• Painting the whole picture • Empathize with the Palestinians • Feel safe? Painting the whole picture I am responding to the anti-Israel, anti-US policy letter written by Janos Samu (“And the charade continues,” Letters, Jan. 6) First of all,
• Painting the whole picture
• Empathize with the Palestinians
• Feel safe?
Painting the whole picture
I am responding to the anti-Israel, anti-US policy letter written by Janos Samu (“And the charade continues,” Letters, Jan. 6)
First of all, to set the record straight, the US has supported many UN Security Council resolutions that were viewed as harmful to Israeli interests. Historically, the US also was not always supportive of Israel. A good example was the decision to place an arms embargo on the Middle East immediately after we recognized Israel in May 1948; the Arabs were getting unlimited arms from Great Britain and France, while Israel had no access to either of them.
Second, the US vetoed the recent resolution because it did not adequately address the rocket and mortar attacks that were hitting Israel on a daily basis. Let’s keep in mind that ever since Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2006, it has been rewarded by being hit by more than 3,000 rockets and countless mortar shells. Furthermore, on the day that the six-month cease-fire ended, 60 rockets were fired into Israel. A cease-fire that lacks adequate monitoring and the end of smuggling arms through underground tunnels, is simply a re-arming period that enables Hamas to prepare for the next onslaught.
I do not know whether Mr. Samu was alive when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but I’m sure that if he were, he would recall the endless terror under which Hawaiians lived for months, worried that the Japanese would come back. The Israelis in the southern part of that country live under daily fear of rocket and mortar attacks. I’ve been in Israel, the West Bank and the outskirts of Gaza, and I’ve been awakened by a rocket attack (it killed a cow that day, but the next day, in the same vicinity, two people were killed).
Let me tell you, being on the receiving end is harrowing, and it makes you want to stop the rockets. In this case, because Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist (that is part of their Charter, so it’s not just some over-politicized vote-getting tactic), there is no one to negotiate with.
No country in the world would tolerate that situation. No other country has taken the unheard of step of warning civilians to leave an area before that area is targeted for military action.
The people of Gaza overwhelmingly elected Hamas in 2006, knowing that Hamas stood for violence, terror, demonizing Jews and destroying Israel. Again, understand that these were not political statements made to get votes — the Hamas Charter clearly states that its goal is the destruction of Israel.
Hamas has named all Jews as legitimate targets, regardless of where they live or their politics. It deliberately targets civilians, while Israel tries to limit and avoid civilian casualties — but what can it do when Hamas sets up rockets in school yards, stores bombs in mosques and even attacks the very border crossings it says it wants opened? (That’s right. On several occasions, Hamas rockets, mortar shells and even two suicide bombers have struck the actual crossings. Please explain the logic to that.)
Sadly, there is no chance for peace in the Middle East as long as Hamas is in power, unless it changes its position on Israel. Mr. Samu calls for negotiations, but you cannot negotiate with a group that denies your right to exist.
And as for the question of trusting the Palestinians, history proves that Hamas cannot be trusted, whether to honor a cease-fire (even the day the cease-fire went into effect this past summer, rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel) or spend donated money on building an infrastructure and feeding Gazans, rather than on arms and bombs.
The other members of the Security Council who were supporting the cease-fire proposal lack the guts to stand up to Arab/Muslim pressure out of fears that the Arabs will shut off their precious oil supply and fears of Arab immigrant unrest in their own countries. The UN itself cannot be trusted, either. A good example was the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers along the Lebanese border, something the UN monitors denied happened until Israel produced film from the UN’s own cameras, showing the whole event.
I’ve seen the books that the Palestinians use in their schools, books that label Jews “the children of pigs and monkeys.” I’ve seen the Arab television shows that demonize Jews and indoctrinate their children with a relentless hatred. But most importantly, I’ve asked individual Arabs, one-on-one, what they really want. Of the 48 I spoke with, 46 wanted to live in Israel, were totally against Hamas and Hezbollah, but could not say so publicly because they would be jailed or worse.
I’m telling Mr. Samu and the rest of Kaua‘i that you are not getting the whole story if all you consider is the civilian casualties in Gaza and if you are blaming the US for standing against terrorism. Remember: Hamas has targeted Americans in the past, years before it came into power in Gaza. Remember: if there were no suicide bombers and rocket/mortar attacks, the crossings into Gaza would be open and there would be no need for Israel to enter Gaza at all. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
• Nathan Salant, Birmingham, Ala.
Empathize with the Palestinians
In Sunday’s paper, Cardinal Renato Martino, a former Vatican envoy to the United Nations and now Pope Benedict XVI’s top official, said, “Gaza now resembles a big concentration camp.”
If you have no compassion, empathy or pity for the poor innocent Palestinians then you are not human. But it’s 2009 and perhaps there is hope.
Be good for goodness’ sake.
• Bettejo Dux, Kalaheo
Feel safe?
Two weeks ago we dropped a guest of ours off at Lihu‘e airport. He received his boarding pass from the ticket counter and then successfully went through all of the TSA screening.
It was while walking away from the security area that he glanced at his boarding pass. He noticed it was not his. The name on the pass was not even close in appearance to his name.
He ended up having to go back to the ticket counter where they had already noticed the mistake and had his boarding pass waiting for him.
He had already been through TSA where the wrong boarding pass was checked against his driver’s license and double-checked and okayed.
Apparently TSA is more concerned with snatching your oversized tubes of toothpaste than matching up boarding passes to licenses.
Feel safe?
• Bob Seaver, Kapa‘a
