The crisis in Gaza threatens to doom Democrats
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Dartmouth, Mass.: Accurate or not, when the word genocide is invoked, most people think of the Nazi extermination of Jews. The scores of tribal, civil and territorial expansive wars are rarely designated in the same category. Vladimir Putin’s horrendous attacks on Ukrainian civilians in schools, hospitals and apartment buildings, with mind-numbing pictures of casualties and decimated infrastructure, doesn’t qualify in the public mind as genocidal. As barbaric as it is, civilians aren’t being sent to crematoriums in the millions, thousands shot and shoveled into mass graves, having their properties confiscated and being subjected to humiliating atrocities.
To define Israel’s disproportionate, barbaric, unjustified and indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza as a genocide detracts from the enormity of what Nazi Germany did to 6 million Jews and, in too many cases, has given cover to many antisemites who conflate Zionism with Nazism. Unfortunately, labeling Israel’s response as genocidal and attributing the same motivation to President Biden is dividing Democrats like no other issue, and many would-be allies and supporters are looking elsewhere for a nominee or threatening to stay home on Election Day. The irony is that Donald Trump undoubtedly enabled Benjamin Netanyahu’s sense of invulnerability by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his presidency. Trump’s reelection will not provide a resolution to this perpetual conflict and may possibly exacerbate the situation, as Trump allies himself with right-wing dictators and nationalists with territorial ambitions.
Labeling Israel’s leaders as war criminals, insisting on an immediate ceasefire, conditioning American aid to Israel upon recognizing the democratic rights of Palestinians, and eliminating the genocide label will possibly repair the rift in the Democratic Party. Betty Ussach
Different category
Edison, N.J.: Please do not call this horrible war a holocaust. During the Holocaust, there was not one but many instances of pogroms and mass murders like what occurred on Oct. 7. The Holocaust was much bigger, more systematized, and cumulatively far more horrible than the massacre perpetrated by Hamas. However, some of the effects of this war are the same as the Holocaust. Many will seek survivors, not knowing if they are dead or alive. Numerous Israeli families lost children to these barbarians and in some cases will have to remarry, just like in the Holocaust. The horrors of Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps will soon be lost to living memory. But the recent rise in antisemitism and the current war in Israel underline the need to never forget. Bernhard Rosenberg
Non-starter
Middle Village: There is a lot of biased reporting on the war in the Middle East. The headline “U.S. vetoes UN call for ceasefire in Gaza” is misleading. The U.S. would love to see the fighting stop. However, the proposal drafted by the surrounding Arab countries did not have conditions for the hostages to be released. More than 100 men, women and children are still being kept prisoners by Hamas, and this is our only bargaining chip. Hamas could end all of this by simply releasing the hostages and promising to stop trying to eliminate Israel and its Jewish population. It is that simple.
In the meantime, all of the surrounding Arab countries are voicing concern for the horrible conditions the Palestinian are experiencing, yet they could help by simply allowing them to go there to live temporarily. Why aren’t they? Lee Rottenberg
Getting out
Brooklyn: Norman Siegel and Michael Meyers in “We must say no to hate violence” (op-ed, Feb. 23) urge members of the NYC community to stand up to antisemitism. Clearly, their plea is falling on deaf ears. I have received phone threats and hate mail, and as a 76-year-old Jewish woman, I find this hard to understand. Worse is the total absence of concern from my neighbors and the larger community. Antisemitism in NYC is out of control, and most of the people of this city are fine with that. As a result, I will close my business of 25 years and move to Israel. I may get killed by a bomb, but at least my immediate neighbors will want me there. The economic loss and my value as a member of the NYC community are on you, N.Y. I hope your proPalestinians will be as charitable and financially worthy as I have been, but I doubt it.
Barbara Barran
Kids these days
Staten Island: I grew up with the multiplication table. Today’s kids are growing up on how to hate!
Fred A. Marcucci
Low bar
Old Bridge, N.J.: The Islanders’ 4-0 loss Thursday was a “decent effort,” as described by a writer from the “other” paper in N.Y. — it has come to that.
Jim Heimbuch
Daily hazard
Manhattan: To Voicer Joie Anderson: I also want to express my anguish that the city and NYPD have done next to nothing to curb the reckless and dangerous riding of many of those using e-bikes, mopeds and the recreational bike riders in NYC. Every minute when
I am out, I see them riding on the sidewalk, going through red lights, going against traffic and frequently speeding. The quality of life has been on a downward spiral in NYC in the last few years, in my opinion, and this annoyance and dangerous practice is not making life here any better. Douglas Leeds
Nice street for a stroll
Manhattan: Concerning your well-deserved pat on the back (“A long vision on traffic safety,” editorial, Feb. 19): NYC has a long way to go to reach “Vision Zero.” A productive way to start would be to ban all motor vehicles from 42nd St. Many cities around the planet have closed their busiest pedestrian streets to traffic — why not NYC? Do the math: Zero vehicles mean zero fatalities. Even Tucson, Ariz., has NYC beat. They closed their main street to traffic and remade it into an attractive auto-free pedestrian boulevard with a fare-free light rail line running down the street. Just imagine what we could do with our busiest street! Starting with 42nd St., a whole grid of auto-free light rail boulevards could dramatically transform the core of our great city. At age 88, the writer does not want to wait another 100 years!
George Haikalis
Crime and punishment
Manhattan: So the mayor is going with the “one bad apple” scenario where the criminal migrants are concerned. Well, guess what, Mr. Mayor: One bad apple is one too many and we should start weeding them out. If they have the gall to come here and commit a crime on our soil, then send these ungrateful thugs back to the country they came from. How dare they! They should no longer be allowed the bloated privileges they are being offered here at our taxpayers’ expense. I am 100% behind the lawmakers that are calling for deportation of those who break the law, no matter the size of the infraction. No more arrests and releases. You do the crime, and you get shipped off back home.
No ifs, ands or buts!
Patricia N. Ravel
Proper reflection
Bronx: I want to thank Bramhall for his factual world that he draws for us daily in this paper. A fact is a fact and he is dead on, instead of all the sensational headlines and full-page pictures of ex-President Trump. We all know what he looks like. Keep up the good work, sir, especially this election year. Keep showing us what is actually happening in the world. Lydia Milnar
Structural reforms
Brooklyn: I have seen too many letters to the editor about bad politics and the divisions it causes. The system is deplorable. There are a few steps that can be taken to make politics less divisive. If half of the citizens paid $10 a year toward national campaigns, that would raise $1.675 billion. Maybe that would bring more qualified and less extreme elected officials to Washington. The ones there now are an embarrassment to us worldwide and are stifling progress. Fix the broken Electoral College. Pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Whoever wins the most votes should be elected president. Reduce the extreme influence that lobbyists have to influence politicians. We have a long way to go to clean up this dirty system. Gregory Ahl
A 26-year-old non-U.S. citizen has been arrested in connection with the slaying of a nursing student found dead Thursday on the University of Georgia campus, officials announced Friday night.
Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation joined local authorities earlier on Friday at an apartment complex off South Milledge Avenue in Athens, where Jose Antonio Ibarra was taken into custody for the killing of 22-yearold Laken Hope Riley.
According to UGA campus police, Ibarra is now facing a litany of charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and kidnapping.
Police confirmed Ibarra is not a student at UGA and did not know Riley prior to the attack. While he lives in the Athens area, investigators believe him to be a citizen of Venezuela.
“This is an individual who woke up with bad intentions on that day,” UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark said at a press conference Friday night, adding that investigators determined Ibarra acted alone.
A flurry of law enforcement activity unfolded just south of where Riley was found dead on Thursday. A friend reported her missing shortly before noon, after she failed to return from a morning jog near the university’s intramural fields, Clark said Thursday night.
Officers located the missing runner around 12:38 p.m. in an area behind nearby Lake Herrick, he added. She was unconscious and had “visible injuries” at the time. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
It was later determined Riley died from blunt-force trauma.
School officials on Friday confirmed the body belonged to Riley, a student at the Augusta University College of Nursing. She’d previously studied at the University of Georgia, but enrolled last year in Augusta’s nursing program, according to a statement from UGA, which does not have a nursing program itself.