Regarding your ongoing coverage of the war in Gaza: I am reminded of the time in the 1940s when, as a high-school student in the Bronx, I heard and read radio and news reports (before there was TV) of how the citizens of London sat in subway stations and basements and survived the Nazi V5 rocket blitz of London with a spirit of defiance, patriotism and determination while whole neighborhoods were burned and devastated by the indiscriminate Nazi assault. Children were sent by their parents to the countryside or even sent abroad to assure their safety. At the same time, American and allied forces carpet-bombed German cities, including Berlin, and more than a million civilians in Nazi Germany and other parts of Europe were killed in the bombings. There was no United Nations to moralize about the disproportionality of those actions the allies felt necessary to shorten the war and preserve freedom for the Western world.
Today, we hear many of our erstwhile allies and our own American leadership castigating Israel for doing what it felt necessary to protect its population, and equally importantly to teach a lesson to Hamas.
Hamas makes no secret of its plan to destroy Israel and then lead the forces of radical Islam to eliminate any vestiges of democracy and freedom enjoyed by the world of infidels. Israel is obliged to carry the banner and message of freedom to resist and defeat the clear and present dangers presented by Hamas and its ilk. It is embarrassing that the leaders of the free world, including many in our own country, are advocating a course of action which will likely perpetuate and continue, today or tomorrow, the risk of a Hamas-like attack upon the civilian population of Israel, or whoever is its next victim. Israel’s efforts to interdict Hamas’ ability to terrorize the citizens of Israel must be seen as a proper, necessary and humane effort to use military force as a defense against Hamas’ criminal, continuing attack on Israel. Those who understand the present and remember the past should be supporting and encouraging Israel to take on the burden which, if not assumed, will certainly one day be visited on other free people.
Manhattan
