To the Editor:
Students unwilling to even listen to soldiers from the IDF about their experiences shows a lack of ability to be open to anything other than their own narrow POV.
Were these soldiers in Gaza? If so, why not hear from them?
A sizable part of the population of Israeli parliamentary democracy has been actively trying to oust Netanyahu for almost a decade, like us with Trump. The demonstrations against Netanyahu back in 2023 that paralyzed the country for weeks were later found to be a reason that Hamas decided to do the attack on Oct 7.
Virtually all able-bodied men *and women* are supposed to join the army, regardless of their POV on Gaza or Lebanon. Would you feel the same if you were forced to volunteer for our armies and then got the same treatment from people around the world who dislike Trump and the Iranian war he started?
In Vietnam, we had U.S. soldiers who opposed the war in Vietnam come and talk to us on campus. In fact, soldiers who had been in Vietnam ran most of the demonstrations I attended in the late 60s.
We have raised a generation of Tik Tok adolescents whose antisemitism is right out front. Their inability to listen to those they feel are “guilty by association” is a disgrace to the very foundational documents of their school and our country. Israel has conducted a brutal war against the never-ending threats and invasion of their small country by Hamas and Hezbollah. It is pretty clear that there have been war crimes committed by both sides. But not being to even engage in dialogue with former soldiers willing to come here and talk to you is a moral failing.
—Al Bergstein, Port Townsend; June 29, 2026