Our president focuses on supporting Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks but fails to acknowledge the historical oppression and occupation of the Palestinians. This bias has resulted in a foreign policy complicit in genocide. It was not always the case.
Albert Einstein, with others, wrote the New York Times in 1948 about a new Israeli party and its leader, Menachem Begin. The letter cautioned: “Begin’s party … openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.”
Einstein was prophetic. Begin became Israeli Prime Minister and, during the1982 Lebanon War, bombed Beirut so severely that President Ronald Reagan called it a “holocaust.” Reagan phoned Begin, angrily telling him to stop. Within 20 minutes, Begin stopped the attacks.
Daily deaths by bombings in Gaza may soon be passed by children and elderly dying from dehydration and malnutrition. Deaths in Rafah, with more than 600,000 children, says UNICEF, will be catastrophic if Israel follows through with its stated ground attack.
What prevents Joe Biden from emulating Reagan and calling Netanyahu, demanding an immediate cease-fire with open crossings for humanitarian aid?
— Ralph Jordan
Anchorage
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