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Friday January 25, 2008

Letters

Tell the truth

Daily, Gaza sends rockets into Israel. We have a town named Sderot ... it has come to now sending the children to Canada and the U.S. in order for them to live in peace. Sort of sounds like World War II when the children were on the Kindertransport in order to save their lives, doesn’t it?

Israel retaliates! Do you think this little country in the Middle East goes out looking for problems? If someone threw pipe bombs constantly, several times daily, would you sit and let it be?

The rockets are now getting closer to the inner cities, would we put up with that if it happened in the U.S.?

All the press has to do is tell the truth, not put the blame on Israel all the time.

Diane Swanson | Walnut Creek

What good was giveaway?

Israel gave up all of Gaza more than two years ago in the hopes of peace, evacuating 9,000 Israeli civilians from this territory. What has Israel gotten in return?

More than 4,000 rockets shot toward Israel — rockets aimed at kindergartens and other civilians. Given the onslaught of rockets into the Israelis community of Sderot from Gaza, what is Israel to do to protect her citizens?

Iran is supplying Hamas in Gaza with large sums of money ($100 million on Jan. 13, according to the Israeli General Security Services). Instead of using this money to help their population, they use it to fire more Kassam rockets on Israeli children and kill Israeli civilians.

Israeli children in Sderot, having spent now two years sleeping in bomb shelters, are growing up traumatized: 74 percent of children in Sderot age 7-12 suffer from posttraumatic anxiety. In all, 13 civilians in Israel have been killed by the rocket and mortar fire and more than 300 have been injured.

When will Iran-backed terrorists stop the rockets so that both Israelis and Palestinians can have a better future?

Faraz Shooshani | San Francisco

Reporting off base

As an American citizen, I am outraged at the bias in the media against Israel. As the only democracy in the Middle East and the only true friend of the United States, Israel is sacrificing the lives of its citizens and its own security to avoid civilian casualties among the Palestinians.

Please report accurately and identify the real culprit as Hamas, not Israel. Hamas is launching hundreds of rockets into Israel, many from civilian areas. They are doing this specifically to “cry wolf” to the media, after Israel attempts to disrupt the rocket fire.

Please go back to your journalistic roots and explore the true cause of the Palestinian suffering. Put yourself in Israel’s shoes.

Imagine if your neighbors were shelling your neighborhoods. I bet you would demand much less restraint on the part of your government than Israel exercises.

Aleksandr Smirnov | San Francisco

Looking good

Just a note to commend j. on its cover graphics since it moved to the magazine-like format. They are consistently artful and attractive; a quality that always makes a difference.

Al Averbach | San Francisco

Modular an eyesore

It is with increased despair that I watched the modular go up at the Gal Shalom Cemetery property across the street from me. How could this be what you envision for this lovely setting? Please tell me that this ugly box of a building is only temporary.

Hetty Dutra | Briones

International pressure needed on Gaza

Enough is never enough! Israel gave up Gaza in an effort to forward any peace negotiations. Now Gaza continues treacherous bombing of innocent citizens whose crime is no more than living close by.

How can Israel trust any more concessions, when Hamas insists that Israel does not have a right to exist? Israel has even, in the spirit of humanity, lifted many of the sanctions, realizing that the Palestinian people in Gaza are the victims.

Severe international pressure must be brought on Gaza, which will not penalize its people, but which will force it to stop its aggressive and nonproductive bombing of Israel.

Lesli Sachs | El Granada

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