Letters to the Editor: Israel defending itself can’t be compared to Palestinian terrorism

To the editor: I was dismayed to read the piece by Daniel Sokatch and my friend David Myers that began by trafficking in the ubiquitous (at least regarding Israel) but no less morally bankrupt notion that a sovereign country’s army engaging in a military operation to thwart terror attacks has any equivalency with a terrorist murdering innocent civilians, even when said military operations lead to unintended loss of civilian life.

The Israel Defense Forces operation in Jenin on Jan. 26 was directly in response to reliable information that a terror cell was planning an imminent attack on Israeli Jews. The murder of seven Israeli Jews in East Jerusalem was directly in response to vile Jew-hatred.

To compare and associate them blithely as a “cycle of violence” is obscene.

I wonder how Myers and Sokatch would have opined, and how The Times would have reported, had (God forbid) an Israeli Jew murdered seven innocent Muslims leaving the mosque after finishing prayers.

Rabbi Adam Kligfeld, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Myers and Sokatch finally brought to light what’s happening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For more than 50 years, Israel has occupied territories that were allocated to the Palestinians, and for decades Israel has removed Palestinians for settler expansion in the occupied territories.

While Israeli leaders talk about peace, behind closed doors they have spoken differently. Members of the radical government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have talked openly about forced removal of Palestinians.

When is the U.S. going to get serious with Israel rather than talk only about a two-state solution? Isn’t it time to end the occupation and end the constant turmoil?

George Mouro, Rancho Mirage