In his letter (“U.S. needs to stop aiding ‘warmongers of Israel,’” May 27), Larry Gilbert Sr. appears to have accepted the Palestinian story that turns the aggressor into the victim.

When Hamas decided to shoot thousands of missiles into Israel it knew that Israel would either sit by quietly or respond. And respond Israel did. How many exploding missiles would Mr. Gilbert quietly accept falling in his yard?

Mr. Gilbert asks how President Biden can “… stand by and watch the Israeli government operate a concentration camp in Gaza.” Gaza was turned over to the Palestinian Authority in 2005, over 15 years ago, and soon came under the thumb of the terrorist Hamas rule. If anyone is responsible for the miserable conditions in Gaza it certainly isn’t Israel. When Israel departed Gaza it left valuable commercial greenhouses for the Palestinians, which were immediately gutted by the residents.

Most of the U.S. funding that is now sent there is used to buy weapons of destruction from Iraq, support the proud families of convicted terrorists, or ends up in the pockets of a few Hamas leaders.

To state that Israel is apartheid, and jails and tortures Palestinians, is simply mouthing the words of Palestinians who want to see Israel wiped off the map. Arab citizens of Israel are members of the Knesset, are judges, and many agree that their lives are better than their cousins in the Palestinian territories.

Joel Goodman, Auburn