I am responding to your Between the Lines column dated July 18 (“New York Times’ Parallels Are Forced, And False”). I think that you are being unfair to The New York Times. It is not the role of the Times to rationalize Israeli actions or pat ourselves on the back as to how ethical we are — which you seem to be doing in your opinion article.
Reading The Jewish Week, one would hardly know that the Israeli government knew shortly after the kidnapping of the three Israeli kids [that they] were murdered. Nevertheless, they used this situation to arrest hundreds of Hamas activists. At the very least that was a provocation. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, instead of working with [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas to isolate Hamas and attempt to create a Palestine state in the West Bank, has tried to demonize Abbas. Netanyahu [even] recently claimed he is against an independent Palestinian state.
In short, I can get a more balanced view of the Middle East from reading The New York Times or Israeli papers such as Haaretz or even YnetNews.
Riverdale
