I, for one, wish your friend Sylvia HAD found a New Yorker for the CBS reporter, or had found for that reporter, whoever or whatever she wanted to see.

I am tired of seeing the Lebanese children and adults who have been hit by the Israelis….As horrible as it sounds, I wish I could see suffering Israelis in the print media photos or on the TV…not that I am happy about their suffering, but because it sometimes appears that it is the Lebanese who are the victims of this crime, when in fact we both know it’s the Israelis who have been attacked. (Do not misunderstand. I am sympathetic with Lebanese children, but it is Hezbollah that is responsible for their harm.)

I pray that when a journalist comes into your midst (as annoying as it may be) that you can find ways to get them to do their job — to show us the real victims of this crime against civilization…Israel.

As for the New York connection, or any other in the USA, I pray that you encourage your friends in Israel who came from the US to call their former hometown papers in the United States and tell them about your plight. You will be amazed how happy local community newspapers in the US are to print such stories, and to have you send them photos on the Internet. The large city newspapers are not so interested in such stories, but newspapers in smaller cities and towns, and especially weeklies in the US love those stories.

So, if you have a close relative or friend in east podunk, USA, write to your friend/sister/brother and tell them to call the editor at their weekly newspaper and tell them how worried they are about you….and ask them to tell the editor that you will be glad to talk with them. Then, give them graphic details…i.e. the missle landed at the edge of my flower garden…let me send you a photo of it….

In the news business, editors look for news “hooks”…somthing that will hook them in …that they can’t resist…Keep it fresh…If something terrible happens very close to you…..as soon as you are safe…think….call my sister Helen in the USA and tell her to call her local weekly newspaper editor…..News needs to be as new as possible…

You will be amazed at how responsive they will be.

This very scenario played itself out in my area last week…An Israeli husband, who is here in the US, told his story of concern for his wife….The next day the newspaper contacted the wife in Israel, and she told her story….and sent photos.

Please, please consider doing this.

The onus should NOT be on you who are in Israel, Rona, and we both know that. Unfortunately, the sad fact of life is that it does.

So please bombard our media with your personal stories. Call “home” ET.

I believe that it is through such personal vignettes, told one by one, that people come to understand. I do not think the most important stories are in the Washington Post or the New York Times….I believe all the little newspapers across the USA actually have just as much power….Please bypass the big papers and bring your story to the people here, if you can.

Please pass this on.

Susan