To PBS News Hour

Amna,

In your Jan. 23 report you repeatedly referred to Hamas as "terrorists." Yes, they should not have attacked civilians, but Israel has killed thirty times as many civilians (including some of its own) and counting with its  indiscriminate counterattacks. And Israeli claims of Hamas atrocities are highly suspect and self-serving. (many of their civilian casualties were the result of its "Hannibal Directive" counterattacks).  All Palestinian militants are fundamentally resistance fighters, whereas the Zionist beast's soldiers feed it with Palestinian civilians, children and women, washing them down with Palestinian land and water. They are the true terrorists, Amna, and I think you know it. Why do you have to tread on the graves of the downtrodden Palestiians, Amna?  Is the money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?   

G. DeSylva

Distracted from untold suffering

We forget. We dismiss, we deny, and we are distracted from untold suffering that surrounds us every day.  Not just in Palestine.  EVERY DAY  25,000 die of starvation worldwide.  In the US 772 women are raped or sexually assaulted EVERY DAY.  Twenty-three  million terrified animals are brutally slaughtered EVERY DAY  so we can consume  their flesh.  Extractive industries like mining, logging, and drilling cause suffering and devastation around the globe every day.   And yes,  it’s always about power, privilege, and profit.  And yes,  the perpetrators are often white men.

Many are members of  “big brother’s”  billionaire club  and are determined to commodify, monetize, and digitize all humanity and all life.  And we become numb and accept new normals that degrade  our humanity.  Don’t let Israels’ genocide and ethnic cleansing become normalized.  It’s not.  Don’t be desensitized by the daily reports of atrocities and deaths.  And don’t be fooled by the  well oiled and well financed Israeli/Zionist propaganda machine which spins out lies, distortions, and misinformation to a media that questions nothing.  

For the truth about the fabrications about  beheaded and burned babies or rape and sexual assaults on Oct. 7 read and/or listen to Max Blumenthal https://thegrayzone.com/2024/01/10/questions-nyt-hamas-rape-report/  -  There are more than 23.000 corpses (10,000 are children)  in Gaza, but no water, no food, no electricity. They have no voice, but we do.  Please speak out about  the ongoing  genocidal slaughter   in Gaza (made possible with your tax dollars). 

Eli Kassirer

Dull, stupid sleep

Germans have always been criticized for knowing that the Holocaust was going on and doing nothing to stop it. In truth, during the actual genocide, speaking out against a wartime Nazi regime meant almost certain death. Even passing out leaflets at the University of Munich got a small group called the "White Rose" arrested, tried and beheaded.

Their second of six leaflets had denounced the persecution and mass murder of the Jews: "The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!"

Today we are free to criticize our government's arming and protecting Israel as it exterminates the Palestinian people. Using the latest US weaponry and drones, Israel is making the home of over 2 million people into a world of rubble. The IDF, self proclaimed as the most moral military force in the world, has slaughtered over 10,000 children and cut the rest of the population off from food, water and shelter. What bombs can't accomplish, starvation and disease surely will.  

This is a genocide, aided and protected by the murderers who run our government. Their pockets are lined with millions from the Israel Lobby (see OpenSecrets.org), like Pat Ryan with $37,650 a year and Kirsten Gillibrand who pulled in $174,104.

So why aren't you speaking out? Still slumbering in dull, stupid sleep?

Fred Nagel

A problem with genocide

Our country has always had a problem with genocide. That is what this new wave of student activists are discovering as they protest the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza. The US has been doing it for decades, with its bombings and invasions of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. Moreover, the Empire has used its air power on any number of additional third world victims, like Nicaragua, Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Serbia, Libya  Syria, and Cambodia. It's all the same. The empire congratulates itself on its fine ideals and then bombs the hell out of yet another Third World country.

Only this time, student activists can see how our political class is full of pro genocide advocates. Congressman Pat Ryan's good old boy charm can barely disguise his willingness to support Israel's extermination plans. Is he paid off by the Israel Lobby? By the weapons makers? According to OpenSecrets.org, the answer is yes.

In addition, students can now see how eager college administrators are to curtail freedom of speech on campus. Anything to please those rich alums, who expect their million dollar donations will cover up any mass slaughter of Palestinian innocents. College presidents turn out to be as venal as politicians.

Finally, students now realize how subservient our national media is to rich corporations and their war machine. That same media has kept us ignorant of empire for all these years.   

The message to new activists is simple. Down with the empire and the corruption that feeds its war machine.

Fred Nagel