Israel makes more war, with total U.S. support
Los Altos, Calif.: Israeli airstrikes and targeted raids in southern Lebanon (photo) have already killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced more than 1 million. Now, Israel is claiming to have launched a ground invasion, though Hezbollah and UN peacekeepers deny such an incursion has begun.
The chaos is escalating, and while President Biden has called for a ceasefire, the mixed signals coming from the U.S. government are troubling. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reinforced U.S. support for Israel’s actions along the Lebanese border. Meanwhile, the targeted assassinations and bombings suggest that Israel’s true aim is to provoke a broader conflict involving the U.S.
Hezbollah’s media sources confirm that while Israeli forces attempted to enter southern Lebanon, they were forced to retreat under heavy firepower. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears more concerned with rehabilitating his shattered image after Oct. 7 than with any sincere pursuit of peace. His government has continually sidelined the Gaza front and opted to expand the war into Lebanon, perhaps believing that escalation will rewrite history in his favor.
However, this reckless expansion of conflict is not only undermining Israel’s standing in the region but is also a direct threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said it clearly: Peace is within reach, but only if Israel ends its occupation and allows for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s refusal to pursue peace leaves Israel on a dangerous path of perpetual war, a path the U.S. should not be enabling. Shame on Biden and Kamala Harris! Jagjit Singh
Don’t let up
West Hempstead, L.I.: To Voicer Eugene F. Elander: The Bible is replete with instructions on the conduct of war by the Jewish nation. There is a time for war. This certainly meets the description of such a time. Micah’s statement notwithstanding, the commandment to conquer our land and destroy those who would kill us takes precedence. With regard to a multi-front war, Israel has fought such wars in ’48, ’67 and ’73, to name a few. Israel had multiple truces with Hezbollah and Hamas. Each broke them after Israel gave into allowing more workers, more supplies and cash sent by countries like Qatar — all used for war, not betterment of the Arab society. With G-d going in front of Israel’s brave troops, its enemies have been vanquished. There will be time for peace when our enemies, like America’s enemies in WWII, are thoroughly defeated and their societies purged of their maniacal, murderous philosophies. Samuel J. Mark
Radiating conflict
Manhattan: I’m a Catholic and most of my friends are Jewish. When I tell them Netanyahu is the lead recruiter for Islamic terrorists, they look at me in horror. But it’s true. Netanyahu has ordered the killing of at least 42,000 Palestinian men, women and children, and don’t you know that each family of the fallen has then sworn an oath to destroy Israel. Iran launched dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, and if just one of those missiles went rogue and destroyed a U.S., Russian or Chinese aircraft carrier, we’d all be cinders and ash in moments. Israel has the right to exist, but not to threaten all life on the planet. Israel must drop its racism against people of color, sit down at the negotiating table, work on a two-state solution and build in all necessary military protections. Otherwise, each escalatory step by Israel will bring us closer to the unimaginable brink. Ron Spurga
Circle up
Margate, Fla.: Rabbi Joshua Stanton is well-intentioned, but he is wrong (“We can’t circle the wagons this Rosh Hashanah,” op-ed, Oct. 2). Since 10/7, communities such as much of academia, progressives in politics and the mainstream media have made clear their enthusiastic support for the antisemitic, genocidal goals of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. To not circle the wagons against these Jew-hating communities is to make the same fatal mistake liberal Jews in Germany did after 1933, when they did not circle the wagons against the Nazis. Richard Sherman
Legendary longevity
Scranton, Pa.: What a national blessing that Jimmy Carter, Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks have collectively been alive longer than America has been a country. Vin Morabito
Saintly statesman
Homer, Alaska: No question: Within 50 years or maybe earlier, Jimmy Carter will be celebrated as the equivalent of a Protestant/evangelical saint. History will recognize his genuine accomplishment of delicately balancing the imperatives of faith with public policy. In time, we will realize that the tenor of our present partisan comments is simply a symptom of a passing affliction of hyper-polarized acrimony. Events will surely arise that will cause many more of us to behave like adults. In time, many more of us will also honor real human progress rather than ingrained biases and cherished political ideologies. Gary Carter
Behind the times
Little Egg Harbor, N.J.: Once more, we are viewing another successful woman becoming president of another country that we have always viewed as less successful than ours (“New president takes the stage in Mexico,” Oct. 2). There was Indira Gandhi in India moving that country ahead, then Golda Meir making Israel world-known, then Evita in Argentina, and so on. When are we going to become a more enlightened, less misogynistic country? Why are all these countries ahead of us when it comes to the equality we presume to possess when it comes to human rights? Perhaps it is due to all the harping about abortion and not about having women own the rights to their bodies. Rose S. Wilson
Inked immaturity
Brookfield, Conn.: Reality cider, Honest Tea, Orange Jeff Davis, orange menace and Orange R. Kelly. It sounds like it was written by a child. Would someone please take away Voicer Stephen De Falco’s crayons and put him down for his nap? I think he’s getting cranky. Fred Schoeneborn
Detectable dangers
Hammonton, N.J.: Re “Home-grown terror” (editorial, Oct. 1): The Editorial Board writes, “those who’ve been banging the drum about some nonexistent migrant danger.” Nonexistent? The numbers released the other day regarding murderers and rapists illegally loose in our country is scary. There are also plenty of military-age men from China and the Middle East invading our country. We have set ourselves up for another 9/11, but obviously to the media, it’s more important to cover up for Kamala Harris just like they all covered for President Biden four years ago. Six months ago, there were rumors about replacing Harris on the ticket. Now the media is doing its best to hide her sheer incompetence, even downplaying the danger we are in because of this invasion. William Cook
Imports’ import
Milford, Pa.: If the longshoremen strike teaches us anything (“Dock strike hits NYC, E. Coast, Gulf,” Oct. 2), it should be this: If more of the items we depend on were made here, we wouldn’t have to worry about supply chains, would we? Robert K. Greco
Bill the polluters
Rochester, N.Y.: We are facing two massive climate problems: How do we stop atmospheric and ocean warming caused by years of burning fossil fuels from continuing to cause harmful and expensive weather disasters? How do we pay for the damage that’s already happened? Both problems have been caused knowingly by the largest polluters. Solutions, in New York at least, lie in Gov. Hochul’s hands. She’s falling down on the job of meeting the fully doable and hard-won climate mandate. She’s left the Climate Change Superfund Act on her desk unsigned. Hochul must heed Climate Week’s call to action. The act will exact only a sliver of fossil fuel producers’ profits — just $3 billion per year for 25 years — to help New York pay the enormous repair costs for infrastructure weakened or destroyed by fossil fuel-powered heavy downpours and flooding. That’s a small price to pay out of their huge profits. Kanwaldeep K. Sekhon
Full accounting
Ocala, Fla.: The MTA is always begging for money, but we need the Daily News to show us an itemized, line-by-line detailing of what they are actually doing with our money! Who is getting paid, why and when? I would bet the top guns get tons of money that is required for real needs. Let’s do it! Lynn Miller