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To the editor:
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians should heed the words of Confucius around 500 BC: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves” (meaning one for yourself and one for your enemy).
The Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israelis was horrific, but it doesn’t justify the extremist positions of some in Israel’s Likud Party who want to erase all of Gaza, home to more than two million Palestinians, from the face of the Earth. They include Galit Distel-Atbaryan, a member of the Knesset, who doesn’t clearly distinguish Hamas from Palestinians and said that “Revengeful and vicious IDF is required. Anything less is immoral.” Writing in The Irish Times, Frank McDonald called her statements “genocidal intent, clearly expressed.”
Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the map. That’s a given. However, those who don’t distinguish Hamas from Palestinians, or believe that to wipe out Hamas it is necessary to kill large numbers of innocent Palestinians, are wrong and they shouldn’t be supported by the United States.
Why incite and reinforce the anti-Semitism and Islamophobia already prevalent in the United States and elsewhere? That’s what will happen as the death toll rises in Gaza. With the imbalance in the death toll, Israel has more to lose, and it won’t just be young teenagers who will be protesting in large numbers.
Michael J.Gorman
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