We often think of our elected officials as ordinary people, caught up in the spirit of public service. They certainly try to be like the rest of us, with families and favorite teams to cheer for. It's true, they are often a bit more patriotic than the average citizen. Not so carried away, however, as to ever fight America's endless wars in the Third World.
But when the Senate voted today for more aid to Israel, my confidence in our elected leaders faltered. We can see it on every computer screen, the genocide of 2 million at the hands of a rabid and racist Israeli army. Netanyahu's Israel behaves like the Third Reich, and our elected leaders behave like this is what normal people do.
But normal people want a ceasefire, not another shipment of bombs and missiles to Israel. Normal people are horrified at the prospect of tens of thousands of children being starved to death. Not our political leaders, however. Now that Israel has two million Palestinian civilians hopelessly crowded into southern Gaza, the "final solution" can begin. And to that rarified world of the US Senate, that's just fine.
The startling amorality of our ruling class, however, is a teaching moment. Our government is not a democracy, and its two party system is nothing more than a sham. The system is so monstrous that we have to take notice. Our late American empire is a killing machine, and genocide is just another acceptable tactic.
Fred Nagel
Genocide is just another acceptable tactic
Call with Pat Ryan yesterday:
The statement by Kristina Hwang took everyone's breath away. She calculated that the congressman had accepted funds from AIPAC amounting to exactly $6.50 for each Palestinian child killed since October. She asked him how he felt about valuing human life that way and how his own children will one day feel about their father.
There were many other powerful statements made on the call, including by Palestinian-Americans whose families have been forced from their homes, maimed and killed-- not just these past months but for decades.
It was clear that Ryan was carefully avoiding the word ceasefire. He used elaborate dodgy substitutes but would not pronounce the word -- as if he had been muzzled.
How have we lost so much human rights ground here in the US? How have we managed to normalize attacks on hospitals and demonize the word ceasefire?
It would be great if we could gather the written statements in one place.
~Katherine
Hard to tell if you actually learned anything
Dear Congressman Ryan,
Thank you for hosting a meeting with us today on zoom. I was only able to stay for two hours and never got a chance to speak, partly because I didn’t know how to raise my hand on zoom for the first hour and then because I had to work at 1:00. And also because you took up the majority of time talking yourself.
I can see that you are genuinely disturbed by what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza.You also seem genuinely confused as to what to do. My solution is to cut off ties to Israel until they stop the slaughter. The idea that Hamas has to agree to a ceasefire also is absurd given the outsized response to their ground invasion. I do not hear you expressing a clear understanding of why Hamas got into power in the first place and how bombing Gaza to smithereens would never stop this cycle of anger and destruction. Your recent votes to stop extra military aid to Israel is too little too late. It is time to do something big right now.
You must speak up loud and clear on this or none of us will believe you have any intention of jeopardizing your campaign funding from AIPAC. This is a core issue for us, as was the war in Iraq that you still seem to carry as a badge of honor even though it was wrong to ever be there. You can only claim allegiance to the flag as a cover for ignorance for so long before I wonder why you are not educating yourself. The situation in Gaza was already brewing before the Hamas attack and you would not listen then. If you had you would have known just like we did that Israel would wage a full scale genocide if given any leeway, and we were proven right, so it would be good to listen to your constituents who have historically been right on all these issues. I did not hear a false word spoken by the people who showed up to speak to you today. It would have been to your better good if you would have talked less and listened more.
Given that this is an atrocity that outweighs any local problems that you may be focused on I think you could arrange another meeting in which you answer briefly all the questions and then let people talk. The idea of the meeting today was good, but I am pretty sure it left most of us frustrated, and it is hard to tell if you actually learned anything.
Sincerely,
CARY KITTNER
Question to Pat Ryan
Here is my question and comment if anyone is interested.
Given your background as a military person, I would assume you feel there is a strategy in endlessly arming Israel. Can you please explain how killing 25 times the number of people as were killed in the Hamas attack in order to end Hamas and destroying any chance of returning to a meagre normal for the other 2 million people will end the ideology, trauma, and living conditions that created Hamas in the first place?
As an American Jew who has been following the oppression and encroachment on the Palestinian people, I was not surprised by the Hamas attack in Israel. Whether people are killed in smaller amounts over the years or if they are killed all at once in a strategic paramilitary raid, it has been apparent that there is a war going on in Israel/Palestine for decades. I do not approve of military "solutions" pretty much any time so I don't approve of Hamas. However, in retrospect, it appears that Hamas knows their enemy well and is right about them. Israel has proven that they are the monster that Hamas has described them to be. Now the world sees that and they see my country aiding the monster. You are aiding the monster. Speaking from a purely nationalistic and strategic point of view, this is not good for America and it is your job to do what is good for America. Speaking as a person, a Jew, this is breaking my heart.
CARY KITTNER
Never again, to any people!
But before you turn away in horror, consider that the people running our government are orchestrating this starvation directed at millions of indigenous people. The Palestinians happen to live in the country that England and the US have given to the Zionists. Its nothing personal, of course. Israel is our military assassin, our paid killer in the oil rich Middle East. The deal is Israel will do our bidding as long as we look the other way as it creates a theocracy bathed in Arab blood.
The genocide is so obvious that Representatives like Pat Ryan and Senators like Chuck Schumer know that they have to keep talking about Israel's right to "protect itself." Fat with Israel Lobby money, they are more than willing to starve Palestinian children if that's what it takes.
For this genocide is the Holocaust of our lifetime, although some of the roles have changed. The victims of the first Holocaust are the killers this time around. The proud nation that was so instrumental in vanquishing the Nazis, now supplies and provides cover for the murderous war criminals.
We must come together to insist: Never again, to any people!
Fred Nagel
Regarding your comments
Regarding your comments on my letter in your Jan./Feb. 2024 issue, yes, Zionist violence has chilled non-violent Palestinian resistance. Consequently, non-violent resistance alone does not appear to be a winning strategy for Palestinian liberation. Success in freedom struggles usually requires striking the right balance between non-violence and armed force, as Mandela discovered in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. Further, that armed force must be carefully modulated so as not to alienate, but garner, all-important public support – especially in the U.S.
Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack was not regulated in this manner. By deliberately attacking civilians (as well as military targets) they alienated public opinion, facilitated their being labeled “terrorists,” and made their actions hard to defend. Had they targeted only military assets, they could have been far more successful in the crucial public opinion arena. There would still have been collateral civilian casualties, but it would have been possible to justify them as proportional to the potential military gains, thereby complying with international humanitarian law. Had they utilized such a strategy, the abomination of desolation the Zionist beast has created in Gaza would stand out more clearly for what it is: unadulterated genocide. This could have resulted in much greater benefit to the Palestinian narrative.
How might Hamas’ rocket attacks have fit into a nuanced strategy such as this? Even beginning to address this question will require another letter.
Sincerely,
Gregory DeSylva
What universe is this morally acceptable?
I was sickened to read your comments blaming “bad intelligence” for opinions such as Senator Sanders’ that are critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Whatever privileged information you have access to, it cannot change the reality that we are witnessing with our own eyes: dead or orphaned or wounded children, devastated parents, bombed buildings, tens of thousands of people without shelter or food.
26,000 dead, including 11,000 children. Entire cities leveled. Almost an entire population displaced.
In what universe is this morally acceptable, Senator Gillibrand?
Hamas’s massacre on October 7 was an outrage. The subsequent obliteration, at a historically unprecedented pace, of Gazan lives, homes, universities, schools, hospitals, and a way of life is also an outrage, recognized by most of the world including the International Court of Justice as plausibly genocidal.
You are quoted as saying that Israel follows “all of the humanitarian agreements” in a “thoughtful, methodical way.” Murdering 11,000 children may indeed be “thoughtful and methodical” but it is not humanitarian. It is callous, brutal, and chilling to the bone.
You claim that there is no truth in “narratives” of occupation and white supremacy. This is simply bizarre. Are you denying Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967? Are you denying the explicit statements and actions of Israeli political leaders who pass laws that discriminate on the basis of ethnicity and describe Palestinians as vermin and sub-human?
You claim that a ceasefire would mean that the hostages are not returned. The opposite is true: an immediate and permanent ceasefire would save the hostages’ lives, at present greatly at risk from Israel’s bombardment.
Senator Gillibrand, I don't know what threats or promises have led you to your current position, but I implore you to step away from your Israel-can-do-no-wrong attitude. I implore you to join your colleagues in calling for a ceasefire, supported by 76% of Democratic voters. It is time for you to show courage and leadership.
Sincerely,