Letters to the editor: April 15, 2026 (Earth week, Bill S3053, Do the math and more)

The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. Submit a letter to the editor at deb@hudsonvalleyone.com . Letter guidelines: Hudson Valley One welcomes letters from its readers. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and submitted by 9:00am on Monday. Our policy is to print as many letters to the editor as possible. As with all print publications, available space is determined by ads sold. If there is insufficient space in a given issue, letters will be approved based on established content standards. Points of View will also run at our discretion. Although Hudson Valley One does not specifically limit the number of letters a reader can submit per month, the publication of letters written by frequent correspondents may be delayed to make room for less-often-heard voices, but they will all appear on our website at hudsonvalleyone.com . All letters should be signed and include the author’s address and telephone number. Hear me out I take a backseat to no one when it comes to condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza and their war crimes in Iran and Lebanon. I’ve been vocal about their historical oppression of the Palestinian people for almost 60 years, as I’ve tried to be for all oppressed peoples. But in the process, I’ve too often overlooked that against my own. More and more, I’m seeing legitimate pro-Palestinian sentiments crossing a delicate and dangerous line into anti-Semitism. I can hear the smirks already, but hear me out. It starts with an understanding of what “Zionism” is and is not. In its inception, it was simply an expression of Jewish nationalism, a desire for a homeland to protect the Jewish people from millennia of the most brutal and persistent forms of persecution. At first, the movement split between those who just wanted a safe place and those, guided by religion and “manifest destiny,” to proclaim it needed to be Palestine. Many foll