U.N. Vote Against Israel on Palestinians

Your editorial “Motives Not All So High-Minded” (Dec. 22) dealing with the third U.S. vote against Israel in the United Nations struck a cord in my heart. The idea of America, the best friend Israel has or thought it had in the world, striking again and again against Israel is nothing short of appalling. What kind of signals does this send to the rest of the world? A terrible bunch of signals, all of them saying, “With a friend like America who needs enemies.”

One could go on and on. Frankly, it is too painful to write these things. As if this was not enough, our President decided to tell Saddam Hussein that he is going to “kick ass.”

Every time Israel gets condemned in the U.N., it is really a bribe, a bakshish as the Arabs call it, for the Arabs. Why on Earth we should bribe the criminal PLO is entirely beyond me. With each condemnation, America is stooping lower and lower and losing its moral spine. Even non-Jews and Americans who are not big friends of Israel see this as something that is against every known decent behavior among friends. Before the war starts, we have already lost. And we are dragging with us all the values dear to the American people.

BATYA DAGAN

Los Angeles