I write in response to the letters condemning Israel.

The Hamas Covenant 1988 states “Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it.” The Houthis flag states “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.” There are American students who carry this flag. They promote the propaganda against Israel created by Iran and Qatar. Often it is based on the same Nazi propaganda supplied to the Arab world by the Grand Mufti, the Arab leader who spent the war years in Berlin as a guest of Hitler and begged The Fuehrer to build extermination camps in British Palestine.

This propaganda says Israel commits genocide. It does not mention the human shields used to protect Hamas as it fires missiles at Israel, or the Gaza civilians who freely support Hamas terrorism and in 2007 elected Hamas as their government. No comments on the considerable Israeli efforts to prevent civilian deaths. The statistics of civilian deaths are provided by Hamas.

They say that Israel is an Apartheid state, despite the fact that over two million Arabs are Israeli citizens with full rights. They complain of barrier walls, when those walls are a last resort to slow down the continuous terrorist acts against Israel.

We know about the devastation of Gaza, but there is little mention of the continuing firing of weaponry and missiles against Israeli civilians, or that the massive military tunnel structure under Gaza still exists.

The accusation of “Settler Colonialism” is absurd. Jewish residents of Israel were not settlers who colonized a section of British Palestine, they were a vibrant people who were living in the Jewish homeland. The UN decision for a separate state was always rejected by the Palestinian Arabs. Always for them — Israel must be eliminated.

Hamas is in a war against Jews. Israel is in a fight for survival.

Brad Braun

Middlebury