Editor:

I am writing in response to a letter to the editor printed on April 23 titled "Aggressive Israel not in need of security." In the piece, the author compared the current shelling of innocent Lebanese by Israeli forces to the plight of over six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, this disturbs me a great deal.

Operation Grapes of Wrath, the current Israeli mission in southern Lebanon, is designed to eradicate the Hezbollah presence in that region. For any hope of Middle East peace, radical Islamic groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas must be eliminated. Countries in the region have pledged their mission to disrupt this fragile peace.

It is a common tactic for these radical groups to commit random acts of terrorism and then hide in areas populated by innocent civilians. While it was a horrible tragedy last week when 75 of these civilians were killed, they paid the price for being in the same vicinity as these terrorists. Now I'm not saying the Lebanese people advocated the tactics of the Hezbollah, but they have not denounced them either.

There is a large difference in comparing the deaths of Lebanese civilians today, to the murders of over six million Jews under the reign of Adolf Hitler. Not one Jew ever acted in a manner that demanded a response from Hitler resulting in the slaughter of millions. However, Arab and Palestinian nationals have committed acts against Israel that have provoked an immediate response.

A majority of the people in the Middle East seek a lasting peace, but there are those who believe that peace can only be achieved when the state of Israel is no more. Israel must stop these attacks before they happen. It is due to this fact that Israel is in desperate need of security and must maintain their high level of strength as well as aggressiveness.

Adam Vickers
political science senior