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The U.S. government — and our elected officials — should be speaking out against the horrors taking place in Gaza and Israel right now, sending humanitarian aid and demanding a permanent ceasefire. Instead, it is sending more weapons to Israel, used to kill more Palestinians! We’re adding to the horror.
The government of Israel could have charged, taken into custody and tried in a court of law members of Hamas who carried out the killing of about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.
Instead, the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians (the official figure, likely an undercount), almost none of whom had anything to do with the crimes on Oct. 7. Many more Palestinians are being denied food and health care and are at risk of dying, or already dead. I believe both the Israeli government and Hamas should be charged with war crimes.
This is not the first time the U.S. government has looked away while terrible tragedies were taking place, or made things worse. We did nothing at first during World War II while the Nazis exterminated millions in concentration camps, most of them Jewish. We said nothing when Palestinians had their land taken away by Jewish people wanting to create a safe homeland. And most European-Americans actively contributed to the genocide of Native Americans here for about 400 years.
Many of Maine’s elected officials are not speaking out for the lives of others, or they are even justifying the killing. It’s time we in Maine spoke out, urged our government to get on the right side of history and demanded an end to this horrible tragedy.
Larry Dansinger
Bangor
