I watched the story on Gaza, broadcasted on June 8, 2010, on the Evening News, and I found it incredibly one-sided, inaccurate, and patently ridiculous. You might as well have gone into an enemy city during WWII and discussed the lack of proportionality of the Allied bombing and the collateral destruction of their health care services. You conveniently ignored the fact that both Israel and Egypt jointly embargo goods directed towards Gaza. You forgot to mention that after the Israeli evacuation, the Hamas brigands looted the territory, destroyed whatever the Israelis left, and were able to smuggle bombs, small arms and rockets for their use against Israel. You highlighted the story of a small Arab child who was affected by the war initiated by his so-called government, but you conveniently forgot to mention the thousands of Arab children cared for by Hadassah Hospital and other medical facilities in a free and democratic Israel..

After 10,000 rockets were launched at Israel, retaliation in force ensued. What did Woodrow Wilson do about Pancho Villa’s raid into Texas? He sent Pershing and an army to find him. He didn’t find him, but there were no more bank robberies by Mexican warlords.

We are in Afghanistan because of the perceived threat to our national security. Why is Israel held to a different standard? Does Israel use human shields? No! Does Israel allow one million Arabs to live in peace with all the rights of citizenship? Yes! Hamas violated every article of the Geneva Convention, which included using religious edifices for artillery and hiding in neighborhoods to launch rockets. You shouldn’t report stories in the vacuum of historical ignorance.

You seemed to have had the time to devote some self-serving silliness regarding the Muppets. In this world of serious consequences and realities I am sure Walter Cronkite would have filled his 22 minutes with something more worthwhile than that claptrap!  

I have been a viewer of NBC’s Evening News since Tom Brokaw, and after tonight I may shift away to another station or cable network. Personally I am not some right-wing ideologue, but a registered active Democrat for almost fifty years.

Richard J. Garfunkel

Host of The Advocates

WVOX 1460 am radio, www.wvox.com