Letters to the Editor: Hamas knew Israel would respond this way. The devastation in Gaza isn’t a surprise

To the editor: Every writer who bemoans the devastation in the Gaza Strip without acknowledging its cause is like a person complaining about how horribly they’ve been mauled by a bear without admitting that the bear had been sleeping when they poked it in the eye with a stick and slaughtered a few of its cubs. (“Israel’s Gaza strategy: Create facts on the ground that can’t be undone,” Opinion, Jan. 2)

What on Earth did they think would happen?

Enough complaining. Either demonstrate your intention to never slaughter another cub and to let the bear forever live in peace in its ancestral homeland, or expect to continue to reap the overwhelming consequences of your ill-considered provocations.

Rick Goldfarb, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: Tariq Kenney-Shawa is quite correct that Israel has executed a long-term program to secure its hold on historic Palestine.

Israel understands public relations and persistence; it has been doing this for a long time. There are very few examples when their words betray their intentions, but I think when viewing the Palestinians and Israelis, we need to look more at what they do than what they say.

The contrast between Gaza and the West Bank is stark, with Gaza being the sacrificial lamb to protect the West Bank. Gaza was turned into a large ghetto, imprisoned on all sides, to demonstrate to the world how Israel could not deal with the Palestinians as negotiation partners.

In contrast, Israel will never yield any of the West Bank for a Palestinian state and is steadily pushing for the Palestinians to just go away.

Now Gaza is a wasteland, and Israel hopes the Palestinians there will fade into Egypt.

William N. Hoke, Manhattan Beach

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To the editor: If Kenney-Shawa is concerned about “facts on the ground,” then he must have been aware that Hamas was bringing into Gaza, through a porous blockade, thousands of rockets that were periodically shot into Israel, necessitating bomb shelters in Israeli homes.

He would have known, as Hamas did, that after the Oct. 7 attack, Israel would strike back with full force. He probably knows that, before Oct. 7, many Gazans worked and received medical care in Israel. My wife’s cousin repaired their tractors.

Israel would much rather help Gazans build their country than live with the constant threat of terrorism from a group dedicated to maximum destruction and the killing of as many Jews as possible.

Steven Feig, Beverly Hills

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To the editor: Thanks to Kenney-Shawa for writing this, and to The Times for printing it.

The U.S. is enabling genocide. If you kill people by starving them instead of bombing them or gassing them, it’s still genocide.

And most Americans haven’t a clue. Well, maybe they do now.

Elizabeth Block, Toronto