Letters to the Editor: The U.S. doesn’t have a magic wand to stop the Israel-Hamas war

To the editor: Your article says U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Israel-Hamas war are falling short. What magic wand do you expect Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to wave?

The U.S. does not control the actions of Israel or Hamas. We are using every bit of influence we have to ameliorate the circumstances in the Gaza Strip while keeping relations positive with the friendly countries in the region and deterring action from Iran and its proxies.

This is naturally an iterative process, which will have ups and downs while trying to make a horrific situation better.

Chris Taber, Long Beach

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To the editor: United Nations chief António Guterres commented that Hamas’ terrorist attack on Oct. 7 “did not happen in a vacuum.” Former President Obama commented, “If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth and then you have to admit nobody’s hands are clean.”

In other words, you have to look for the root causes that led to the violence. Some people will use the underlying causes of violence to justify or excuse it. Others see the underlying causes as problems that have to be solved in order to stop violence.

There are no excuses for terrorism, but there are reasons why it occurs that have to be acknowledged and dealt with.

Acts of terrorism against civilians are emotional acts of hatred. We have to acknowledge the causes of terrorism not to justify it, but to help us do what we can to stop it.

Bill Gravlin, Rancho Palos Verdes

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To the editor: Your article states that President Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suspend military operations for several days. Nowhere does it state that the same was demanded of Hamas.

Israel is expected to lay down its arms while still being bombarded with rockets from Hamas.

And why isn’t the $100-million aid given by the U.S. to the Palestinians in Gaza conditioned on the release of all the hostages? According to the White House, there are Americans being held as well as Israelis.

Tamara Blustein, Los Angeles