ladyapple27

This letter appeared in the reader's forum of the Winston-Salem Journal.

     I am a college graduate with a reasonably high IQ, but this is something that I just don't understand.
     For more than three years, the Palestinians in Gaza, supposedly governd by the Palestinian Authority, but controlled by Hamas, have been sending rockets into Isreal. In all this time, Isreal has only asked them to stop so that the killing of their people would stop. The rockets continued.
     Finally, Isreal decided that enough was enough and went on the offensive against Hamas in Gaza, with full military strength: airplanes, tanks, and troops.
     Unfortunately, there were many Palestinian civilian casualties, mostly because of the Hamas placement of weapons and troops in places like schools and apartment buildings. A cease-fire was finally brokered after a short while, but not before Hamas fired even more rockets into Isreal. The Isreali offensive caused a lot of structural damage and left many Palestinians homeless and many small businesses destroyed.
     Now, here's the part that I don't understand: So far as I could see, we, the American people, did nothing but cover the action on TV. We didn't shoot anyone, drop any bombs, or fire any artillery. So why are we sending $900 million to help the Palestinians rebuild? That money could be well spent at home. It might even pay for a few earmarks.
    - James F. Schwarz 

What I don't understand is why we are giving away money when we're trillions of dollars in debt and are having to go to the Chinese hat-in-hand. We can't even provide universal healthcare for our citizens. Charity begins at home.