Wednesday, July 02
In Gaza, what has gone wrong?, asks Nicholas Kristof in his June 21 op-ed column. Well, it is not, as he claims, Israel's closing of the border, or retaliating for non-stop rocket attacks, or the invasion into Lebanon to stop Hezbollah, or denying visas to Fulbright recipients to study in our colleges on our dimes.

What has gone very wrong is the medieval mentality of Muslims who promulgate a pathological, anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-Western hatred. They teach it in the mosques, in the homes, in the schools in Gaza and throughout the Muslim world. Their mantra is, "we hate you and we want to drive you from this land into the sea, but in the meantime, my child needs an operation so I want to use your excellent hospital to cure her."

Where are all those so-called moderates? I do not hear their protests against the terrorists. On the contrary, it was mostly moderates who were dancing and celebrating in the streets when the twin towers came down on 9/11. It seems that in the inverted morality of Islam in general and Palestinians in particular, hate trumps love thy neighbor every time.

LUCILLE SALITAN
New Lebanon, N.Y.