I strongly agree with the two recent letters to the Leader, the Gonzalez-Berg (May 19) and Milholland (May 26) letters regarding Israel and their brutal treatment of the people they occupy, the Palestinians. 

In the meantime, we continue to give $3.8 billion of U.S. taxpayer money annually to Israel as pointed out in the Gonzalez-Berg letter.

I might add that our aid to Israel began right after their creation in 1948 and hasn’t ceased. 

According to the Congressional Research Service (Nov. 16, 2020), we have given $146 billion in foreign aid to Israel, and if that amount was adjusted for inflation, it would equal $236 billion!

Aside from the prodigious sum of greenbacks we have bestowed on this tiny country with a population comparable to Washington state, we have been rewarded by having them spy on us and steal top secret documents (convicted Israeli spies Jonathan Pollard, Ben-Ami Kadish and Lawrence Franklin).

During Israel’s Six Day War, they not only attacked their Arab neighbor’s, they also attacked the USS Liberty, an American intelligence ship in international waters (June 8, 1967) killing 34 American sailors and wounding over 170, including the captain.

Even a Washington state resident, 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, a peace activist from Olympia, became a victim of Israel’s aggression. She was killed while trying to prevent a Palestinian doctor’s house from being destroyed by an American bulldozer driven by an Israeli Defense Force soldier. He drove over her, crushing her to death on March 16, 2003.

The Israeli government claimed both incidents an accident, but you can check out both names online and decide for yourself.

Israel has its tentacles well-hooked into the fabric of American government, otherwise, these incidents wouldn’t have happened. 

Public opinion is the only way change will occur, so please contact Rep. Kilmer and Senators Murray and Cantwell and encourage them to end the flow of money to an apartheid regime.

Douglas A. Campbell
PORT TOWNSEND