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.