Voices

Aghast at heavy bias in Balint story



I am aghast that The Commons printed Joyce Marcel's article about Rep. Becca Balint's recent trip to Israel as a front-page news story. To give a few examples of how this reporting was heavily biased:

• Balint was the only person quoted.

• Balint and the House delegation traveled with a Zionist lobbyist group, J Street, which was never even mentioned.

• Despite the subtitle of the article, Balint did not visit Gaza; the House delegation visited the "Gaza envelope," which is outside of Gaza itself and where Palestinians are suffering unspeakable horrors everyday.

• Having conversations with Palestinians in the West Bank is not equivalent to "talk[ing] to people on all sides of the conflict."

• Israel's violent history, from the 1948 Nakba through the ongoing occupation and apartheid, was not sufficiently addressed.

• Marcel makes several unsubstantiated claims about the Oct. 7 attacks.

I rely on The Commons as a local, independent news source. Moving forward, I hope this type of "reporting" will no longer go to print.

Abby Mnookin

Brattleboro


This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.

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