Melodie Greene’s Aug. 28 letter (“Will support of Israel manipulate U.S. into another war?“) displays a lack of understanding of the origins of the current situation in the Middle East. A historical perspective, not an antagonistic one, would show the reasoning behind U.S. foreign policy. There is no simple answer to these complex issues.

Would her proposed revoking of dual American-Israeli citizenship apply to other countries that receive U.S. aid and from which America draws its citizens?

Israel is a modern democratic government reflecting Western thought and culture. America has hardly “grown poorer” because of its support. U.S. aid is in the form of sales, not gifts. U.S. weaponry has been stockpiled there for years and the congressional trips Ms. Greene decries are fact-finding missions. We profit from the technological advances of a country where universal education is imperative and women, the LGBTQ community and Arab citizens have equal rights.

If Ms. Greene thinks that calling one of the most advanced nations a “cuckoo-bird state” is appropriate, there is another view that calls pro-Palestinian protesters “Iran’s useful idiots.”

Israel lost the public relations war in 1948, when the U.N. declared it a Jewish state. Five Arab nations immediately attacked it. Their 800,000 Jewish citizens were expelled. Most went to Israel, where Jews have lived for 4,000 years.

There is a larger picture here. Viewing it through the narrow lens of anti-Israel opinion is dangerous to us and to all freedom-loving nations.

Elaine Kahaner
Cape Elizabeth