I was amazed at the twisted logic used by Shabbir Bala in his column printed Dec. 8 (“Together, Americans can pursue justice”). First of all the Palestinians don’t want justice, they want all of Israel. That has been their stated aim ever since Israel was established. Israel’s Jewish population is a very small minority when compared with the Muslim population of the Middle Eastern countries. The Israelis are fighting for their very own survival. Further, Israel gets over $2 billion a year in aid; Egypt is not far behind in receiving a largess from this country. Also, we have servicemen and equipment stationed in various Arab countries for their protection, costing billions more in U.S.A funds. That exceeds by far the amount of aid given to Israel. Yet, Israel is the only country pointed out for the aid it receives.
Israel is a democracy. Except for possibly Turkey, there is no democratic country in the Muslim world, just repressive and murderous governments. A few examples: Over two hundred U.S. Marines were murdered in Lebanon. They were there, not protecting Israel, but to protect Lebanon from Syria, a Muslim country. Iraq gassed 5,000 of its Kurdish citizens. Syria murdered at least 10,000 of its citizens of a different Muslim sect. Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines are murdering Christians. In The Herald, Dec 8, the story caption on the front page is, “Muslims drive Christians from Indonesian villages.” In all of these examples, Muslims would find it hard to blame Israel for their actions.
Bala calls Israel’s retaliation to suicide bombers’ attacks, “state sponsored terrorism.” Well, you know that in a little over two months our country has vastly outdone Israel in it retaliatory bombing. I’d like to hear him call our country’s response to 9-11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon “state sponsored terrorism.” Tell that to the surviving family members of those killed by the suicide bombers’ attackers on the WTC, the Pentagon and the United flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Everett
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