The Role of Hatred in the Killings at LAX

Dennis Prager’s July 10 commentary on the LAX shootings (“Muslims’ Plague of Hatred”) is a good illustration of why ethnic hatreds persist. He castigates government officials for delay and indecision because they want to investigate before drawing any firm conclusions. No such investigation is necessary for Prager. He does not rush to judgment; his judgment is instantaneous--it is clearly an anti-Semitic hate crime. Let us hope our government officials continue to try to determine what the facts are in such regrettable occurrences. Otherwise we will surely attain new heights of bigotry.

W.A. Mueller

Sherman Oaks

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Prager has articulated precisely why the attack is clearly an act of terrorism. My only question is: Why do we Americans continue to send billions, year after year, to Egypt--a government that has proven to be neither a friend nor an ally to America? The Egyptian government continues to give false propaganda about America to its people and fills its people’s hearts with venomous hatred toward America. Why should it continue to receive money from us?

Klara Shandling

Los Angeles

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Prager wants us to “acknowledge Muslim hate” as the root cause of all the violence and resentment against Americans and Jews. How convenient! Could the systematic and large-scale oppression of Muslims by Israel and, indirectly, the U.S., maybe, just maybe, have anything to do with the resentment and sense of injustice that Muslims feel?

If not, then let us expand this “plague of hatred” to include the anger that all oppressed people have ever felt toward their oppressors. Let us then say that black slaves who fought against their white masters were plagued with hate, that feminists were nothing but man-haters and that any struggles of the disenfranchised anywhere are motivated purely by “hate.”

Arul Francis

Clayton, Calif.

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Re “When a Few Tar the Innocent Many,” July 6: So. Violence just “broke out” at LAX on July 4? Didn’t someone instigate it? Correct me if I’m wrong, but did the El Al security guard open fire on an innocent passenger?

Scott Abramson

San Mateo, Calif.