There is not a single nation on Earth that would stand by and allow its citizens to be murdered without doing everything in its power to protect them from further attacks. Israel is to be commended for protecting its citizens against Palestinian terrorists who have never recognized Israel’s right to exist and remain committed to its destruction.

Bill Dienst’s criticism of Israel (“Stop supporting Israel,” Letters, Jan. 10) ignored the hundreds of Israelis who were murdered in recent years by Palestinian missiles, suicide bombs, shootings and other acts of war. His letter compared highway fatalities to terrorist acts. There can never be any comparison between traffic accidents, which are unintentional, and terrorism, which is deliberate.

The Palestinians who are waging war against Israel are victims by choice. They recruit women for suicide bombing, launch missile attacks from residential areas and use children as human shields, hoping that self-pity will get attention.

Mr. Dienst also ignored the peaceful coexistence of millions of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Israel for generations, unlike Palestinian factions who routinely kill each other over power struggles.

America will always help defend Israel because Israel has been, and will continue to be, America’s greatest ally in the Middle East.

Philip Avnet

Spokane