LETTER TO THE - EDITOR

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

History will judge

To the Editor: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is harshly critical of accusations that Israel is starving Palestinians. According to Netanyahu: 'Since October 7th, Israel has sent 92,000 aid trucks into Gaza...That includes 1.8 million tons of aid....More than enough food to feed everyone in Gaza. Yet as we had let the aid come in, Hamas stole it....I tell you this: no army in the world has ever gone to such lengths to provide aid to the civilian population in the midst of intense combat.'

Multiple lines of evidence, however, refute Netanyahu's claims.

In a January 2024 press conference, Netanyahu stated, 'We provide minimal humanitarian aid…If we want to achieve our war goals, we give the minimal aid.'

And in the Spring of 2024, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided an assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, concluding that Israel was deliberately blocking deliveries of food and medical aid into Gaza.

Moreover, in June of that year, the global poverty organization Oxfam issued a press release titled, 'Famine risk increases as Israel makes Gaza aid response virtually impossible.'

Notably, Israel did not allow any humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip for 77 days, from March 2 until May 18.

This recent blockade is part of a much longer pattern: Israel’s restrictions on the movement of food into Gaza actually date back to 1991, well before Hamas came into power in 2006. Government documents reveal that, between 2007 and 2010, Israel deliberately reduced food imports into Gaza to what officials described as “minimal subsistence” levels.

Dov Weisglass, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was quoted as saying the policy was “to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.' Army officers devised mathematical formulas to calculate the specific amounts and types of food permitted for Gaza residents.

Netanyahu has boldly declared: 'To those who say that Israel stands alone, I say we're not alone. Justice stands with us. The truth stands with us. History stands with us.'

Yes, history will judge. Its verdict will be that Israel, with the complicity of the United States and other Western powers, conducted a highly effective campaign of propaganda and atrocity denial that allowed it to systematically inflict immense suffering and death upon Palestinians.

History will judge this as a complete and utter failure of humanity.

Terry Hansen Milwaukee

Gaza Genocide

To the Editor: Hitler murdered 6 million Jewish people during World War II. The world expressed shock and disbelief when the atrocities committed in the concentration camps were discovered. Jewish people were killed in mass shooting operations, through deliberate privation of food and water, through brutal treatment and the gas chambers.

Compare the plight of the Jewish people then to the plight of the people in Gaza today. There are roughly two million people crammed onto a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea that are prohibited from leaving the area. Food and medical supplies are literally within sight, but none are allowed to enter while the population experiences starvation and medical trauma exacerbated by daily bombing of schools, hospitals and areas crowded with people. No part of Gaza is exempt from aerial bombing and assaults with tanks and small arms fire.

The Israeli military claims they are seeking Hamas militants, but their indiscriminate shelling often kills dozens of innocents leaving many more wounded with no confirmation of any Hamas casualties. Genocide is the only term to adequately express what is going on in Gaza.

Why are people not shocked to see starving men, women and children when food is readily available, but not allowed in? Why are people not horrified to see people arriving at bombed out hospitals in need of medical supplies readily available, but not allowed in? Why is America condoning all of this wanton killing by supplying the bombs and standing idly by watching? At the same time we honor the troops that ended Hitler’s holocaust we watch the Netanyahu slaughter of Gazans. The president supports Netanyahu. Where is our congressman and senators? Where are our values and our sense of decency?

Bryce Luchterhand Unity

TLC for our military

To the Editor: Back in November, I hosted an event for our military personnel. Classy Sassy Boutique with Dawn Voelker, is a consultant with the folks from Lemongrass Spa who helped make this possible. The Lemongrass Spa sells several natural products. The event was called Freedom Feet. Kits were purchased by several people for our men and women in uniform serving our country on foreign soil. The Lemongrass Spa office gets the addresses of the unit where our service folks are deployed. I chose to send these kits to my niece, Major Michelle Geledernick who is deployed overseas. She shared the kits with her unit. These kits are a pampering surprise that the troops appreciate so much, especially because on any given day, they wear combat boots for upwards of 18 hours.

I had to wait a few months to send these overseas until the unit was settled in. My niece told me that they had to do a Norwegian ruck march, which is 18 miles with a 24-pound ruck on their back (a ruck is like a backpack). So, these foot soak kits were great when they got back.

With the generosity of donations, I was able to order 35 kits. With this order the folks from Lemongrass donated 37 lip butters, 8 healing balms, 6 butter creme serums, 5 body polishes and body butter. Lemongrass is so incredible!

I want to thank everyone who made this event possible to pamper our soldiers. These kits can be purchased anytime throughout the year. If you are interested, please contact me or stop in at the Classy Sassy Boutique in Colby.

Lin Mueller Colby

It’s the ecology, stupid!

To the Editor: Back in the ’90s, Bill Clinton’s advisor James Carville famously coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” With ongoing tariff wars and indiscriminate cuts to research and infrastructure spending, that phrase is likely to resurface in the upcoming midterm elections—and it could very well cost Republicans control of both the House and the Senate.

While we’re focused on our wallets, the conversation around our environment has all but disappeared. President Trump has systematically dismantled environmental protections through executive action. He withdrew from the Paris Agreement, eliminated PFAS regulations, rolled back vehicle fuel efficiency standards, weakened rules on refinery and power plant emissions, and stalled investment in carbon- neutral energy sources—the list goes on.

Understandably, we’re preoccupied with preserving our democracy, stabilizing the economy, and navigating a host of other pressing issues. But in doing so, we’ve lost sight of what may be the most critical concern of all—one that future generations will surely question us about: Why didn’t you do anything to protect the environment while you still had the chance, Grandpa? It’s the ecology, stupid.

Markus Fasel Chippewa Falls