Don’t forget Hamas

If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you’re a newspaper or radio reporter, or poster on social media, responsibility for the crisis in Gaza looks like it rests squarely on Israel’s shoulders. Hamas gets a free pass. It shouldn’t.

Currently the spotlight in Gaza is on hunger and the paucity of aid trucks entering through Israeli check points. Missing from this focus is Israel’s essential need to control inflow into the strip. Since Hamas started the Oct. 7 war it continued stealing from food- and material-laden aid convoys. Previously, while Israel and Egypt monitored inflow to the area, whether by land, sea or air, Hamas stole from entering supplies and smuggled in hidden weapons. How else did it acquire the means to build a virtual underground city of tunnels and amass prodigious stockpiles of food, fuel and tools of war? Those caches were diverted from the population Hamas governs.

Missing from this scenario are articles and postings reminding the public that Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization on a mission to destroy Israel, initiated the war and promised to continue repeating Oct. 7-like attacks. And what about its battle plan to embed fighters in, under and around civilians in anticipation of an expected counterattack and inevitable civilian casualties? Hamas welcomed the ensuing loss of life, knowing it would quickly turn world opinion against Israel and deflect rage from its brutal aggression and sadism. At a time when events require context and nuanced reporting, the journalism presented to us became myopic.

There’s more to the story of Gaza’s plight than hammering away at Israel’s culpability.

David Greenfield

Grantham

When life begins

“Life begins at conception” is the conservative argument that women should not be in control of their bodies and abortion should be banned. Let’s clearly refute this.

If we’re looking for an arbitrary point for fixing the start of life, selecting the moment of conception makes as much sense as any other point in the development process. It does not, however, support the idea that abortion should be banned. An acorn is not an oak tree, a crocus sprout is not a flower, and a fertilized egg is not a baby. Starting to become something is not the same as its realization, it is merely a potential for something that may or may not happen.

Even the Bible provides no support for banning abortion. Abortion was commonly practiced during the times that the Bible was written, yet neither the Old or New Testaments contain the Hebrew or Greek equivalents of the words for abortion. What does the bible say? Genesis 2:7 states, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” In other words, becoming a person begins with our first breath. The Bible also says to treat pregnant women well, that God knows people before they’re born and, of course, that life is important. A reasonable interpretation of the Bible is that God wants women’s health protected and has no objection if a woman has good reason to choose abortion.

This is an important election year and it seems there are many people who support otherwise odious politics because they’ve been told abortion is evil. Abortion has had a place in health care choices throughout history; it should not be taken away now. Opposition to abortion is not a good reason for voting conservative. Protecting women’s freedom is a reason to vote against conservatives.

David Allen

White River Junction

Confused about Democrats

I'm not a Democrat so it's just hard to understand. What are the party priorities these days? To me, it looks like open borders, lawlessness, feticide, transgenderism, drag queens, climate religion, racial division, war against Gaza and war against Russia. It looks like confusion and lunacy. Chaos at home and chaos abroad. Not much of a platform really. America is falling apart. We need solutions, not confusion.

Neil Meliment

Hartland