Bias, Errors and Absurd Exaggerations

This was submitted to The New Haven Register on September 16, 2010. The editors several times indicated they planned to publish it, but after a month it has yet to appear the the probability seems close to 0.

The Register did not publish a single response to Stanley Heller's vicious anti-Israel letter, a hateful letter which should never have been published by any reputable newspaper.

To the editor of The New Haven Register:

In his letter published September 15, Stanley Heller falsely accuses George Will of writing a column "replete with bias, errors and absurd exaggerations."

That description does aptly describe Heller's own letter.

Almost everyone agrees with Heller that the election of Hamas represented the will of the Palestinian Arabs, but few sensible people agree with him that America and Israel should reward the Palestinian Arabs for electing a terrorist group committed to the destruction not only of Israel, but ultimately Western civilization as well.

Sorry, Stan: elections have consequences.

If anything has turned Gaza into anything resembling a prison, it is the repressive Hamas government its people chose. In contrast, Israel has been acting to mitigate the Gazans' self-inflicted disaster, pouring so much assistance into Gaza the people there reportedly have a higher standard of living than their neighbors in Egypt and Turkey.

It should be borne in mind that the participation of Hamas did violate the legal requirement that candidates neither "commit or advocate racism" nor "pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful non-democratic means." Of course, so did the participation of Fatah.

Also worth noting: Mahmoud Abbas' term in office officially ended January 9, 2009.

The Palestinian Arabs are governed by two separate, warring governments of questionable legality, led by someone whose term of office ended long ago.

Given the absurdity of the reality, perhaps Heller can be excused for having a perverted perspective so divorced from reality.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein
President, PRIMER-Connecticut