To the editor of The New York Times:

Reading your July 7 editorial, "Four Horrific Killings," one would get the mistaken impression there was a moral equivalence between the democratic Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, not to mention the terrorist Hamas gang brutally ruling Gaza, as well as between Israeli society and Palestinian Arab society.

Hamas proclaims its dream of destroying Israel and launches missiles aimed at Israeli civilians. The Palestinian Authority names public squares after mass murderers and uses a significant portion of its budget to pay high salaries to convicted terrorists. The Israeli government time after time puts the safety of its citizen at risk in order to make "confidence building gestures" in hopes of enticing the reluctant Palestinian Arabs to negotiate peace. There is no moral equivalence.

When Hamas terrorists kidnap three innocent Israeli teenagers, including one American, Palestinian Arabs gleefully greet each other with the three-finger, three-Shalits, victory salute and pass out candy to children. When a group of Jews murder an Arab teenager, all of Israel cringes in shame. There is no moral equivalence.

There is no need for an "end to incitement on both sides," since the incitement is almost entirely one-sided.

In this and other editorials, The Times had misrepresented reality and has effectively itself been an impediment to the very elusive peace desired by virtually all Israelis but, obviously and unfortunately, not by Mahmoud Abbas and his government.

Sincerely,
Alan Stein