Two-step plan to end the war in Gaza
There are only two plans that will stop Israel’s the war against Gaza.
Hamas must immediately return the hostages.
Nothing else will matter to Israel. Hamas is still bombing Israel and taking other aggressive acts.
So many more will become victims of Hamas’ brutal initiative.
Giving up needs to be their plan to prevent future escalation in Gaza and the region.
Janet Weller,
Coral Springs
Respecting fundamental human rights
In his Oct. 25 online op-ed, “Palestinians’ plight is not like Black Americans’. And there’s just one path to peace,” Mark H. Levin is right that efforts to advance peace through education and interpersonal interaction and dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis are essential.
So, too, are humanitarian aid efforts that link Palestinians and Israelis in relationships of cooperation and mutual support.
Israeli organizations like Save a Child’s Heart, which provides advanced medical treatment to Palestinians and children from Uganda and Rwanda and more than 60 countries in Asia and Africa, is one such example.
The Arava Institute of Environmental Studies in southern Israel brings together Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians and other Arab partners to advance conservation and environmental sustainability in the region.
The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem does extraordinary life-saving work, bringing together diverse religious and ethnic groups, with many Palestinians serving as medical staff and also receiving healthcare there alongside Jews.
Such efforts do advance the prospects for peace and coexistence, but are insufficient. In the aftermath of the Hamas massacres in Israel, a fundamental prerequisite for peace is the disarmament and dismantling of Hamas, and the creation of a new governing mechanism and agency reflecting an end of Hamas’ reign of authoritarian terror against Palestinians and Israelis. This will allow for Palestinian self-governance in the Gaza Strip that respects fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Noam Schimmel,
lecturer, international and area studies,
University of California,
Berkeley, CA
Myopic view
Re: the Oct. 17 Miami Herald online story, “A photo exhibit of Miami mothers affected by gun violence has to come down.” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon’s critique of Kathy Shorr’s “SHOT: We the Mothers Miami” exhibit at Overtown’s Theodore Gibson Park is deeply wrong-headed. Hardemon attacks the messenger instead of going after Florida’s permissive gun culture, which results in scores of shootings and death.
Hardemon said, “Children should be exposed to positivity and joyfulness.” Maybe he thinks kids don’t notice active shooter drills, described by Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Ivan Silva as being “complete with the sound of loud gunfire, emergency vehicles, and the screams of students.” Maybe he thinks Overtown’s kids are unaware that there have been almost 500 mass shootings in the United States just this year.
Politicians like Hardemon should be thanking courageous activists like Shorr for telling the truth about gun violence. It is a truth that can motivate parents, children and the entire community to say “enough is enough!” to those who want to sugarcoat America’s terrifying reality of gun madness.
Stop whitewashing facts and face Shorr’s truth.
Michael Sales,
Naples
History lesson
I watched Ken Burns’ recent documentary, “American Buffalo.” Like all of his iconic works, there is no question of the research, accuracy and poignancy portrayed on a matter of great importance to our nation. For the first time watching one of his productions, however, I was struck by the fact that it actually made it to our Public Broadcasting Service screens at all.
Like so many of Burns’ lessons, there were moments where the dominant social force in our history — white European economic and geographic exploitation and expansionism — was called out for its cruelty, not by innuendo or biased argument, but by mere recitation of facts.
A thought struck my mind: Our self-anointed opinion of being the “greatest country in the world” would benefit from some soul-searching and circumspection, so as to become, some day, the paradigm of what it purports to be.
Then I considered, chillingly, what is lost in the telling of history when a state enforces a standard that its telling cannot prompt students to feel discomfort.
One cannot teach history, nor learn history, without feeling discomfort. From this, we are supposed to learn why we ought not repeat the errors of our past.
Timothy W. Harrington,
Miami
Erroneous law
Sean Russell is 55 years old and has been an exemplary prisoner in the Florida prison system for 33 years. His crime: the armed robbery of a bank when he was 23, with no injury to persons or property. His sentence: life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The Florida Legislature enacted a law affecting crimes committed between October 1983 through May 1994, which stipulated that any non-capital repeat offender — Russell committed an earlier crime when he was 17 — must be sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole. In contrast, current Florida law allows capital offenders including murderers, child rapists, mad bombers and the like to be paroled after 25 years.
For reasons that are unclear, the Legislature has been unwilling to fix a misguided law written more than 35 years ago. Unless the political will to change this law is found, Russell and as many as 3,000 other inmates impacted by this statute will remain in prison for the rest of their lives.
Contact your legislators and ask them to revise Florida Statute 7755.084 (4) (a).
Bruce Brownyard,
Osprey
Ballet charms
After reading the Herald’s Oct. 17 story, “Miami City Ballet to debut world premiere by Miami’s own Jamar Roberts this weekend,” I went to see it.
Roberts’ Sea Change was fantastic! The dancing looked classical, but not too academic. The lights and set decorations made it magical. For an ordinary person, it was like seeing your favorite Matisse painting come to life.
Gary Sheldon conducted the orchestra, and the music moved the dancers and the audience.
Lourdes Lopez, Miami City Ballet’s director, and Jeffrey Davis, its chairman of the board, made a wise decision when they contracted with Roberts.
Karl Lahring,
Coral Gables
Restore Trump
After seeing all that is happening now in the world with Ukraine and Israel, and in the United States with inflation, the economy and antisemitism, only one thought comes to my mind: We need former President Donald Trump now more than ever.
Jay Kaba,
Miami
Downgrade degrees
Re: Fabiola Santiago’s Oct. 24 column, “No amount of censorship is ever enough for Gov. DeSantis. Look what he’s up to now.” As Florida descends further into 1930’s Germany-style darkness, the national college and university accreditation associations must act swiftly and decisively to withdraw all academic certification from those Florida institutions whose course offerings and curricula fail to meet established academic inquiry and rigor.
Gov. Ron DeSantis may have mesmerized Florida’s electorate, but his fascism has no place in thoughtful or civilized society.
Randal McChesney,
Bellevue, WA
Whose money?
I am pleased for those individuals who were able to leave Israel on private chartered planes ordered by our Gov. Ron DeSantis.
However, instead of thanking and hugging DeSantis, they should be thanking and hugging Floridians, for it is Floridians’ taxes that paid for those flights. DeSantis did not spend a dime of his own money.
I hope that those who think he is such a thoughtful, wonderful man realize that he is nothing more than a political opportunist in order to gain votes.
Ellen D. Coulton,
South Miami
