Sir, - As an Irish American, I thank The Irish Times for its balanced coverage of the recent tragic events in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. It is a comfort that international voices calling for humanity and justice can be heard above the noise of inflamed hatred and bigotry.
Your coverage of the lack of understanding of the Arab world reminds me that last year in the United States, a total of nine college graduates majored in Arabic. Yet throughout the world, 1.2 billion people can understand the language due to the Koran, and there are about 300 million "native" speakers, according to UNESCO (compared with about 475 million native speakers of English).
It is easy to be upset by pictures of Palestinian children rejoicing at the US misfortune. However, remember that when the great Irish-American John F. Kennedy was assassinated, children also danced - in Texan schools. It is worth remembering JFK's spirit at this time. - Yours, etc.,
Lenny MacAntaggart, San Francisco, California, USA.
