressure the Canadian government into changing its policies.

Now can you see the difference between the two?

Much of the noise and criticism made over the proposed E1 plans (which are, at this stage, still on the drawing board, and are at least 5 years from realization) is based on the basic laziness of people who hear one version, accept it and are too lazy to look at a map. Even the NYTimes Jerusalem Editor fell into that trap, when she published the claim that “building in E1 would separate the northern and southern halves of the West Bank”. She, at least, has since apologized and printed a retraction, half-@$$ed though it was.

I don’t agree with Mr. Miller, but I do agree about the building of E1. Building in E1 will guarantee Israeli contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, and will not prevent the contiguity of the West Bank. How can the Palestinians object to a corridor 15 kilometers wide between Ma’ale Adumim and the Dead Sea, when their demands will create a corridor from Herzlia to Hadera that will be as little as 12 kilometers in width at points? Yet I see no one even mentioning that fact—the same fact that made Abba Evan call the 1949 armistice line “Auschwitz borders”.

The reaction of these rabbis and their ignorance of geography distress me tremendously. It also makes me wonder if they have any understanding of the issues at hand, and of the Arab mentality we deal with daily. Are they making the same mistake that Western State Departments and Foreign Ministries constantly make, assigning their own morals, values and mentality to the Arabs of the Middle East?

If they are, then they truly have no right to speak up until they educate themselves.

You have as much right to criticize Israeli government policy as I have to criticize Canadian government policy. You have the same right to pressure the Israeli government into changing its policies that I have to pressure the Canadian government into changing its policies.

Now can you see the difference between the two?

Much of the noise and criticism made over the proposed E1 plans (which are, at this stage, still on the drawing board, and are at least 5 years from realization) is based on the basic laziness of people who hear one version, accept it and are too lazy to look at a map. Even the NYTimes Jerusalem Editor fell into that trap, when she published the claim that “building in E1 would separate the northern and southern halves of the West Bank”. She, at least, has since apologized and printed a retraction, half-@$$ed though it was.

I don’t agree with Mr. Miller, but I do agree about the building of E1. Building in E1 will guarantee Israeli contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, and will not prevent the contiguity of the West Bank. How can the Palestinians object to a corridor 15 kilometers wide between Ma’ale Adumim and the Dead Sea, when their demands will create a corridor from Herzlia to Hadera that will be as little as 12 kilometers in width at points? Yet I see no one even mentioning that fact—the same fact that made Abba Evan call the 1949 armistice line “Auschwitz borders”.

The reaction of these rabbis and their ignorance of geography distress me tremendously. It also makes me wonder if they have any understanding of the issues at hand, and of the Arab mentality we deal with daily. Are they making the same mistake that Western State Departments and Foreign Ministries constantly make, assigning their own morals, values and mentality to the Arabs of the Middle East?

If they are, then they truly have no right to speak up until they educate themselves.