Letters to the editor for Tuesday, May 13

PLEDGE SUSPENSIONS

A lesson for all

I was contacted by the Star Tribune on May 9 for comment on whether I believed that the in-school suspension of my son for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance was a fair punishment. I stated that I believed a warning or homework assignment would have been a more appropriate preliminary punishment.

My son and I have discussed his not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance. He stated that he had not stood all year and was surprised when he was punished for it. He said he didn't mean to show disrespect to anyone.

I'll admit that my first inclination was to just tell him to follow the rules and not get in trouble again. However, we had a very thoughtful conversation about why people stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. We as parents and teachers forget to inform our kids of the "why" behind the things we ask or require them to do.

My son is a respectful and very thoughtful teenager. After our discussion, he decided that he would now stand for the pledge. His actions were never meant to be political, disruptive or disrespectful. However, this entire episode has reminded me (and likely many of you) that the wonderful thing about living in the United States is that we do have choice. It's humbling, and yes, even a little irritating, that occasionally it takes the actions of a young teenager trying to assert a little independence to remind us of this.

KIM DAHL, DILWORTH, MINN.

Why do so many people feel compelled to announce and demonstrate their protest instead of respectfully standing to acknowledge their flag and country? Don't they realize that our flag symbolizes the freedom they now enjoy because it was valiantly fought for and died for by thousands of American soldiers? Have they ever seen the opening scene from "Saving Private Ryan"?

TOM EGGER SR., EDINA

How will the U.S. military get the cannon fodder it needs to take foreign oil fields for U.S. oil companies if our schools don't first turn potential recruits into mindless robots?

JEFF MILLER, HOPKINS

REJECTING SEAT BELT LAW

House's odd priorities

It seems the Minnesota House has its priorities backward. Our right to buy Hannah Montana tickets has been protected, and we are protected from receiving a primary seat belt ticket. One saves money, the other lives.

GREG REINHARDT, EXCELSIOR

ISRAEL TURNS 60

A bad comparison

The May 8 article "One nation, two histories" on Israel's 60th anniversary used a false comparison.

Better to have compared an Israeli Jew and an Israeli Arab who were born the same month -- both are now citizens of the state of Israel, both with the same legal rights, and both living in economic prosperity in Israel.

The fact of the matter is that the Arabs were not forced to leave the new state of Israel, and those who stayed were given full Israeli citizenship (now composing about one-third of the population) and have elected fellow Arabs to the Israeli Parliament.

Then compare two refugees -- one of the Arabs who fled Israel and one of the 755,000 Jews who were forced out of 10 Arab countries after 1948 and the reestablishment of the state of Israel. The Jews who were forced out of their Arab countries arrived penniless in Israel and were granted citizenship. The Arabs who fled Israel at the urging of their Arab neighbors were denied citizenship by their Arab neighbors, and still live in refugee camps operated by the United Nations.

Your story paints a distorted picture because it sets up a false comparison. You didn't compare refugees to refugees, and citizens to citizens. But perhaps that was the agenda behind the story -- to leave a false impression, and in doing so create an incomplete and false history.

TOM WILLIAMS, MINNETONKA

Fedwa Wazwaz continues to promulgate a myth that many Americans and Europeans fail to recognize ("Israel's 60th is not a reason for celebration," May 10). The Palestinian movement was not innocent during World War II, and was not punished for a merely European genocide.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammed Amin al-Husseini, was not only a supporter of Hitler, but helped raise Arab SS units, which served in Bosnia, Turkey and even trained in various concentration camps.

Until his death, Yasser Arafat, the Mufti's nephew, continued to hail this Nazi ally as a great hero and enemy of "the pigs" in interviews with Arab media.

When the British offered a two-state solution, effective at midnight on the night of their withdrawal, the Arab leaders refused the offer. While it might have been better to have a U.N. protectorate for several generations, it is wrong to think Israelis had nothing to fear of a Palestinian leadership that had been favored by Hitler as "fighting the same scourge."

Israel is far from perfect, but to suggest the Palestinian leaders were innocent observers of World War II is misleading. To this day, too many Arab leaders consider calls for the destruction of Israel a valid way to deal with the terrible aftermath of that war.

It is ironic that leaders of non-democratic states and their supporters critique Israel, a nation that engages in a heated internal debate with an open media. Not to mention that Arab Israelis have served and continue to serve in the elected government. How many Jews serve in elected -- never mind, there aren't many free elections elsewhere in the region.

CHRISTOPHER WYATT, MINNEAPOLIS

A THREATENED VETO

No to foreclosure relief

Since the lack of oversight from his administration is one reason for the crisis in foreclosures, it is interesting that President Bush has told the Democrats he will veto their efforts to create some relief.

Maybe when John McCain joked that his Secret Service code name is "jerk," he was just trying to make sure the transition from current procedures in the Secret Service to those during his own administration will be seamless.

JIM BARTOS, BROOKLYN PARK