Dr. S. Amjad Hussain’s most recent column, “Israel rides roughshod over Palestinian rights, (April 19)” compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa.

It is a false comparison. Israel lets its minority citizens fully participate in every level of government and in every job. There are Arab, Muslim, Christian, and Druze judges, politicians, business leaders, athletes, doctors, entertainers, and more. This is not South African apartheid.

It is perhaps true that the disputes between Israel and its neighbors are like an onion. Unfortunately, Dr. Hussain stopped peeling the onion when it was convenient.

After years of being held hostage by Hezbollah’s terrorist stronghold in southern Lebanon and its arsenal of over 120,000 rockets pointed at Israel, Lebanon is a basket case facing incredible corruption, inflation, unemployment, blackouts, and emigration.

Any normally functioning country’s government would not allow a terrorist group to launch attacks on its neighbor from its own soil, but these terrorists are part of Lebanon’s government and hold tremendous power in the failed state. It is no wonder the country is unable to resolve its severe issues.

Peel back the onion to 2005, when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip with hopes that the Palestinians would turn it into the next Singapore. Instead, the terrorist organization Hamas forcefully took over Gaza from the internationally supported Palestinian Authority in 2007 and has turned Gaza into a launching pad for rockets into Israel ever since.

Peel the onion again, and you’ll get to the Arabs rejecting, and the Jews accepting, the United Nations’ November, 1947, Partition Plan that would have created a Palestinian Arab state next to a Jewish state. Because of the Arabs’ refusal, Israel declared its independence in May, 1948, and the Palestinians have squandered chances to have their own state ever since.

Dr. Hussain’s attempts to rationalize Hezbollah and Hamas’ irrational use of terrorism is disappointing. Instead of a knee-jerk reaction to always blame Israel for the Palestinians’ many problems, perhaps we should keep peeling the onion and realize that the truth is far more complicated.

Ernest Brookfield

West Toledo

First Published April 27, 2023, 4:00 a.m.