Letters to the Editor: We see genocide unfolding in Gaza. Why can't we call it that?
To the editor: How do you teach about the genocide unfolding in the Gaza Strip when your country aids, abets and funds it? ("Israel pounds Gaza but says no plan to control life there after destroying Hamas," Oct. 20)
This is the challenge facing anyone seeing the apparently white phosphorus bombs, the bombs so huge that children’s bodies fly out windows, the headlines that note only Israeli deaths and not those of Palestinians (now above 5,000, according to Palestinian officials), and the body count of a half-century of military occupation.
Words are banned, their usage unleashing a barrage of hate mail, sanctions and threats. Don’t say occupation, cease-fire, genocide, Palestinian, Palestine.
Palestinians cannot be a people under a brutal military occupation by a state that has never hidden its goal to eliminate Palestinians from their lands. What to say when to state any of these things is to be accused of antisemitism and, significantly, to face sanctions for saying it?
Sherene H. Razack, Los Angeles
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To the editor: As a Muslim, I certainly condemn Hamas. Its actions do not in any way represent Islam. To enact terror in the most brutal form is wrong, and I mourn the loss of Jewish lives.
Israel has a right to self-defense, but not an indiscriminate response amounting to genocide, which is what is unfolding.
Also, years of Palestinian subjugation and continued loss of land, and basic human rights, is also inhumane and contrary to international law.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue is certainly complex. To venture into the discussion is to risk being mocked, vilified and even targeted.
But there is a moral common denominator that hopefully all can agree on: We cannot let the innocent die.
The images on social media and television of dead children are horrifying. They evoke a universally visceral angst that does not come from religious affiliation or political persuasion, but from basic human decency.
I pray that the conflict resolves in the short term, and peace is finally established in the long term.
Ahsan M. Khan, Fullerton
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To the editor: If we cannot understand the root cause of the conflict in Israel is the societal sanctioning of violence, we are blind. There is only one choice to avert war: Initiate a process of finding peace.
In a place where two peoples who have experienced immeasurable harms are in conflict, peace will only begin with a dual commitment to reconciliation and immediately ending violence.
There must be a mutual commitment to establish trust and admit fault. There must be a willingness to sanction those who have chosen violence.
Because Israel threatens Gaza with a military force capable of producing total annihilation, Israel must lead in making this commitment. Our leaders must demand this and must acknowledge the humanity and suffering of the Palestinian people.
Robert Morrison, Los Angeles
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
