Letters to the Editor

Who checks your facts?
In your February issue Donna Saggia said, “ First, under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel was to open the border crossings. Instead it kept the crossings 80 percent closed; food and medicine only trickled in and Gaza’s
humanitarian crisis worsened. Second, Israel was not to initiate attacks. However, on Nov. 4, 2008, it launched air and ground attacks inside Gaza, killing six Hamas men.”

When the “cease-fire” began Hamas had rockets that could penetrate 10 miles into Israel. When it ended, Hamas had rockets that could penetrate 20 miles. They had no trouble smuggling in military grade rockets, nor for that matter was there any shortage of food. Israel had good reason to control the border crossings, or there would have been rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Learn what a “hudna” really is. There is no such thing as a true cease-fire in the Western sense to an Islamic fundamentalist. It is merely a chance to rearm for the “final battle.”

On “Meet the Press,” David Gregory read an excerpt from a book by panelist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, who wrote about Nizar Rayyan, the Hamas leader who was killed by Israel during the current offensive: “The question I wrestle with constantly is whether Hamas is truly, theologically implacable. That is to say, whether the organization can remain true to its understanding of Islamic law and God’s word and yet enter into a long-term nonaggression treaty with Israel. I tend to think not, though I’ve noticed over the years a certain plasticity of belief among some Hamas ideologues. ...

There was no flexibility with Rayyan. This is what he said when I asked him if he could envision a 50-year hudna (or cease-fire) with Israel: `The only reason to have a hudna is to prepare yourself for the final battle. We don’t need 50 years to prepare ourselves for the final battle with Israel.’ There is no chance, he said, that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. `Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God.’ ...

What are our crimes? I asked Rayyan. `You are murderers of the prophets and you have closed your ears to the Messenger of Allah,’ he said. `Jews tried to kill the Prophet, peace be unto him. All throughout history, you have stood in opposition to the word of God.’ Can Israel achieve deterrence with someone like that?”

It is clear that Hamas puts their own Gazan citizens in harms way. In fact, while your writer believes otherwise, Hamas strongly believes in Israel’s intentions not to harm civilians—why else would they hide among civilians, keep their weapons hidden in civilian areas, and fire rockets from within schools and mosques if they didn’t believe that would deter Israeli response? The first duty of any nation is to protect its citizens. Exactly how long would Minnesotans stand for rockets being fired from Canada? Eight years, as the Israelis did, before responding with enough force to make a difference? We [Americans] were attacked ONCE on our soil, we responded by dropping enough bombs to turn over every inch of Afghan soil several times, and we are STILL there eight years later, fighting halfway around the world against what seems a very far removed threat. And yet, when Hamas broke the truce again within days by killing an Israeli soldier, you still believe Israel has no right to protect itself. If you’re going to publish something as “news” rather than “opinion,” get your facts straight, and show at least a semblance of objectivity.

CL of Ashville Tutors