|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Israel Takes New Territory in Gaza
Dear Editor:
Donald Trump just may have the right answer for the Gaza Strip, and it’s perfectly legal under international law.
As per the League of Nations’ acceptance of the San Remo Accords, following World War One, and article 80 of the United Nations’ charter, Israel includes Gaza, Judea and Samaria. As a sovereign state, only Israel can decide to dispose of any of its territory.
The Oslo Accords allowed 100,000 Palestinian Authority members into Israel until such time as a 2-stste solution could be worked out. The PA occupies about 40% of Judea and Samaria. In 2000, Arafat betrayed Oslo and launched suicide bombers against his so-called partners, murdering 1300 and wounding thousands more.
In 2005, Israel removed every Jew from Gaza to see what the PA could create. Oct. 7, 2023 was the answer.
The 2-state solution is obviously a failed concept. Israel may develop a series of cantons, where Palestinians can have limited self-governance.
Gaza, which could have become another Singapore, is a thornier issue. One thing is certain. It will never endanger Israeli lives again.
Gaza – the day after – is still an unsolved issue. However, if the US wants it, Israel could, legally, turn it over to them. It’s an idea that sounds better, the more one ponders the alternatives.
Sincerely
Len Bennett, Author of ‘Unfinished Work’
Deerfield Beach, Fl.
Trump’s Tariff Tantrum
Dear Editor:
By any rational measure, President Donald J. Trump’s newly unveiled tariff plan is not just economically reckless—it is a catastrophe unfolding in real time. For millions of Americans already stretched to the breaking point, the consequences are immediate, painful, and potentially irreversible. We are witnessing the middle class hemorrhaging cash at a rate not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. Their retirement accounts—once seen as a small comfort in uncertain times—are evaporating before their eyes. Inflation is spiraling out of control. And at the helm is a multi-billionaire so out of touch with the average American that one wonders if he has ever personally bought a dozen eggs—much less noticed their price doubling.
This is not policy. This is sabotage masquerading as nationalism.
Trump’s tariff plan is economic self-mutilation. With one stroke of the executive pen, he has set off a chain reaction that is punishing American consumers, alienating global allies, and sending shockwaves through financial markets. Stocks are nosediving. The global supply chain—already rattled from COVID, war, and climate shocks—is now being bludgeoned further by this belligerent and mindless economic isolationism. This is the equivalent of pouring sand into the engine of the global economy while chanting “America First” like a bizarre mantra from a bygone era of protectionist paranoia.
Tariffs, by their very design, are taxes on imports. And who pays them? Not China. Not Mexico. Not Germany. American businesses do. American consumers do. Tariffs are a regressive tax that hits hardest at those who can least afford it: the working and middle class. Every single item—from groceries to home appliances, from cars to clothing—becomes more expensive. Retailers pass the cost on. Manufacturers pass the cost on. The pain trickles downward, never up. Trump knows this. Or worse—he doesn’t, which is even more terrifying.
And while Americans are struggling to put gas in their cars and food on their tables, Wall Street is reacting with justified panic. Markets hate instability, and Trump’s trade war redux is the ultimate uncertainty generator. Retirement portfolios are vanishing. IRAs and 401(k)s—years of hard-earned savings—are being gutted. For those nearing retirement, this is more than an inconvenience. It is a life-altering blow. The American dream is being repossessed in real time, and the auctioneer is wearing a red tie and tweeting in all caps.
Sincerely
Nehemiah Wasserstein
Passaic, NJ
When Hate Hides Behind Free Speech
Dear Editor:
The American university was once a place of intellectual pursuit, of respectful dialogue, of sanctuary from ignorance. Today, on campuses like Columbia University, it has become something else entirely: a battleground of hate, where Jewish students are subjected to intimidation, harassment, and outright threats, while administrators look the other way and extremists masquerade as heroes of free speech.
Nowhere is this moral collapse more visible than in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Hamas student leader at Columbia who has made it his mission to denigrate Jews and to delegitimize the existence of Israel. He is not a defender of free expression—he is an instigator of hatred. His words and actions, cloaked in the language of “resistance,” are nothing more than a toxic campaign of demonization and provocation. The university’s refusal to address this seriously has left Jewish students feeling frightened, silenced, and alone.
And here lies the real scandal: no one seems to care.
This deliberate apathy—the callous indifference to Jewish pain—is the most unbearable part of it all. We are told to be quiet, to not “politicize” the issue, to “understand both sides.” But where was this understanding when mezuzahs were torn off dorm room doors, when Jewish students were stalked and doxxed, or when chants calling for the elimination of Israel—home to nearly half the world’s Jews—rang out in the heart of campus?
Let’s be clear: calling for the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state is not a political critique. It is hate speech with genocidal overtones. It should not be normalized, legitimized, or tolerated in any institution that claims to champion human rights.
In this context, I support President Trump’s policy to deport foreign students who foment or participate in violence against Jewish students. Free speech is a right—but violent incitement is not. No one has a right to remain in this country while promoting terrorism, threatening fellow students, or celebrating Hamas—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization responsible for the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
I call on university leaders to enforce their own rules, protect all students equally, and stop hiding behind false equivalences. And I call on the American public to demand better—for the sake of decency, for the sake of safety, and for the soul of higher education.
Sincerely,
Max J. Kanowitz
Floral Park
Standing with Israel and the Forces of Freedom
Dear Editor:
At a time when the world feels increasingly adrift in moral relativism and diplomatic cowardice, the bravery and moral clarity of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in their campaign against Hamas in Gaza stands out as a beacon of principled resolve. The IDF is not merely engaged in a war of necessity—it is fighting a war of survival. And in doing so, it is standing on the front line of the global battle against terrorism, barbarism, and theocratic tyranny.
The men and women of the IDF are not only protecting Israeli citizens—they are protecting civilization itself from the spread of radical Islamist terror. The horrors unleashed on October 7th, 2023, by Hamas were not just war crimes; they were crimes against humanity. The kidnapping, rape, murder, and mutilation of civilians, including babies and the elderly, made one thing resoundingly clear: Hamas is not a resistance movement. It is a death cult fueled by antisemitism and financed by Iran, hell-bent on the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown unwavering resolve and moral leadership. His pledge to secure the release of all remaining hostages—by force if necessary—and to dismantle every last terror tunnel, weapons depot, and command post in Gaza is not a political act. It is a moral imperative. No democratic nation can be expected to live alongside an Iranian-backed terror regime committed to its annihilation. The calls for a “ceasefire” before Hamas is defeated are not calls for peace—they are calls for surrender.
Netanyahu’s refusal to allow Israel’s defense to be dictated by the foreign policy whims of an international community that too often rewards aggressors and punishes victims is commendable. He has made clear: this war will end not when the world is comfortable, but when the Jewish people are safe.
Sincerely
Anat Solomon
Pittsburgh, PA
