Dear Ehud Olmert,

If your government does things like this, it shouldn't come as too big a surprise that nobody likes you. Demolishing a house where 20 people live because one person who lived there did something terrible is the worst sort of arbitrary, collective punishment, reminiscent of all those colonial and dictatorial regimes with which you would not like to be associated. This is especially true when your own law enforcement believes the man acted alone. For all I know, he could have been mentally ill. I would like to see the State of Israel exist peacefully for many, many years; I would even like to come visit. But you are making that difficult. The 20 or so people you will displace are now going to be much more sympathetic to terrorist groups, as will any number of people who know them or happen to be walking by when your bulldozers show up. Have you noticed that even my idiotic president, for all his watery-eyed pronouncements about the population of Israel in the Knesset, still favors a two-state solution? Take the hint! Play nice, or not even the other bullies are going to want to play with you.