Readers React: The Palestinians who fly incendiary kites into Israel aren’t protesters, they’re terrorists
To the editor: I’m not sure who is more delusional — the Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip who claimed that fear of Israeli soldiers “won’t stop us from continuing our peaceful protest to return to our lands,†or the journalists who continue to refer to incendiary-throwing arsonists as “protesters.â€
By Hamas’ own proud admission, a considerable number of the fatalities have been its operatives, members of a recognized terrorist organization that has instigated the violence and destruction of the past several weeks.
How pathetic that Hamas, the governing body of Gaza, instead of looking for constructive solutions to the conflict with a neighbor more than willing to live in peace and help Palestinians rebuild their lives and their future, encourages its youth to spend their days making fire bombs and kites. How sad that destruction and mayhem are what raise the “morale and the enthusiasm of the youth†in Gaza.
Pauline Regev, Santa Monica
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To the editor: When Palestinians don’t have a death merchant like the United States supplying them with billions of arms like they do in Israel, the people there come up with other ways of fighting back against their all-powerful enemy.
This is a perfect example of David versus Goliath, and we all know how that ended.
Lizzy Ford, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Since when do peaceful protests feature “incendiary and explosive kites and balloons,†among other weapons? Are Palestinians really protesting peacefully when they’re trying to force their way into Israel while burning tires to obscure the Palestinian attackers from Israeli solders’ view?
Incendiary kites from Gaza, some painted with swastikas, have also burned large portions of an Israeli nature preserve, killing many protected native plants and animals. In any other context, this would be loudly condemned as an attack on the environment.
Since they’re attacking Israeli citizens and doing environmental damage to Israel, their terrorism and violent rioting is excused. Let’s not forget the economic damage Hamas does to Gaza in creating a terrorist society rather than a civil society.
Harry Onickel, Ferndale, Mich.
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