LETTER TO THE EDITOR: If Political Campaign Banners are OK in Old Lyme, National Flags Should be OK Too

To The Editor:

I read Betsy Groth’s recent letter regarding her being nettled by a Old Lyme church on Shore Road flying Israel’s national flag. If I knew no better I would accept her word that one side is blameless and the other side completely at fault for the chaos taking place in that sea of tranquility known to all as the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian cause is usually presented as the world’s worst genocide past or present, ignoring the anti-social terrorist leaning behavior of this group for many decades, as well as the reality on the ground in areas of Palestinian self-governance. Honor killings, the murder of gay and lesbian occupants, Sharia Law, never mind allowing in Iranian “advisors” to help operate the missiles and rockets purchased from Iran. Missiles and rockets regularly launched into Israeli sovereign territory.The United States would never tolerate such behavior from a neighboring land nor should anyone else.

A keen observer of world events, though not always one friendly to Israeli or we Jews in general, is the United Nations. A recent UN report states that the worst genocide happening on the planet is happening to the Rohingya people from Myanmar. Ever heard of them? Not likely. What goes on in that corner of the world rarely rates a mention never mind a headline.They have fled Myanmar and now neither Bangladesh nor India has any idea what to do with them nor money to feed them.

There are plenty of places around SE Connecticut flying Palestinian flags and I have not objected. A flag, by the way, which was designed by a British civil servant during the course of World War One in his London office. As were most national flags currently flown by Arab nations right now. If you feel that political campaign banners are free to be flown in town then national flags should be alright as well.

Sincerely,

Jonathan B. Wilder,
Old Lyme.