To the editor: His article on the rise of far-right extremists and religious Zionists in Israel explains more than just these groups' former settlement goals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He also clarified the machinery at play that has meticulously fostered far-right ideas for many years.
These groups have made inroads into the military and government. They have taken advantage of his ideas in a very opportunistic way as a form of retaliation against the Palestinian people for the Hamas attack on October 7.
It is shocking and disturbing to know that parts of the Israeli leadership are encouraging efforts by far-right groups to reoccupy Gaza by making the area uninhabitable for Palestinians. I hope other world leaders understand this phenomenon and do not simply try to justify it as legitimate retaliation by Israel.
Malay Sinha, Moorpark
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To the editor: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and not Israel's religious right, will determine Israel's plan for the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas.
His policy will reflect the existential need to avoid the repeated October 7 massacres promised by Ghazi Hamad of Hamas's political bureau, who stated that there would be more massacres until Israel is annihilated.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has promised that the people of the Gaza Strip will “eat the livers of those who besiege them” and “tear out their hearts.”
Hamas' statutes are also clear: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam destroys it.” Hamas is and has always been consistent in its public statements of commitment to the eradication of Israel.
Israel's plans for Gaza will thus reflect that, like battle plans, circumstances in Gaza can change rapidly. Israel must respond to the situations in Gaza as they arise.
Julia Lutch, Davis, California.
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To the editor: As a secular Jew who made “aliyah” (immigrated to Israel), I read with interest your articles on the far right in Israel and on the US calls for elections in Israel.
When I arrived in 1980, the question was: “What is more important for Israel's security: a piece of paper or land?”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was right when he said, “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah” and that “the Israeli people are being suffocated right now by a vision of government stuck in the past.”
When I returned to the United States in 1988, most Israelis said that the Palestinians should have their own state, as long as it is demilitarized.
That's a solution that I think is fair. The difficulty is how to implement it.
Victoria Shere, Santa Monica
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To the editor: The actions of Israeli extremists blocking aid to Gaza are reprehensible. But how is their goal of occupying Gaza different from the goals of Hamas and its supporters who chant “from the river to the sea”?
I am frustrated by not recognizing that the goal of Hamas and many Palestinians is to expel Jews from Israel.
Cathy Costin, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Their separate articles on Israel's far-right religious right and former President Trump's devout followers describe arrogance taken to new heights.
On the one hand, religious people who claim to know the mind of God illustrate the statement of the character Puck in Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”: “What fools these mortals are.”
And those who claim that God orders the destruction of Gaza or the selection of a totally incompetent, immoral, dishonest, selfish and alleged criminal man to be chosen to be president illustrates Woody Allen's comment: “If there turns out to be a god …he is a failure.”
SH Kardener, Santa Monica
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To the editor: I am a lifelong Zionist and a child of the Shoah. How can Jewish people advocate for expelling others from their generational homes?
The horrible words are “ethnic cleansing” and I am heartbroken.
Paul Malykont, The Bears
