I am afraid I take a rather less charitable view than Abraham Foxman (“Humanitarian Concerns And Israeli Policies,” Opinion, May 8).
I think the Israelis broadcast their aid to undeveloped nations during catastrophes as a means of winning friends and seeking to compensate for the bad press they get for their treatment of their own Arab population, not to mention the ones under their military occupation. And I agree with Gideon Levy when he writes in Haaretz that their aid would be better directed toward Gaza, where they can do much more to end the blockade and facilitate rebuilding among a population that has suffered as much as the Nepalese — but from Israeli bombs rather than an earthquake.
It is also time we stopped complaining about the continuing aspirations of Palestinian leaders to destroy their state when there are interlocutors in a position of some power in the West Bank who want to make peace with them but whose legitimate aspirations the Israelis do not recognize.
I hope humanitarianism is the “real Israel.” But almost 50 years of military occupation with no prospect of an end makes me wonder.
