Gaza deaths are fault of Hamas
Manhattan: Your May 15 editorial “Hamas’ catastrophe” is entirely correct to observe that Hamas tells its Gazan subjects that, if they get killed trying to murder Israelis, “they will be rewarded with a place in paradise.” Take, for example, the words of a Hamas TV host during the 2014 Gaza war regarding slain Gazans: “They have gained [paradise]. Don’t be disturbed by these images. He who is Martyred doesn’t feel. His soul has ascended to Allah.”
This is certainly the message Hamas gives directly to Israel. Thus, Ashraf al-Qidra, Hamas Ministry of Health spokesman, stated to the Israelis this week, “Today you are fighting divine soldiers who love death for Allah like you love life and who compete among themselves for martyrdom like you flee from death.”
But then, after all, former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has said: “We love death like our enemies love life! We love martyrdom.”
It is clear where responsibility for Gazan deaths lies. Morton A. Klein, national president, Zionist Organization of America
Hamas = death
Manhattan: Hamas Gazans who crash the Israeli border don’t expect to win a battle over Israel. They put Arab Muslim Gazan civilians in the front along with Gazan children and wait for the next day’s papers to see what they’ve netted by forcing Israeli soldiers to fend off their attack. Voila! Success! The terrorists are the ventriloquists and The News is the dummy. Barbara Strudler
On target
Fairfield, Conn.: “Daddy’s little ghoul” (May 15): The reason I keep buying your paper.
Stephen Johnson
Out of bounds
Palm Coast, Fla.: Re your disgusting May 15 front page: I couldn’t help thinking how that never would have happened had Mort Zuckerman not sold the paper. The use of “slaughtered” was not only incorrect, it was vile, libelous, biased and hateful. Yup, the evil Israelis led the poor, peaceful Palestinians to a slaughter. You betcha. Not only will I never purchase your birdcage liner from this point forward, I will never give you so much as one click on your website. Jody Davis
Body cams I
Manhattan: Your editorial “Body cam blackout” (May 15) got it wrong. Neither the appellate judge’s ruling nor the existing law governing the release of bodycam footage would “bury the videos forever.” Instead, they will force the NYPD and City Hall to follow a clear process before releasing the videos, one that protects the rights of everybody involved. The current law allows a judge to release videos after hearing from and considering the rights of all interested parties, including both police officers’ safety and the public’s undeniable right to privacy in many situations. Police video sometimes captures New Yorkers’ most embarrassing or painful moments — should they or their family be forced to relive those moments over and over? The federal court ruling mandating the NYPD’s body-worn camera pilot program said nothing whatsoever about the public release of videos. But the NYPD and City Hall, in their rush to roll out the cameras ahead of the federal monitor’s study, have treated the program as a political and public relations tool, ignoring the law and arbitrarily releasing videos to suit their own ends. Nobody should feel comfortable with that approach, especially when a clear and fair process already exists in law.
Patrick J. Lynch, president, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assoc.
Body cams II
Camp Hill, Ala.: The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association demands NYPD body-cam footage be suppressed, forever. They inexplicably equate body-cam footage with an officer’s personnel file. Really? The PBA appealed Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler’s ruling that he wouldn’t block video footage release. However, Appellate Justice Rosalyn Richter blocked any video footage release, while the court deliberates on the PBA demand. The PBA charge before the court is irrelevant, incompetent and immaterial. It’s antithetical to protecting and serving the community. It appears the PBA wants to suppress evidence of officers drinking on duty, using excessive force, committing crimes, etc., suppressed, forever. Because those infractions impact an officer’s employment. Legislators, don’t allow 50-a to harbor unlawful law enforcement officers. Marc D. Greenwood
Church and state apart
Silver Spring, Md.: In her May 16 speech at the Smith Foundation Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that state constitutional bans on tax aid for religious private schools should be eliminated. In saying that, DeVos was thumbing her nose at Article XI, Section 3 of the New York Constitution, at the New York voters who upheld that section by 72% to 28% in 1967, at the millions of voters in 28 state referenda who defeated all proposals to divert public funds to private schools by 2 to 1, at the voters in her own state of Michigan who rejected her view three times, at John F. Kennedy’s support for such bans, at the religious liberty legacy of Madison and Jefferson and at the underfunded public schools that serve 90% of our kids. The sooner DeVos is removed from Washington, the better our country will be.
Edd Doerr
Stormy brewing
Clearwater, Fla.: Composer Sir Edward Elgar wrote the “Enigma Variations,” an orchestral work comprised of 14 variations on an original theme. As puzzling news stories regarding the $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels continue to make headlines, my question is this: How many variations on this original theme will there be?
JoAnn Lee Frank
The Slope has slipped
Brooklyn: As a Park Slope resident for more than 50 years, I am astounded by the changes that have been taking place. With the baby strollers, dogs-on-a-leash, and people walking with their phones in hand, there is literally nowhere to walk on the sidewalks. Now we have the added inconvenience and nuisance of these motorized bicycles moving up and down the side streets and avenues (especially Seventh Ave. and Fifth Ave.), Park Slope’s busiest thoroughfares. There are restaurants on every block, and most of these establishments employ young men making deliveries with these motorized bikes. It seems that people pedaling bikes has virtually disappeared. It is imperative for anyone crossing the street to look both ways for these fast-moving bikes and jump back on the sidewalk only to run into one of the hundreds of millennials walking with their phones, strollers, coffee cups in hand, etc., oblivious to anyone around them. I am disheartened to feel that as long as people continue to order in, I will constantly hear, “Yo, heads-up,” as these motorized missiles go whizzing by.
Hank Lam
Life and death vote
Bronxville, N.Y.: I see that there’s going to be a vote to legalize abortion in Ireland. Has the world gone mad? The Irish are great people; they add something to the world that can’t be replaced by any other culture. We need more of them, not fewer.
Barbara Warren
Not funny
St. Petersburg, Fla.: If your intent on publishing “Between the Lines” is to see how many complaints you can get then you have succeeded by plenty. This comic is and has been stupid, infantile, childish, and now with May 16th’s edition, disgusting! How many more readers have to beg you to change to something that can actually give us a laugh? Try “Herman,” which is one of the classics. Enough is enough with this garbage. Bill Barrett
Right is wrong Guilty or not The very first
GETTY Trenton, N.J.: To Voicer David Hubbard: The reason no one comments or explains what Prince Harry is doing with his right hand in his suit jcket is because no one cares about that. Why do you care about something as ridiculous as that anyway? Ade McCullum Bayport, L.I.: Why the flood of gossip about Trump and loose ladies when the real issue is why Putin has such a hold on him? If a President acts due to pressure from a dictator, that is treason. Obviously that’s what Robert Mueller is investigating that makes Trump so desperate and the House Republicans so craven and whiney. Trying to block Mueller is being soft on treason. Once the dirt is out, the Republicans will cry, “We didn’t know!”
Paul Rawlings Brooklyn: Rachel Wharton’s May 13 column “Eating along the R” train mentions the “Century 21 department store outpost” on 86th St in Bay Ridge. That is the original store, not an outpost.
Patty Hughes