Wrong message, Israel supports Gaza

I cannot allow your June 8 editorial cartoon to pass without response.

Given that the SC NEWS is primarily a community newspaper, I expect you to run cartoons reflecting local interest: For example, a cartoon showing the Island County sheriff searching the blackberry bushes for Colton or perhaps his missing AR-15 and laptop.

You, however, chose to take on an international hot topic

and, then, make a poor editorial and, then, make a poor editorial choice that misrepresents the facts.

Your cartoon shows what appears to be a pair of Israeli jackboots with a gun bearing the star of David pointed at a bee carrying an aid package.

So far as I can see, you intend the reader to understand that the Israelis are using their brute force to stop humanitarian aid to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. Nothing could be more factually wrong.

The Israelis send thousands of tons of goods to the Gaza Strip. In return, they frequently are the targets of rockets and other munitions.

The boats headed for the Gaza Strip were asked to go to the nearest port to have their cargoes examined before the goods were passed onto the Gaza Strip.

Given the history of rocket attacks and a declared war by Hezbollah on the Israelis, does this surprise us?

Recent history recalls suicide bombers blowing up buses, schools, shopping areas and other places on a regular basis. Israel, in response to these horrors, built a fence and controlled movement into Israel. Those suicide bombings are now rare.

I spent much of my career working as a consultant in Islamic countries in North Africa and Asia. Recently, my daughter-in-law completed a contract as a consultant in Lebanon near the Syrian border. She and my son have a home in Turkey. For these reasons, I have followed affairs in that region with great interest.

In sum, you simply have your facts wrong. As you wish, you may join Helen Thomas in her anti-Semitism, but you cannot have your own facts, especially when they are wrong.

– Fred W. Reed Camano Island