Gazette columnist Olin Rose-Bardawil’s June 13 column [“Calling out a ‘monstrous’ war”] was 792 words long, but he unfortunately never wrote why there has been a war in Gaza for over 600 days. Isn’t it because 1,200 innocent Jews living their lives, farming, attending a music festival etc. were brutally raped, maimed and killed? With what, a couple hundred more taken hostage? No words about that? The column states, “At this point in the war, it is almost as futile to claim that the destruction of Gaza and an ethnic cleansing aren’t the ultimate goals of the current regime.” Which sounds exactly like what Hamas leaders say — they are for the total destruction of Israel. We are lectured but no words about the similarity?
Yes, I agree — war is monstrous. I am not going to defend what Israel has done but this issue has gone on for countless generations — it is not about border lines drawn in the sand — it is about belief and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. That’s reality. Humans can create many wonders but we are a flawed species; most can overcome those primal urges yet some who can’t become all too powerful. On both sides.
Peter Vogel
Florence