To the editor:
The article by Carol Giacomo was entitled "Straight talk from Bernie Sanders on the Israel-Palestinian conflict," but what he delivered was anything but straight talk and, contrary to Giacomo's take, showed no "understanding of Palestinian needs."
The Palestinian Arabs have been ill-served by leaders who have repeatedly rejected one-sided proposals to give them an independent state and who continue to encourage young people to destroy their own lives by attacking innocent Jews.
If Sanders had a true "understanding of Palestinian needs," he would be sending them a message that as president he would not allow American assistance to be diverted to pay generous salaries to convicted Palestinian terrorists, that their demand that any future Palestinian state be ethnically cleansed of any Jewish presence was despicable and unacceptable, and there would be a price when Mahmoud Abbas welcomed "every drop of blood spilled" to keep Jews from desecrating the Temple Mount with their "filthy feet."
If Sanders had engaged in such straight talk, he would have made a contribution towards eventual peace.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein