Those of us who have a different view of religion than David Brooks has should be grateful to him for telling us how to lead our lives without “faith”. His commentary of February 5, 2015, established his unquestioned authority in all things religious. But on another subject and in contrast to Brooks’ bloviations, it was enlightening to read its Stephen Zunes’ comments on Israel (Feb. 7, 2015) as someone who does, indeed, know what he is talking about. We get very little information about the Israeli-Palestinian situation in today’s media that is not heavily slanted in favor of Israel. So, when anyone describes the situation “on the ground” as it really is in Gaza or the West Bank, they are immediately branded as anti-semitic. People who support the Zionist cause, as I do, should be grateful for the enlightening value of learning both sides of this struggle, and should encourage more dialogue with the likes of Stephen Zunes and Angela Davis. America is doing the right thing by its total support of the nation of Israel surrounded as it is by hostile Arab nations and subjected to continuing attacks by terrorists who know nothing other than violence. Even as we support Israel in its struggle to form a nation, we can also try to learn as much as possible about the other side.