Editor:

Seventy-five innocent Lebanese were killed last week by Israeli forces. A couple of days before that, three Muslim children in an ambulance were killed by Israeli armament. If these are not acts of terrorism, then what is? Arabs are portrayed as terrorists, but no one bothers to point out that the Israeli government is as bad as groups like Hezbollah. Hezbollah does not represent the Arabs. In fact, Hezbollah is a terrorist group supported by a minority of the population. Which basically means that all Arabs do not support them. Yet Israel is attacking the whole nation of Lebanon. For years, Israel has occupied land in Lebanon that it calls the security zone. (Why is Israel allowed to occupy another nation? Isn't that why we had the Gulf War, because Saddam was occupying Kuwait?) Who does Israel need security from? They are the strongest, most aggressive nation in the Middle East.

What is upsetting is that in the United States, we hear the news that an Arab has killed a Jew, and the nation condemns such an act. But when Israel/Jews do the same, it is labeled as protection of Israel. Stop this nonsense. The 75 innocent people that died were murdered by the government of Israel. Israel's response was that these people were at the wrong place at the wrong time, or they were protecting the Hezbollah. Tomorrow, if a bomb explodes in Israel, would Israel accept the excuse that Israeli people were at the wrong place at the wrong time or that the population was protecting the Israeli army?

What also concerns me is the image of the Middle East in the U.S. Everyone sees Israel as a nation the needs protection. Wake up people! Israel is the most aggressive, heavily armed nation in the Middle East. Stop looking at Arabs as terrorist. The worse thing is that no one cares about 75 people that died. One year later, the terrorist attack in Oklahoma City has still shaken the American population. Do you want to forgive Timothy McVeigh for what he did? Can you live next door to him? What do you expect from the Arabs after what Israel has done? Do you remember Feb. 25, 1994, when an American-born Israeli killed 29 Palestinians in a mosque near Hebron? Do you ever ask the question why Jewish civilians are allowed to carry arms?

The government of Israel wants you to look at Israel as a nation that needs protection. Please open up your eyes and look past the facade. Seventy-five people died in a United Nations camp. How can this insanity exist? Every year we are reminded of the Holocaust. Why would I care about what happened 40-plus years ago? My people are still facing it today.

Asad Khan
finance and entrepreneurship senior