To the editor: Hamas executes six hostages, including an American. What are the repercussions? (“After hostage execution, can Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks resume?”, September 3)
Instead of universal condemnation of Hamas and its barbarity, the world is focusing on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not doing more to free the hostages. Memory is short and Israel has agreed to a number of ceasefire conditions that Hamas has rejected.
Blaming Israel for the hostages' deaths emboldens Hamas leaders because it shows them that their strategy is working. There is no reason for them not to kill more hostages, because the result is not anger at Hamas, but at Israel and its government.
Zach Samuels, Los Angeles
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To the editor: While the tragic murder of six Israeli hostages and the continuing agony of the remaining hostages held by Hamas and their families have rightly dominated the news cycle and drawn widespread condemnation, the other side of the hostages' story has been largely downplayed.
And that's the two million people living in the Gaza Strip and the three million living in the West Bank who are being held hostage by the Israeli occupation. In Gaza, people are being killed with American-made weapons, and during the war between Israel and Hamas, more than 40,000 people have been killed.
While the Israeli hostages, thanks to extensive media coverage, are known by their faces, names and families, the Palestinians are just numbers, and controversial ones at that.
If this situation doesn't make us question the loss of our collective humanity, what will?
Saif M. Hussain, Woodland Hills
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To the editor: There is only one solution to Netanyahu's demand for securing the Egypt-Gaza border: sending an American-controlled international force there.
When Germany and Japan were rebuilding and protecting themselves after World War II, the American presence was necessary and both countries saw that they would be treated fairly. Today they are among our strongest allies.
Following the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, the result was widespread destruction of Palestinian lands, which continues to this day. Jews deserve a safe homeland, but so do Palestinians.
Young Gazans need to be recruited to man border checkpoints, give them dignity and remove the problem of apartheid from Hamas.
Chuck Heinz, Western Hills
