Palestinians and Israelis must come together for peace. It is the only way | Opinion

Love conquers all

“Palestinians have endured abuse for decades,” (fresnobee.com, Nov. 12)

Oh, Yahweh and Allah, touch the hearts of your people. Your Torah teaches, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Your Quran teaches, “You will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I inform you of something which, If you do, you will love one another? Give (peace) amongst yourselves.”

I have seen Israeli people that have been killed or kidnapped during a peaceful, joyous festival. I have seen innocent Palestinian babies in body bags. I mourn for both Jewish and Muslim families who have lost loved ones through the horrors and tragedy of war.

All of us, regardless of our religious beliefs, must send our deepest love to all in the hopes that the people in the Middle East reach into the best in their hearts and are able to make the very hard choice — in the middle of their pain — to find ways to reach out to one another in peace.

Carol Fleisig, Coarsegold

Futility at its finest

“Palestinians have endured abuse for decades,” (fresnobee.com, Nov. 12)

What a mess. At a time when we should be desperately trying to save the planet, we just go to war instead. Makes total sense on the screw-it-all scale.

Let’s face it, militarization worldwide is the greatest threat to our environment and global health and well-being.

But we love our guns and bombs more than ourselves, so grab your AK47 and a martini and party on.

Keith Seaman, Fresno

Danger to America

“New Speaker Mike Johnson formally endorses Donald Trump, a step beyond predecessor Kevin McCarthy,” (fresnobee.com, Nov. 15)

Remember when Republicans painted themselves as stalwart advocates of democracy and defenders of our Constitution? Boy, has that gone by the wayside.

Recently, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure protecting abortion rights. In response to that, former Ohio Republican Sen. Rick Santorum stated that “pure democracies are not the way to run the country.” Ohio Republican politicians immediately promised that they would try to unravel the people’s vote on this issue. Recently, I was watching Fox News when host Greg Gutfeld said that “voting doesn’t work for us,” and recommended that his viewers find another way to take control of our country.

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Meanwhile, there is the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, who used his position as president to attempt to undermine the vote by bullying fellow Republicans in Georgia to “find” additional votes for him, knowing that all the results in that state had already been tallied.

Republicans have shown that they have no respect for the vote unless they win. Further, they are not defenders of the Constitution. Trump has already said that, if elected president, he will change the Constitution more to his liking.

We must protect our democracy.

Brian Johnson, Fresno

Just trying to help

Earlier today I was told I didn’t matter, I was only a volunteer.

I have been a volunteer since I was young, approximately 12 while in the Boy Scouts. I’ve built churches for churches I never been in, helped the poor get heath care with Convoy of Hope, many other things over my 63 years.

I volunteer at the Fresno Veterans Administration hospital helping the sick, elderly and disabled get to their appointments. I even had to climb under a bathroom stall door to help an amputee who couldn’t get back in his chair.

That’s what volunteers do, we help those who need help.

I’m now kinda disgusted that a business owner and the public now consider volunteers the problem. They tell us we aren’t doing anything but causing issues and getting in the way; they tell us we don’t matter and can’t do anything because we are only volunteers. Bet that Vietnam veteran amputee doesn’t think that way.

What happened to this county, state and country that prominent business owners think they can belittle volunteers.

On Jan. 27, 1973 Congress discontinued the draft. In the War on Terror alone, close to 8,000 volunteers have been killed in combat.

Dana Bobbitt, Fresno

More on 99 Cents

“We’ve worked in good faith with our landlord and the library and have reached a solution that benefits all parties involved.”

I, for one, am not going back to shop there till I see the “solution” that they came up with. Back alley entrance? Parking in the back? That is what we were told was the first “solution.”

I for one am not going to be walking down a back alley to get to the Library just like I will not be walking into the front door of the 99 Cents Only store.

Daniel Houts, Fresno

Smoking the main problem

Hello, we are the Advocates for Tobacco Abstinence Coalition (ATAC). We focus on reducing tobacco use by raising awareness of the tobacco industry’s community impact. While we support the Fresno City Council’s efforts to address smoke shops, we believe there’s an opportunity to further tackle the effects of tobacco on our community.

Despite efforts to regulate smoke shops, we’ll still be affected by tobacco sales at convenience stores, grocery stores, and more.

Vaping has become very trendy among Fresno youth. It’s become normalized and is seen regularly. We worry that this is only focusing on smoke shops and not addressing youth vaping.

Smoke shops are only a part of the issue. There are 628 tobacco retailers in Fresno and only 143 of them are smoke shops. When describing her district, Priscila Morales, an ATAC member, states, “In my district (District 4), only 17 tobacco retailers out of 87 total are smoke shops.”

We keep seeing young people vape without knowing the harms it poses to their health. We don’t want tobacco use continuing to be normalized among future generations. We encourage the City Council to help reduce the burden of tobacco use pushed onto our communities, especially our youth.

Priscila Morales, Fresno

Where is the water?

There are big plans for Fresno’s downtown, according to Mayor Dyer. Sounds like the culmination of which will be new housing for the expected 7,000 new downtown residents. Wonder what the homeless think of that? Mayor Dyer launched his mayorship with a huge push for reducing homelessness. Could we see where that has gone thus far?

But I digress. Aging infrastructure will need to be upgraded and parking spaces carved out somewhere. But more than apartments to live in, new residents will unequivocally need water (a word which carries much emotion in Fresno) and power (did I hear the term “rolling blackouts” and hear that PG&E raised our rates)?

There may be newly upgraded water lines, but where will the water come from to fill those lines? A lot of people get cranky when a faucet is turned on and no water flows. How is power going to be supplied? Fresno’s water and power supply are limited, as current residents know.

So more will have to be done besides the funding of necessary structures and upgrades before Fresno can invite 7,000 new residents to downtown.

Suzanne Lawson, Fresno

Now it’s about the children

Listening to the City Council, I can’t help but finally make a comment regarding the pro-Palestine supporters speaking. The entire situation is unfortunate, sad, and neither side wins. However, almost every speaker made the comment regarding “the children of Gaza. Children are dying. Think of the children.” Every speaker brings it up.

So, children are suddenly relevant when they’re on the opposite end of the world? It’s sad to me that there are so many bleeding hearts all of a sudden for these children, but not for protecting those in our own local community.

Don’t pretend to want to protect the children when you have no problem with all the children aborted in our community each day, let alone those forgotten by their parents.

As one speaker said, “It is our duty to not support genocide.” Fitting that these speakers think it’s applicable on the other side of the world, but not our own city. Stop throwing worthless “thoughts and prayers” around and start being a person of action and protecting children in your own city. Then, you can have merit to speak “about the children.”

Nicole H. Aaron, Fresno

Fishing is great

I read a story in The Bee by Dave Hurley on the Roosevelt High School fishing team. Such a refreshing story of these young anglers.

The student fishermen have a sport that they can compete in, maybe not as attractive as other sports, but it’s their sport.

Getting hooked on fishing, not drugs or gangs, is so important today for our youth. Mr. Hurley provided an epic example of what another form of high school sports can do to provide an enjoyable experience for these young anglers. Congratulations on a great story.

Dick Nichols, Prather