It’s not really fair to use conversations with ghosts and other dead people to justify one’s personal opinion. Guest columnist Richard Bogartz admitted that he does not believe in ghosts but then uses what he believes he hears them say [“What the ghosts of Warsaw Ghetto know,” Gazette, April 11]. I understand it’s a metaphor but it doesn’t work.

I doubt that the occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto would be concerned about damage to Germans. At least the writer challenged the word “genocide” which is horribly misapplied to the current conflict in Gaza. There is no intention to destroy the Palestinian population, though Hamas wants to destroy the Israelis. This conflict is all about the hostages. To deny that is to completely misunderstand the Israeli mentality. The idea of Israelis held captive and possibly no longer alive is deeply traumatic to Israelis. The hostages do not fade from the headlines nor the national concern. Hamas shrewdly understands this which is why they don’t release the hostages to end the war.

Even the extremist prime minister would stop all military activity if Hamas said it would release everyone. Hamas keeps the conflict going because it suits their goal of harming Israel on the world stage. It is working because people are falling for the Hamas propaganda. The war is good for Hamas if not Gazans. There is no parallel between Warsaw and Gaza. I have not seen accounts of Polish Jews going to Germany to murder people and start a war. The Germans did that on their own.

David Sloviter

Amherst