Kim Nguyen's letter ("Don't ignore Israel's crimes," Oct. 15) about the events in Gaza contains a number of inaccuracies and displays a strong anti-Israel bias. Perhaps he should speak to residents of the Southern Israeli city of Sedrot and get their perspective on things.
The statement that "no Hamas rockets were fired during the 'ceasefire"' is flatly false. Although the volume of rocket and mortar attacks diminished during the "truce" there were nonetheless dozens of documented rocket and mortar attacks against Israel during that time. Several attempted terrorist incursions into Israel were also thwarted during that period as well. The Israeli action on November 4, 2008, stopped a major terrorist attack against Israel which was in its final stages of preparation. The "truce" period was used by Hamas to smuggle and build thousands of rockets many of which were sophisticated, guided missiles which could target much of Israel. Hamas also declared that they would not renew the ceasefire.
If Israel had no regard for civilian causalities or damage to civilian infrastructure in Gaza, why then did they risk the lives of their troops by entering Gaza and fighting house to house? Wouldn't it if been a lot easier and safer for Israel to just flatten the whole place from the air?
The findings of the UN Human Rights Commission are in fact very assailable as the UN Human Rights Commission has a well documented anti-Israel agenda. This fact has been acknowledged by UN Secretary Generals and diplomats throughout the world. This organization destroys the reputation and value of the United Nations as it shamelessly ignores horrible human rights violations throughout the world while spending most of its time finding fault with Israel.
Israel left Gaza and forcibly removed all the Jewish residents and even removed graves. There was no longer an "occupation" of Gaza. The hope was that the Palestinians would build a peaceful society there. Instead, they made it a base for terrorism. The bottom line is this. If Hamas has not fired rockets and mortars into Israel and not launched terrorist attacks against Israel from Gaza over the last several years, the events of last winter would never have taken place.
S. PEARL, Framingham
