Robert Phelps should be ashamed (Letters, Herald, July 21)!

He has taken an act of solidarity against terrorism of all kinds by Congregation Har Shalom (Letters, Herald, July 16) and attempted to turn it into a humiliating display of hypocrisy. He feels Israel’s current defensive operation is an equivalent act of terrorism to the brutal murder of the Palestinian boy last month and hoped to catch Har Shalom showing support for Israel, thus being hypocrites. And shame on him for attacking Har Shalom as a proxy for Israel.

Phelps’ opinion highlights the effect of the biased reporting in the press. Attacks on Israel are typically minimized (People actually refer to missile attacks as “mere inconveniences”), while Palestinian suffering is given maximum visibility (Most photos published by the media show a Palestinian amid destruction). Positive actions performed by Israel are underreported (did you read that Israel set up a field hospital for Gazans?), as are negative actions by the Palestinians (Did you read that the U.N. found missiles stored in two schools in Gaza?). Many people seem to have forgotten what prompted the Israeli action in the first place – increased missile attacks by Hamas – and Israel has accepted both cease-fire agreements while Hamas has rejected both. These people are now looking at this as a blatant act of Israeli aggression against Gaza.

A consequence of this manipulated reporting is the misplaced hatred of Israel (and Jews by extension) by people like Phelps. If he gets most of his information from sources like the Herald, his position seems natural. This scares me because he is not alone. People around the world are developing this hatred of Israel and expressing their opinions politically, financially and sometimes violently against Jews as proxies for Israel. The world is becoming unsafe for Jews everywhere because of this biased and sensationalist reporting.

And shame on the media for fueling this.

Will Rottenberg

Durango