Hey, Let's Keep a Fair Perspective on Israel

(WSJ) It is heartening to see for once ("The Real News From Israel," Review, Nov. 30) acknowledgment of what Israel has achieved despite the never-ending threats. It is also instructive to compare how Israel's forward-looking absorption of refugees contrasts with the zero-sum game still played by Palestinian leaders and the broader Arab world.

In the decades following the failed 1948 Arab invasion of Israel, over 900,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab countries. Their descendants form roughly half of all Israelis. They came to Israel penniless and were initially housed in pitiful tent camps. Yet they looked forward and rebuilt their lives.

Imagine what could have been achieved if the Arab world, with its vast land and oil resources, had similarly uplifted the Palestinian refugees.

Doron Lubinsky

Atlanta

Whatever Israel's faults, it is the only fully functional nation in the Middle East that lives by and respects Western freedoms and values. How can Israel, surrounded by states that want it destroyed and lacking any of the natural resources that sustain the region's authoritarian regimes, thrive while neighbors are consumed by sectarian wars, civil strife, abject poverty and hatred

Israel's existence is a miracle. Unless U.S. leaders want to be on the wrong side of miracles, values and history, there should be no moral ambiguity when it comes to helping secure an Israeli beacon of light in a very dark and hostile part of the world.

David Wilson

Washington