To the Editor:
Re “Democrats, Admit You Blew It on Gaza,” by Ben Rhodes (Opinion guest essay, Dec. 7):
I was deeply disappointed by Mr. Rhodes’s essay about the Democratic Party’s handling of the Israel-Gaza issue. In it, Mr. Rhodes presents a one-sided narrative that fails to acknowledge Israel’s right — and duty — to defend itself from unrelenting terrorism and ignores the brutal context in which Israel must operate.
Israel is not waging war for conquest; it is fighting to protect its citizens from genocidal threats and mass murder. It is morally wrong to treat Israel’s struggle for survival as a strategic liability or political inconvenience. To do so is to deny the reality of Jewish self-determination in a world increasingly hostile to it.
The United States’ support of Israel is not about geopolitics or political expediency, but about standing with a democratic ally besieged by terror.
Larry Gross Los Angeles
To the Editor:
Ben Rhodes ignores an important reality: Supporting Israel’s security is in America’s national security interest. That is why most Democrats in Congress continue to do so.
Mr. Rhodes’s argument that ending support for Israel is an electoral winner for Democrats is a misreading of the American electorate. The loud anti-Israel faction in the Democratic Party does not represent most voters, and catering to the extreme left alienates those needed to win national elections. Mr. Rhodes’s minimization of violent antisemitism and his use of tropes about the supposed influence of donors and advocacy groups are also troubling.
One can disagree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while still supporting Israel’s security and defense. Abandoning an ally is neither principled nor politically wise.
Brian Romick Washington The writer is the president and chief executive of Democratic Majority for Israel.
To the Editor:
I applaud Ben Rhodes for his excellent essay on the Democrats and Gaza. All Americans, including supporters of Israel, should understand that our “Israel, right or wrong” policy harms not only Palestinians but Israel as well.
Without unquestioning support from the United States, it is doubtful that Israel could have followed its policy of encouraging settlements and allowing settler violence in the West Bank, or the longstanding blockade of the Gaza Strip. Our role in enabling the recent killing, destruction and starvation in Gaza is painfully clear.
These actions have not only led to suffering for Palestinians; they have cost the Israelis dearly as well. Israel now stands largely isolated and condemned by most of the world. The Netanyahu government’s denial of basic rights to the Palestinians threatens the rights of all Israelis.
It is time to recognize that Israel will never be safe or fully democratic while it denies basic human rights to the Palestinians. The two peoples are intertwined; either both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis will have security and justice, or neither will.
Beatrice F. Manz Arlington, Mass.
To the Editor:
Ben Rhodes offers a multipoint program for Democrats regarding Israel that includes halting military assistance; supporting the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; opposing Israel’s moves in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and investing “in a Palestinian alternative to Hamas that can ultimately govern a Palestinian state.”
I submit that Mr. Rhodes has his priorities reversed. I believe that if and when Hamas — which is dedicated by its charter to the elimination of the Jewish state — is removed from power, opposition to a Palestinian state on Israel’s borders will decline sufficiently for Israelis to consider a two-state solution. But the removal of Hamas from power must come first. The rest will follow.
Jonathan Kutner Dallas
To the Editor:
After reading Ben Rhodes’s sophisticated and historically detailed essay, I’m left mystified. The first responsibility of any state is to ensure the safety of its citizens. Israel failed on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas militants kidnapped and massacred anyone they could find and continued to do so until the Israeli military killed or captured them.
Officials from Hamas have repeatedly vowed they’ll continue their attacks. Meanwhile, in violation of the terms of the cease-fire, Hamas is refusing to disarm. This refusal indicates that Hamas has not yet accepted the right of Israel to exist.
No amount of Israeli restraint or pressure on Israel from American Democrats will persuade Hamas to live in peace with Israel. That transformation can emerge only from within the Islamic world.
Shai Cherry Elkins Park, Pa.
Trump’s Insult and Injury at the Kennedy Center
To the Editor:
Re “Trump’s Name Was Added to the Kennedy Center? He Can’t Believe It” (news article, Dec. 19):
The handpicked board of the Kennedy Center has voted to rename the center after the man who appointed them.
President Kennedy died in service to this nation. He served honorably in World War II. He swam three-and-a-half miles through shark-infested waters with the life preserver strap of his wounded PT-109 crew mate clenched between his teeth. As a member of Congress and as president, he inspired Americans to ask what they could do for their country.
The board’s vote to rob a great man of this well-deserved, singular honor and to share it with any other man is an act of presumption, vulgarity and contempt.
That the Kennedy Center board would pair a man of President Kennedy’s heroic character and stature with another man who is the epitome of vainglory and greed only adds injury to insult.
Christopher K. McNally West Mifflin, Pa.
To the Editor:
Now that the revered Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has had the name of Donald Trump added to the facade of the building, I suggest that the president look back in history to the ancient Egyptians.
New pharaohs often had the names of predecessors carved off temples and monuments across the empire.
President Trump should enjoy his ego trip while he can.
Robert S. Carroll Staten Island
After Brown Shooting, Blaming Immigrants Instead of Guns
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Administration Pauses Diversity Immigration Program After Brown Shooting” (news article, nytimes.com, Dec. 19):
The decision to suspend the student immigration visa program after the Brown University shootings demonstrates the callous manipulation of tragedy to serve the coldhearted agenda of our current president.
How many children and adults have died in mass shootings over the past too many years, with Republicans standing by and doing nothing? No ban on assault weapons, no increase in gun control laws, nothing to curb gun violence. Now, when the suspected shooter is an immigrant, we must end the immigrant visa program!
The ability to exploit a school shooting to enforce an evil and racist immigration agenda, while simultaneously doing nothing in memory of the innocent murdered children from Sandy Hook and Uvalde and Parkland, is a national shame.
Children are not being murdered in schools because of immigration. They are being murdered because Republicans will not pass the gun safety laws the majority of Americans support.
Lily Walman Blank New York
The post Weighing Politics and Morality in the Israel Debate appeared first on New York Times.
