To the Editor:
I am writing in response to Linda Cohen’s letter of Jan. 24, with the headline “Biden-Harris should support U.N. genocide case.”
I, too, am an American Jewish mother and grandmother, and I abhor the treatment of the innocent Palestinian civilians who have been used as human shields by Hamas in Gaza. I do not support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s autocratic government. Just last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to do more to prevent the killing and harm of civilians in Gaza, but did not call for a cease-fire, as Ms. Cohen demands.
Has Ms. Cohen forgotten that Hamas started this latest conflict by kidnapping, torturing, raping, and beheading innocent Israelis, using Gazans who worked for some of those Israelis to root out their employers to aid in Hamas’ military campaign? They took hostages, including babies and the elderly, in an attempt to destroy Israel from “the river to the sea.”
The strategy of using Palestinians as martyrs goes back to the establishment of the modern Jewish state, with the refusal of Arab leaders to accept a two-state solution. From 1948 and continuing until today, they have preferred to have their brethren live as martyrs in refugee camps. At the same time, Israel welcomed back 800,000 Jewish refugees from nearby Muslim countries, and granted citizenship to 2,000,000 Arabs who chose to remain in Israel.
While Ms. Cohen says she would never vote for Donald Trump, she will in essence give him a victory over the Democrats if she votes for a third-party candidate, or just sits out the 2024 election.
Linda Vadasz
West Tisbury