There might be very few of us who are able to scroll on our social media feeds currently without seeing a post about the atrocities happening in Gaza.
The death toll has surpassed 60,000, and as we pretend that this is all collateral damage, we further wash it all down with a dose of the belief that the health ministry is run by Hamas, so the numbers can’t be trusted.
Well, let’s just assume that the numbers were exaggerated by an egregious 100%, a full doubling. Would 30,000 deaths make it easier on our conscience? Is that easier to cognitively manage?
The suffering has crossed the threshold in our mind that can even emotionally compute the damage, and I fear the worst has yet to come. In all oppression, at a certain point, injustice does not fall on the side of the perpetrators, but on those who sit on the sidelines and watch it happen.
Make no mistake, the bleachers are full. I pray God shows mercy to our nation and people if we do not raise our voices to bring an end to this savage injustice.
Syed Adil Ahma, Allen
Imam, Baitul Ikram Mosque
A setback for civilization
The children of Gaza are surely suffering. But rather than blaming the usual victims of massacres and suicide bombings (the Israelis), perhaps it would be more accurate and productive if our mainstream media would condemn those who are actually responsible for the anguish.
It was the parents of the Palestinian children who freely elected a cult of terrorists to be their official representatives. It is the parents of the Palestinian children who allow the terrorists to hide beneath their own hospitals and behind their own children.
It is the parents of the suffering children who allowed their freely elected leaders to use billions of their own assets, over decades, to build hundreds of miles of underground tunnels in which to hide their deadly weaponry and their kidnapped hostages.
And, it was the leaders, elected by the parents of the suffering children of Gaza, who started a war in the most barbaric of ways, and are now claiming victimhood.
It must be noted any outcome of this war that can be interpreted, in any way, as a victory for Hamas would be a victory for barbarism, and a setback for civilization.
Lloyd Litwak, New York
Israeli government is failing
I believe Hamas is a terrorist organization. I believe Israel has the right to defend itself against such a threat. What Israel is doing now, however, goes beyond defense.
Micah (6:8) condensed all of the instructions to Israel into “Do justice. Love mercy. Walk modestly with your God.” Of course, that is an oversimplification, but it is not without merit.
The Israeli government is failing in all of these. I would have expected and hoped for better.
Michael Landay, Dallas
Hamas not held accountable
Re: “Stop Blocking Aid to Gaza Civilians — Relief agencies say malnutrition is widespread, famine increasingly likely,” Aug. 4 editorial.
Your editorial surveys the state of affairs in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and seizure of hostages, and the early bombardment by Israel in an evenhanded manner. Nonetheless, it shifts the responsibility and blame for the current situation in Gaza to Israel and asks nothing of Hamas.
The truth regarding the reality of the humanitarian aid situation has been undermined by those using inflammatory statements, unverified reporting and even false narratives. Major media outlets often fail to bring worldwide attention to the atrocities committed by Hamas, such as the killings by Hamas and its Al-Sahm Unit of Gaza civilians at aid distribution centers in an attempt to retain power and control over them, as reported in the Palestinian Authority newspaper.
The Washington Post used unverified figures in reporting deaths. The New York Times even passed off photos of emaciated children suffering from terrible illnesses as starving children.
Rather than act in lockstep with them, Dallas Morning News editorials could focus on how Hamas gets its food and the roles that could be played by other countries, like Egypt, in ameliorating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Raymond J. Termini, Dallas/Turtle Creek
Gaza leaders’ catastrophe
Gaza — the name symbolizes the results of leadership that’s motivated by hate. Instead of trying to have programs and planning that cared for the people, Gaza leadership prioritized building tunnels, miles and miles of tunnels. Now the children and everybody in Gaza have to beg for food.
Sure, any efforts to block aid to the starving should be criticized, but more emphasis should be placed on how Gaza’s leadership failed. Sending food to the starving in Gaza is a necessity but only a temporary fix for the catastrophe Gaza leadership has caused.
Don Skaggs, Garland
U.S. must stop hunger in Gaza
It is past time for the Trump administration to step up and do the decent and humane thing in regard to the starving Gazans. It is time to tell Israel to let the food pass through and if they don’t, they would run the risk of the U.S. withdrawing all support.
President Donald Trump, make it possible to prevent more hunger, misery and starvation.
J.R. Krystinik, Dallas/Preston Hollow
End American complicity
Even by the Old Testament tenet of an eye for an eye, the more than 60,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces defy any sense of proportionality by Israel for the Israeli killings at the hands of Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. These crimes against humanity, unfortunately, are being enabled by Israel’s benefactor, the United States, and as such makes us an accomplice to the deaths and misery in Gaza.
It’s time for America to say enough and more forcibly bring an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We need to salvage whatever moral superiority we might still have in the eyes of the world.
Tony Torres, Garland
Why recognize state backing terrorists?
France, England and now Canada are going to recognize a Palestinian state, according to recent reports.
Why? What do they hope to achieve by recognizing a group of people who have voluntarily voted in a terrorist organization as their government? It’s reported that over 90% of Gazans still support that terrorist organization, and 72% of them support the Oct. 7, 2023, murder and kidnapping spree conducted by that same terrorist organization.
The published manifesto of that terrorist organization, Hamas, is there for anyone and everyone to read, and it includes a call for genocide of the Jewish people and the destruction of Israel.
Why would anyone recognize this group of terrorism supporters as a separate state?
Olan Knight, Murphy
Leave region to own destruction
When a country commits a heinous act, it smears the names of its friends and allies. Israel has performed such brutal acts for many years, which has impugned our country’s good name.
We cannot continue to support either Israeli or Palestinian authorities in any form. We should leave the region to its own destruction.
Michael A. Coldiron, Dallas
Two-state solution not working
We only need to look at recent history to see if a successful two-state solution will work in the Middle East.
Obviously, people have forgotten the Gaza Strip was given its freedom by Israel in the first two-state solution. How did that work out?
Clearly the people in the Gaza Strip were not appropriately entrusted with independence when they elected the terrorist group Hamas as their leaders, created school textbooks for their children that teach hate, omitted that Israel was originally settled by the Jews over 2,000 years ago and has never ceded any portion of the land since, and celebrated after an insane terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023.
It does not sound like the two-state solution was thought through.
Bill Cohn, Frisco
Masked anti-Israel demonstrators
With regard to every image of anti-Israel demonstrators, if they are proud of their position, why are they masked? Are they afraid to be identified?
Why are people allowed to go around masked?
Joan White, Dallas