Matters Of Fact

Dear Editor: The article "Harris calls for end to war in Gaza" (September 18) describes Kamala Harris calling for a cease-fire between Israel and barbaric perpetrators of the October 7 massacre "in the best interest of everyone in the region." Taken at face value, that is clearly self-contradictory, since the "best interest" of Hamas is to be able to regroup, rearm and repeat October 7 while the best interest - indeed, necessity - of Israel is for that to be prevented. It also conflicts with the long-standing assertion of President Biden that Hamas must be eliminated. One can only wonder what our vice president and candidate for president is thinking. Sincerely, Alan Stein Submitted to the MetroWest Daily News September 18, 2024

 Dear Editor: Reading the article, "The Philadelphi Corridor, an Israel-Gaza cease-fire obstacle, explained," I can't help but think of the obvious question that's never brought up: What conceivable reason can Hamas have for its insistence Israel completely leave the Philadelphi Corridor, along which there is no civilian presence, other than the fear that with Israel in control of that border area it will not be able to rearm but if Israel leaves it will be able to rearm and repeat its October 7 massacre? To ask the question is to answer it: there is no other conceivable reason and rather than putting forth yet another "bridging proposal" - a euphemism for continuing to appease Hamas - the Biden Administration should be insisting that the Philadelphi Corridor not resume its role as a lifeline for Hamas. Sincerely, Alan Stein Submitted to the Washington Post September 6, 2024

Dear Editor: I find the sentence "Hate and violent rhetoric repel people, no matter how worthy the cause — in this case, ending Palestinian suffering and instituting a cease-fire" in the editorial "Another wave of Gaza protests is likely. Campuses get ready" to be rather curious. One would hope that people would find "hate and violent rhetoric" repellent, but these days hatred and violent rhetoric targeting Jews, particularly in the guise of supporting Palestinian Arab terror groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah, is increasingly popular, particularly on college campuses. When it comes to the goal of "ending Palestinian suffering," how about ending Israeli suffering? After all, it was Israelis who were the targets of the barbaric atrocities on October 7 launching the war and are now being attacked on no fewer than seven fronts. Where is the recognition that while "instituting a cease-fire" at the present time may tempor

Dear Editor: The article "The War in Gaza is Making Thousands of Orphans" is just one of a constant drumbeat of articles, in The New York Times and other newspapers, highlighting suffering in Gaza. Like almost all those articles, it omits even hinting at crucial context and information one should be able to expect, such as the war being started with a barbaric massacre executed by Hamas with the participation of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah, other Gaza terror groups and thousands of ordinary Gaza "civilians," the proportion of civilian casualties being far below the norm for modern urban warfare, and the way Hamas deliberately uses civilians as human shields and considers each civilian casualty a strategic asset. Never reported is whether the families involved contain terrorists belonging to Hamas or one of the other terror groups, participated in October 7, or are among the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs supporting Hamas and proud of October 7. In sharp con

Dear Editor: When President Biden introduced his proposal for cease-fire in Gaza, he said it would provide for Israel's security and that Hamas would no longer rule Gaza. Nothing in his description of his proposal gave any clue as to how it would bring about either result. At this moment, the United States, Egypt (which allowed the massive arming of Hamas through tunnels across its border with Gaza) and Qatar (a major funder of Hamas and host of its leadership) are mediating negotiations to finalize the details of a cease-fire based on that proposal, perversely without the participation of Hamas. It's self-evident that Hamas will never agree to a proposal that would remove it from power in Gaza, nor will it ever agree to a proposal which would provide for Israeli security. Where is the critical reporting of those obvious realities? In a moment of moral clarity after October 7, President Biden correctly said Hamas had to be eliminated. Rather than going through farcical efforts

Dear Editor: I have a question for those pushing so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza. In presenting his proposal in May, President Biden said it would guarantee Hamas would no longer rule Gaza. Is there anything in the proposal that would keep Hamas from continuing to rule Gaza, no less eliminate Hamas, something President Biden correctly asserted was necessary in the wake of October 7? Is it not obvious that if Hamas isn't prevented from rearming it will do so and prepare itself to carry out its pledge to repeat its barbaric October 7 massacre and ignite yet another war, with even more death and destruction? Is it not obvious that can't be prevented unless Israel for now remains in Gaza and, in particular, controls Gaza's border with Egypt? There was a ceasefire in effect on the morning of October 7. The next ceasefire needs to be a truly permanent ceasefire, not a ceasefire that is called permanent but will last only until Hamas decides to break it with another barbaric massa

Dear Editor: I find the lead headline "Wary of war, Iran waits" (August 13) to be rather ironic, given the fact Iran is the major force behind almost all the wars in the Middle East. It is the main backer of Hamas, which started the Gaza war with its barbaric massacre on October 7, of Hezbollah, which has been pounding Israel with thousands of rockets and other projectiles since October 8, of the Houthis, which has virtually closed the Red Sea to shipping, and others. It also perpetrated perhaps the largest single day aerial attack in recent history when it launched more than 300 rockets, drones and missiles at Israel on April 14. If it wasn't for Iran, there wouldn't be a war for Iran to be wary of and it could stop the many wars going on by simply stopping its support for its terror proxies, not to mention ending its nuclear weapons program and its threats to wipe Israel off the map with a single nuclear bomb. Sincerely, Alan Stein Submitted to the Washington Post A