A few days
In “The opportunity to change the Middle East” (October 13), Yaakov Katz states simply that “global support may wane.” That is a major understatement. We must do three things quickly. We have already warned Gazans to leave immediately or suffer the consequences.
We should coordinate with Egypt to guard the border between Gaza and Sinai and register all Gazans as they leave, making sure they are without any weapons. Top Hamas leaders left a long time ago.
Now, we must level Gaza from the air into one large parking lot. We need to bomb it to smithereens before our boys enter boots on the ground, and we must do that very quickly. We probably have no more than a few days before our international “friends” start to complain that “Hamas has stopped bombing Israel, so stop bombing Gaza.”
Then we need to wipe out Hamas strongholds in Judea and Samaria, such as in Jenin and Huwara, and we need to disarm the PA. That is what it means to wipe out Hamas, and we need to do all that fast.
SHIMON GALITZER
Jerusalem
Barbaric unspeakable atrocities
Be prepared because it will not take more than one or two days before the “enlightened world” starts to accuse Israel of “lack of proportionality, “no regard for humane considerations,” depriving “the poor and blameless population” of electricity, etc.
You have already hinted to this in “Harvard and Israel’s war with Hamas” by Stephen Flatow (October 13), and “At Harvard and beyond, blame spreads on Israel for Hamas attacks, reigniting campus debate” by Andrew Lapin (JTA, October 15).
The barbaric unspeakable atrocities perpetrated by the subhuman animals will be purposely pushed into the background, and soon thereafter completely omitted from the public discourse. The warnings given by Israel to the people of Gaza to save themselves from the military incursion, to rid the area of all terrorist infrastructure and weaponry, will be interpreted as the opposite of the humane considerations which underlay them.
The world will see what it wants to see. What is it that they cannot bear to see? It is the Jew who defends himself and hits back. The Jew is acceptable only if he is the meek, unprotected, cowering caricature that the world has become used to over the last 2000 years since the time of the Maccabees.
Well, times have changed now that we have our own state. Proportionality does not apply in the face of the rapes and beheadings of Jews. Humane considerations do not apply to those who supported, and by their presence protected, the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. There is every justification for the deprivation of electricity which pumps oxygen into the labyrinth of terrorist tunnels now hiding the leaders of these subhumans and purposely located underneath a hospital building.
Wake up, oh world, because if Israel does not succeed in totally eliminating this barbaric phenomenon, it will take no time before it will rear its ugly head in the US, in England, and in all those countries which have foolishly absorbed hordes of Islamic fundamentalists into their midst.
LAURENCE BECKER
Jerusalem
Bibi-bashing
In “We shall overcome” (October 13), Amotz Asa-El correctly states that “this is not the time to demand Netanyahu’s resignation,” but then goes right ahead and continues Bibi-bashing. Even before the war is even close to conclusion, and investigations have started as to who is responsible for the obvious fiasco, the writer already knows that Netanyahu has to offer his resignation.
I would humbly suggest that Mr. Asa-El look no further than the mirror. Who supported Oslo to give us a “new Middle East?” Who eagerly supported the so-called “disengagement?” Who preached to us about how we can trust the Palestinians and must give them humanitarian aid and guns to fight the extremists? You might find the real culprit, along with like-minded journalists.
LEONARD LUBIN
Petah Tikva
Obvious disdain
Regarding “Pogrom, failure, and fighting back” (October 12): Douglas Bloomfield has obvious disdain for former US president Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Yet, he cannot deny that Trump’s policies were good for Israel. In moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, Trump showed that America respected Israel’s right to designate its own capital.
Under Trump’s leadership, the US was exporting oil, increasing worldwide supplies, and lowering the cost of gasoline. Seeing oil prices drop made oil-producing nations aware of the danger of having an economy totally dependent on one industry.
This gave them an incentive to join the Abraham Accords and seek Israel’s assistance in diversifying their economies. President Biden’s war on fossil fuels has caused a rise in oil prices, leading Arab oil-producers to fall back on their old ways.
Fear of Iran’s plan to establish hegemony over the Sunni Muslim countries was another reason for Arab countries to seek Israel’s assistance via the Abraham Accords. But even better than having Israel’s support in standing against Iran would be an Iran less capable of causing havoc.
President Trump imposed effective sanctions on Iran, weakening its economy and making it harder for Iran to fund its proxy terror groups. However, in a rush to undo all of president Trump’s actions, President Biden attempted to re-enter a deal with Iran concerning nuclear capabilities, he weakened sanctions, and Iran was allowed to resume selling oil.
Money from Iran’s oil sales undoubtedly helped fund Hamas’s recent horrific attack on Israel, just as money President Biden has given to the PA, in defiance of the Taylor Force Act, has fueled the PA’s “pay for slay” program, with the increase in shootings, stabbings, and car rammings, resulting in Israel’s shifting security forces away from Gaza and into Judea and Samaria.
This is a time for all Israelis to be united. Thirty years of fragile coalition governments have made politicians too eager to push their agendas through the Knesset quickly. Israel needs electoral reform and a complete set of Basic Laws so that governments will not be in constant danger of falling when one small party decides to leave the coalition, and the proper balance between the Knesset and the Supreme Court can be established.
TOBY F. BLOCK
Atlanta
Killing every Jew
Regarding “Hamas atrocities smash longtime faulty strategy” (October 13): After witnessing Hamas’s barbarity this month, there is no room for equivocation: Hamas’s charter calls for killing every Jew in the world. The media must learn the facts of radical Islam’s war against the West and to use accurate terminology.
Article 80 of the UN Charter clarifies that Israel includes Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza. That is the international law that governs territorial questions.
There is no occupation. There are no Palestinian territories.
There is no Palestine. The Palestinian people are a recent pseudo-ethnicity. Only Jews were called Palestinians until the Soviet KGB and Egypt created the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964. The Soviets simply called Israel, “Palestine” and all the Arabs living there, “Palestinians.”
The PLO’s modus operandi was terrorism. They called for killing Israelis. They still do. They hijacked aircraft, bombed targets around the world, and slaughtered athletes, all to publicize their issue.
The PLO fomented civil wars in Jordan and Lebanon. They supported Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
The Oslo Accords, in 1993, allowed the PLO to temporarily govern parts of Israel until a two-state solution could be implemented.
In 2005, Israel gave Gaza to the PLO/PA, Jew-free, so they could demonstrate their ability to run a state. In 2007, Hamas threw out PA supporters, turning the strip into a terror base. The international community must support Israel in its fight against Hamas. Hamas must be vanquished in order for peace to have a chance.
When the smoke clears, the Arab League can prod the PA to sit down with Israel and resolve issues. The American Peace to Prosperity plan points the way.
LEN BENNETT
Ottawa
The missing pieces
The initial reaction of many American and Israeli Jews to President Biden’s speech regarding Hamas’s bloodthirsty genocidal attack was very positive (“Hamas’s horrors and Biden’s reply,” October 12). He seemed to say all the right things, promising unwavering support for Israel. But then the missing pieces became apparent:
Iran undoubtedly financed and coordinated the massacre of over 1300 Israelis, drawing us into a brutal, likely protracted war. There was no warning that Iran would pay dearly for any harm to hostages.
Apparently, Biden will continue to appease this rogue nation. He spoke to mollify world Jewry. His silence assured Iran’s mullahs that they will not be held accountable for their abhorrent behavior.
Similarly, consider Biden’s laudable sentiment that, “There is no place for hate in America.” Here too he avoided highlighting specific examples: He has never condemned members of “The Squad” in Congress for their blatantly antisemitic and anti-Israel statements. Among them, Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib refuses to condemn the beheading of infants, while she proudly displays a Palestinian flag outside her Capitol office.
University students have scheduled “Days of Resistance,” and pro-Hamas rallies have taken place around the country. Black Lives Matter affiliates tweeted “I stand with Palestine” with a drawing of a paragliding Palestinian terrorist.
Biden’s failure to cite any of these deplorable actions suggests that either he is controlled by the extreme left wing of his party, or he believes there is moral equivalence between Hamas savagery and Israeli self-defense.
We should fear one possibility: As civilian Gazan casualties mount despite IDF efforts to minimize them, Biden may tell Israel to stop its efforts to destroy Hamas. He will totally misunderstand the concept of proportionality under the law of war, and will ignore the stark difference between unavoidable collateral damage and Hamas’s intentional massacre of innocents.
EFRAIM COHEN
Zichron Ya’acov
Holier than thou
Regarding “Cutting off electricity and water to Gaza: Ethical or excessive?” (October 13): How many Israelis would have to be massacred before the experts on international law get off their sky high horses and stop pontificating on what Israel can and cannot do in Gaza on humanitarian grounds? Over 1300 murdered, raped, brutalized Israelis is apparently not enough. Would ten thousand suffice, one hundred thousand?
If Hezbollah and Iran are also joining the war and Israel’s very existence is in danger, can Israel then cut off water supplies and electricity to Gaza or should we continue to supply petrol to Gaza so that Hamas ambulances can carry wounded terrorists to be treated in Israeli hospitals?
When will these high-handed, holier than thou, self-appointed jurists shut up? When the war is over, and Israel has survived, we should take on these antisemites, drag them into courts of law. They are directly responsible for increased Israeli deaths – extending the war.
YIGAL HOROWITZ
Beersheba
Ridiculous definition
I would like to try and respond to Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s comments about Israel’s “apartheid” (“Tlaib: Apartheid caused massacre,” October 11). There is no apartheid in Israel, at least not in my personal experience in my 52 years of living here; I am an ex-Australian. Who is the cashier at my supermarket? She is an Arab woman, and she is not the only one there. Who helps me find what product I need, or gives me my monthly medication at my neighborhood Super-Pharm? It is another helpful Arab woman. Who is one of my taxi drivers who makes sure I get out of his cab safely at my destination? He, too, is an Arab.
This is the reality of life in Israel and are only some of the people who make up the general Israeli workforce. So are they just a figment of my overactive imagination? Surely not; they are flesh and blood Israeli citizens. Actually apartheid, to clarify, is “a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race,” such as what existed in South Africa 1948-1994. Could the fact that some of the medical staff taking care of our sick and wounded, be they Jewish or Muslim, in each of the Israeli hospitals are Arab, refute her absurd claims?
She should certainly replace her own ridiculous definition with one that is clear and authoritative, and stop fooling herself and lying to her constituents and come to terms with what is really the truth. It seems her reality comes from her very own perverted invented fantasy land.
SHOSH RINA-BATARIEH
Ra’anana