To the Editor:
Recent Letters to the Editor offer a stunning ignorance of the Israel Hamas battle. I stand with Jackie Mendes-Diez in her letter this week.
With Iranian proxies, Houthi bombardment, Hezbollah on the Golan front, and West Bank Palestinian Liberation Organization terror, Israel is surrounded by enemy countries inside and out that for years have wanted its eradication.
The Arab street, in addition to Iran, will not accommodate so-called Palestinians, and enjoys watching this battle, with animus to the Jews. In my lifetime, including two years’ residence in Iran, I have heard monotonous promises of destruction. Turkey, Russia, North Korea, college students in the U.S., and some on this website have stated imprecisely their support of Hezbollah and Iran, and increasingly much of the world is coalescing to indict Israel, as it has condemned Jews for two millennia.
God created a covenant with the people of Israel in Leviticus, promising that if they obeyed the Torah, they would have peace, “and none shall make you afraid.” Jews have obeyed that promise while suffering persecution for centuries, were nearly destroyed after WWI, and practically eliminated by genocide by Hitler.
Israel is yet again fighting for its survival, as it has in 1948, ’67, and ’73, when its enemies wanted its extermination, and continue to this day calling for its destruction. Hamas has provided Israel a dilemma. If there were no hostages, the tunnels could be sealed at both ends, and destroyed after allowing terrorists to surrender. The war would be over, and Hamas eliminated. However, the existence of its own civilians taken hostage means hostage deaths and infantry deaths as unavoidable, or Israel ceases fighting and Hamas prevails. Israel’s objectives have always been different from the great powers of previous world wars, because its chief war aim is survival. Israel has the undeniable military capability to completely destroy the entire Gaza Strip in a matter of minutes, if it so desired. Noticeably, Israel has not done so, and instead has taken extreme measures to protect Gazan civilians. Compare this with the actions and intent of Hamas, a group that does not have the capability to destroy Israel, but has repeatedly and officially vowed to, and tried to, commit genocide.
To suggest that there are pogroms on Palestinians is false. To state that this is genocide is false. If it were genocide, Hamas would be gone, and Gaza wiped out. To suggest Israel is stealing Palestinian oil and gas is a lie. The falsehoods visited upon us in recent posts include no calls for Hamas to surrender — not one, which is disappointing and frankly anti-Semitic. The MV Times brooks no indulgence of pessimism on climate. It is time it also stopped publishing errors on Israel and its legitimate defense for survival.
Andrew Engelman
Stuart, Fla.
