I write to critique the recent Maine Voices column by Kristen Salvatore (“Senators’ silence on Israeli human rights violations equals complicity,” Feb. 14). Salvatore begins by incorrectly equating Russia’s war with Ukraine to Israel’s right and obligation to protect its citizens against the terrorist actions of Arab Palestinians.

Salvatore continues the misstatements by referring to the West Bank and East Jerusalem as land stolen by the Israelis when, in fact, this land has been part of Israel since biblical times where indigenous Jews lived. Where does Salvatore think the town named Judea in the West Bank comes from? Yes, it was once occupied by the Ottoman and British empires, and Jordan from 1948 to 1967.

As for creating a “Palestinian” state as part of the West Bank, it will only happen if the Arab Palestinians agree to it, which they have rejected multiple times. Why? Because they want all of what is now present-day Israel, and all of the Jews, gone.

As for the roughly 2 million Arab Israelis living in present-day Israel, they have the same rights as Jewish citizens. There are Arab Israelis in all the professions, as judges, doctors and teachers. That doesn’t sound like apartheid to me.

Lastly, the moral equivalency of the “arsonist and firefighter” that Ms. Salvatore uses, there is none when Arab Palestinian terrorists gun down innocent Jewish children attending Sabbath services. I, for one, support and compliment Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King for their continued support of the “democracy at war” that is Israel, just like Ukraine.

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