Letter Of The Day

Our governor is naive (“Vilsack Offers Political Views to Graduates,” May 23).

On his trip to Israel he stands only a few miles from one-quarter million malnourished children in Palestine and peddles the platitude that “hunger and illiteracy” breed “terrorists.”

He seems not to realize that the blockade of food and water resources to defenseless civilians by the Israeli government is a war crime and a severe violation of the Geneva Conventions. The theft of $50 million in Palestinian tax receipts is a crime. The colonization of land and the confiscation of private property is a violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions.

These crimes committed in our names and with our money are financed by the same group that paid the governor’s air fare. The governor owes Iowans a complete disclosure of all financial transactions related to this trip.
— John Hauptman, Ames.

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