Letter: Beck unfairly blames Hamas

Published: 10-18-2024 8:17 AM

temple nh

Robert Beck's Viewpoints piece (“A Year of Bloodshed in the Middle East,” Oct. 10) was disturbing. He blames Hamas for all the bloodshed. His only criticism of Netanyahu was that his response was, possibly, "punitively disproportionate."

Beck dismisses everything leading up to Hamas' attack, saying it's "complicated and long-standing." He ignores the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories has been oppressive and illegal. Beck also ignores the immense suffering Israel has imposed on Gaza.

Writing that Hamas knew "full well what the Israeli response would bring," Beck shifts the blame onto Hamas. Others see it differently.

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a Jewish-American orthopedic hand surgeon, described two small children with bullet holes in their heads and "dead center" to their chests. “No kid gets shot twice by a sniper by mistake,” Perlmutter said.

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a former U.S. Army combat trauma surgeon who served in Sarajevo, New York City on 9/11 and Iraq, said none were comparable to Gaza, where 90% of the deaths he saw were women and children.

A senior UN official reported that Gaza has the largest number of amputee children in modern history.

Are these atrocities Hamas' fault? Beck suggests that Israel's vaunted army was somehow forced into indiscriminately killing over 40,000 people in Gaza. He's implying Palestinians are responsible for their own genocide.

This is a horrifying example of how Palestinians have been dehumanized by Israeli and American propaganda. Anything Israel does is excusable, while anything Palestinians do is inexcusable. Israel can ruthlessly bomb Gazans into the Stone Age and never lose American support. In America, Israeli lives matter — Palestinian lives do not. While Palestinians are dying, our moral standing in the world is being destroyed.

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