July 2, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: It is not news to your readers that our country is living in different realities. This is beyond a difference of opinion or priorities. Social media algorithms are separating us, reinforcing our preconceived and ill-conceived notions, and often presenting “facts” that are blatantly untrue.
I was dismayed, however, to read similar propaganda in a reputable newspaper such as yours. Mr. Lowry’s June 24th column was distressing for many reasons, not the least of which is his callous treatment of the people of Palestine.
He normalizes attacks on civilian establishments such as hospitals. According to Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”
But we do not need the Geneva Convention to tell us that attacking, maiming, starving, and killing innocent civilians is wrong.
Make no mistake. The October 7th Hamas attack was heinous. So is the Israeli government’s relentless onslaught in Gaza. It is irresponsible, to say the very least, of Mr. Lowry to conflate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, thus stifling any honest discussion of the plight of the Palestinians.
The so-called Middle Eastern conflict has been the background soundtrack to most people of my generation. Along the way, we stopped paying much attention to it, and even worse, picked up “facts” that were not so.
It is time that we educated ourselves and stopped accepting narratives that focus on one people’s suffering and dismissing another’s. Empathy is not a finite resource. We can and must condemn Hamas’s atrocities and simultaneously work to secure the safety, humanity, and dignity of the Palestinian people. TINN SEN Lexington
