Letters to the Editor: Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t cause Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel
To the editor: Former Israeli politician Shlomo Ben-Ami should be ashamed of himself for using a terrorist attack to bash Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative policies. (“How Netanyahu’s political calculations resulted in catastrophe,” Opinion, Oct. 10)
The latest attack had nothing to do with Netanyahu or his policies, and everything to do with radical Muslims seeking to kill Jews and destroy Israel.
How about a rebuttal article explaining that the conflict began and continues because Jews have always wanted to peacefully coexist, and Hamas and its allies reject that peaceful coexistence in favor of ethnically cleansing the region of Jews? It really is that simple.
P.J. Gendell, Beverly Hills
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To the editor: Ben-Ami is right on point about Netanyahu’s extremist government.
While the Hamas assault was inexcusable and warrants war crime charges against Hamas leaders, another war with Israel was expected. Gaza has been a pressure cooker, an open jail with water, food, fuel and electricity controlled by Israel.
In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation has become more brutal. Armed settlers have killed Palestinians and destroyed their homes and olive trees with help from the Israeli military. Land and homes are confiscated for settler expansion. Now there is another massacre in the Gaza Strip.
Will Israel ever learn that people who have been dehumanized for more than 70 years will rebel until they get their freedom? Will the U.S. ever learn that this cycle of violence will continue until it stops enabling Israel and works harder for a two-state solution?
George Mouro, Rancho Mirage
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To the editor: The price of war is writ large in the photograph you published on the Oct. 9 front page — in the face of a Gaza police officer and on the body of the wounded young girl he cradles in his arms.
It is a vision painfully reminiscent of another not-so-distant war, of a young girl, her napalm-scathed body, arms outstretched, her gaping mouth showing a scream.
In this latest war, there are already too many casualties on both sides, and their numbers will grow as this conflict continues, stretching its inhuman tentacles, destroying countless lives, so many of them innocent.
No one ever “wins” a war. The hell on Earth that any war creates far outweighs its blood-soaked spoils.
When will we ever learn?
Mary Proteau, Los Angeles
