Letters

September 11 and October 7, similar dates of infamy for strong allies with similarly divergent reactions. Now gathered mobs of protesters are cheering on those who cry “Death to America” and call for the complete annihilation and genocide of the victims who are now seeking to destroy those who originally unleashed those horrendous attacks. This is the America today.

College campuses throughout the U.S. are railing against Israel in support of Hamas while some adorn themselves in Palestinian head dress. Protesters are burning the American flag while the college administrators, leaders and professors struggle with the proper course of action to stop the insanity. As this level of discord spreads and accelerates, I am reminded of the Black Lives Matter movement and the three months of inner-city violence, destruction and mayhem that caused billions in overall damages on what was absurdly, yet euphemistically hailed as peaceful protests by city mayors while the mainstream media were complicit in this appellation. You may recall that was 2020, also a presidential election year. Aren’t you tempted to ask; how do these highly organized protests get started? Are they truly spontaneous?

Now the operative international keywords are proportional response as world leaders seem united in preventing Israel from eradicating Hamas with the goal of protecting the civilians that no one in the world seems to want to offer refuge to in their own nations. Palestinian citizens are the forever festering pawns of the Arab world; pushed around the desert world’s chess board to make certain that Israel always appears in the worst light for simply trying to survive in a region that is almost 100 percent aligned against them. Hamas uses its own citizens as human shields, tunnels beneath the city placing its terrorist centers beneath mosques, schools, and hospitals, having used billions of the humanitarian aid money sent by the objecting nations that are now demanding a proportional response. The Biden administration is now promising more money to Gaza after the October 7 massacre than it gave before. What message does that send?

Proportional responses do not win wars, you wind up mired in never ending trench warfare. Hamas already broke its cease fire when it attacked Israeli cities with 7,000 missiles. World War II was not won by proportional response when the United States reduced Germany to rubble and incinerated two major cities in Japan. Both those nations have remained peaceful and are now economic powerhouses. Of course, I am certainly not suggesting such a dire response; however, proportion is not going to end this conflict. Hamas needs to cease to exist, and many more lives will be saved in the long run.

John Porta

Westhampton