Dear Editor - Your April 16th paper had an insert which we found very offensive. The insert is clearly anti-Semitic. The article had many misstated "facts". One heading boldly proclaimed that "Israel has been no friend to the United States". It referenced the Israeli attack on the American warship "USS Liberty". They failed to mention the incident took place during the 6 day war. Israel was under siege by an overwhelming enemy intent on her destruction. This was clearly a "friendly fire" incident which happens during war. Also cited - The bull dozing death of a young American, Rachel Corrie. Rachel had been working with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the dangerous area of Rafah . The Israeli government was demolishing buildings and tunnels where Palestinian terrorists had stashed weapons. An eye witness reported that Rachel "was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver, Smith, an ISM spokesperson said that "We were horribly surprised. They had been careful not to hurt us." Statistics on Israeli children killed versus the number of Palestinian children killed failed to show that Israel has a population of only 7,026,000 Jews versus a hostile Arab-Palestinian" population of 339,510,535. The word "Palestinian" was a phrase coined after the formation of the nation of Israel. There was never a nation of "Palestine". PLO leader, Yasser Arafat was an Egyptian! According to Zahir Muhsein, 1977 spokesperson for the PLO, the creation of the Palestinian territory was a "tactical" move by the Arab states to create another front dedicated to the destruction the "Zionist" State which is Israel. Bigotry is not a new concept. Hitler`s persecution of Jews started with the simple boycotting of Jewish businesse--Which lead to the gas chambers of Auschwitz One last thought: If you were going on vacatio,Would you feel safer touring the Holy Land or the West Bank? In the Muslim/Arab states, there is no "freedom of speech" no "freedom of religion". It`s Islam or else! Bill and Alice Phillips |