Israel-Hamas war exposes ugliness here
The brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas may be thousands of miles away from our shores, but it has unleashed considerable ugliness here at home.
The most prominent and egregious problem has been the confusion among supporters of the Palestinians who in fact reveal deep-seated antiSemitism and apparent sympathy for Hamas rather than their victims.
Across the country, radical left-wing groups have revealed themselves as supporters of Hamas' violent attacks on innocent people, including children. These include chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Black Lives Matter movement, which issued statements characterizing Hamas' murder of innocent people as somehow righteous.
Our universities have also been home to such filth.
At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Professor Mika Tosca recently came to national attention for writing, “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement . ... May they all rot in hell.”
Closer to home, Professor Jemma Decristo at the University of California, Davis, who threateningly posted: “one group of ppl we have easy access to in the US is all these zionist journalists who spread propaganda & misinformation they have houses w addresses, kids in school they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.”
Decristo was a signatory of a letter, signed by hundreds of University of California students, alumni and professors blaming Israel for the actions of Hamas terrorists.
“At this time, we refuse any calls for `peace' which are just calls for the quiet submission of Palestinians to an early grave,” the bizarre letter reads.
To be sure, ugliness doesn't just come from those who side with Hamas.
In Illinois, a 6-year-old Muslim boy was senselessly stabbed to death by the landlord of the home in which he lived.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff's statement said, according to the Associated Press.
It is sadly reminiscent of the sort of violence and Islamophobia seen in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Elsewhere, a professor at Washington University was reportedly fired after celebrating the Israeli bombing of Gaza, saying it was, “a much needed cleansing, yes, but not an ethnic one. Israel is not targeting humans.”
And on the policy front, we have seen the once-reputable Heritage Foundation indulge pure xenophobia by attacking any notion of resettling Palestinian refugees here in the United States by saying, “The Palestinian population has no interest in assimilating into American culture and governance or in expressing loyalty to America or our allies.”
To be clear, though, resettlement of Palestinians is not particularly common, typically less than 100 people per year over the last decade.
But Heritage's assertion is a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian-Americans who live here among us. Reducing whole groups of people to mere caricatures is wrong. For decades, America has successfully resettled people from all over the world and it should continue doing so.
It is understandable that there is great disagreement over the broader conflict. But people need to keep their heads in check.
All sensible people should oppose terrorism and terrorist actions. All sensible people should hope that as few innocent lives are lost are possible. And all sensible people should be able to recognize that not everything is black and white.
Student radicalism encouraged in our nation's universities
Re “Ivory Tower radicals are outing selves” (Oct. 19):
Unfortunately, all these university professors who encourage and support student radicalism were never forced to hold a real job. They were hired to train immature minds to think and evaluate ideas, which obviously these professors are unable to accomplish. To compensate their egos for failing at this task, they appoint themselves to be instigators of radical change. When students listen to them and interrupt society with demonstrations and chaos, these academics see some outcomes to their misguided efforts — which assuages their feelings of low self-esteem. Unlike people who hold real jobs, they do not work under supervision that will fire them for not producing any useful products.
— Oliver Watson, Orange
Hillary Clinton
I was bemused by your editorial Oct. 17 regarding Hillary's inability to “get over” her loss in 2016. If you will recall, even though she won the popular vote, she conceded to Donald Trump in the spirit of a peaceful transfer of power. Fast forward four years. The loser of the popular vote and the Electoral College refused to concede (he still hasn't) and has spent the last three years stirring up the portion of the 75 million who voted for him who refuse to face reality. Clinton may be tone-deaf in her delivery but she is correct that there are a portion of Trump voters that exhibit the traits of cult members and are willing to threaten violence in order to subvert the electoral process.
— Kent Grigsby, Riverside
World peace
The only way to have world peace is to ban religion. It is behind most of the conflicts and problems in the world. Whether it is corporations taking over a country's natural resources and disrespecting their holy lands (i.e Bin Laden's reason for 9/11) or conflicts such as the current Israeli-Palestinian war, they are based on religion. It is behind the lack of cooperation in our own government. Republicans support the radical religious right whose agenda is to enforce their beliefs on everyone else. There is no room for compromise. So unless religion is banned, there will never be peace. Did any of you ever stop to consider that you can't all be right?
— Shirley Conley, Gardena
Tax or not a tax
Newspapers must communicate and inform the populace. This is a primary function. One topic that was surfaced by columnist Susan Shelley Oct. 19 was a declarative statement to the effect that funds generated by compliance by petroleum refineries for securing operating permits (related to greenhouse gasses) have been determined by “the courts” to not be a tax and therefore are allowed to be channeled to the General Fund, thence on to be used by the absurd high speed rail proposed program. This is a topic worth spending newspaper resources on to call attention and assist in the killing of the very poorly considered government activity here in California. Cut off the funding, from all sources, and see who remains committed to the project. It will soon be gone.
Chino Valley USD
Re “School board discusses policy outlining steps to ban some books” (Oct. 19):
I've always thought conservatives supported individual freedom and non-intrusive government. I guess I was wrong. We now see governments banning books, refusing to teach kids the truth about the mistreatment of people of color throughout our history and denying individuals their reproduction rights, among other things. And socalled “conservatives” think this is OK. Sad.
Gaza
Your headline Oct. 19 is only partially right.
Egypt can deliver aid at the border of Gaza, but once it crosses the border it is entirely in the hands of Hamas, the terrorists. Hamas controls the unloading of the trucks and the distribution of the aid. Hamas controls Gaza. Hamas is not “the other team,” as described by Joe Biden. They are a terrorist organization. Period.
— Marsha Roseman,
Van Nuys