Matters Of Fact

Sent to the Hartford Courant on October 29, 2024.   Dear Editor: I have a three word reaction to Israel's new law banning UNRWA: it's about time. It's not just that, as has been extensively documented for years, that UNRWA has allowed its facilities to be used by Hamas and has employed thousands of terrorists, including many involved in Hamas' barbaric October 7 massacre. It's also that UNRWA, which was supposed to help the Arab refugees of the war they started in 1948, has perpetuated the misery of generations for more than three-quarters of a century. The dismantling of UNRWA is a necessary, albeit not sufficient, prerequisite for peace and a better life for all involved. Sincerely, Alan Stein

Sent to the Boston Globe on October 18, 2024 Dear Editor: With the blessed elimination of the terrorist the Palestinian Arabs themselves years ago dubbed "The Butcher of Khan Younis," there have been loud voices proclaiming this is the opportunity to end the war Yahya Sinwar started last October 7. It would be a mistake to repeat the mistakes of the past, since how a war ends is more important than when it ends. Each of the wars Hamas started in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2021 ended in a way that guaranteed it would be followed by another, even more deadly and destructive war. Hamas was allowed to survive and rearm, with massive amounts of "humanitarian aid" and materials meant to rebuild the civilian infrastructure in Gaza stolen by Hamas and used to build its enormous terror tunnel system. With the complicity of UNRWA and other international organizations, almost every school, hospital and mosque was turned into a Hamas base or command center. This made it impossi

Sent to the Boston Globe on October 9, 2024. Dear Editor: Missing from all the observations and comments on the anniversary of Hamas' barbaric pogrom last October 7 are the following basic facts: • There is a war between good and evil, with Israel fighting on the front line for the survival of Western civilization. • Israel wants to live in peace and has no interest in harming the innocent people in Gaza, Lebanon or Iran. Tragically, Iran and its terror proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, are focused on destroying Israel and have no interest in the welfare of their own people. • Related to that, if Iran and its terror proxies would lay down their arms, there would be peace and prosperity for all, while if Israel put down its arms there would be genocide and the end of Israel. For the good of all, America and the rest of the Western democracies need to stand solidly with Israel. The pressure on Israel to "de-escalate" in the face of constant attacks has al

Sent to The Guardian on October 9, 2024 Dear Editor: Reading Naomi Klein's perversely bizarre essay, "How Israel has made trauma a weapon of war," reminds me of the way, decades ago, a friend opened my eyes to the reason behind the French government's behavior with is observation that "France will never forgive the United States for saving it in World War II." In a similar vein, it's clear that many Europeans resent Israel because it reminds them of Europe's effective complicity in the Holocaust. Rather than exploiting the atrocities committed by Hamas - along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah (yes, the same Fatah led by the supposedly "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas), other terror groups and thousands of "ordinary Gaza civilians," with financial support training provided by Iran and Qatar, Israel was reluctant to distribute graphic video evidence of the slaughter and heavily censored the worst atrocities. The destruction in both Gaz

Sent to the MetroWest Daily News on October 9, 2024 Dear Editor: The article "I'm not going to give up on this country" (MWDN, October 9) begins "Mohammad Enayah, an automotive engineer living in the Detroit suburbs, said he has lost nearly 100 relatives and friends in Gaza over the last year." Given that Hamas has privately admitted that 80% of those killed in Gaza have been either Hamas terrorists or members of their families, one obvious and interesting inference is that dozens of Enayah's relatives and friends were almost certainly Hamas terrorists, making his assertion "this is a group of helpless, defenseless civilians being slaughtered in front of everybody's eyes" blatantly false. Sincerely, Alan Stein

Sent to the Buffalo News on October 6, 2024 Dear Editor: America and the entire world have been in turmoil, but there are some things you can still depend on. One is that Israel-haters will make horrible accusations against Israel and, when they do, you can be almost certain of two things: The accusations are baseless but would be true if those accusations were made against the Palestinian Arabs. Thus it is not surprising that, as reported in the article "One year later: Jews and Muslims struggle with the aftermath of Oct. 7," Dr. Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, falsely accused Israel of committing genocide. The tiny democratic state, which has been expediting the transfer of immense amounts of food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza, even though most of it has been stolen by Hamas, is accused of committing genocide. The tiny democratic state, which has gone to greater lengths to avoid civilian ca