EDITOR

LETTER TO THE

To the Editor: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claims that, as a result of the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran, 'We have the beginnings of a new era of stability and peace and security in the Middle East.'

Similarly, vice president J.D. Vance stated, 'and I think the president really hit the reset button and said, look, let's actually produce long term peace for the region.... I actually think when we look back, we will say the twelve day war was an important reset moment.' Yet no mention is made of the ongoing suffering of Palestinians, who were also excluded from the Abraham Accords, the agreements negotiated during president Trump's first term that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.

Meanwhile, Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich recently asserted, “We are disassembling Gaza, and leaving it as piles of rubble...and the world isn’t stopping us.” Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Israeli parliament, went so far as to boast, “Everyone got used to the idea that you can kill 100 Gazans in one night … and nobody in the world cares.”

As Jewish American scholar Judith Butler observed: 'The Palestinians have been labeled as ungrievable. That is to say, they are not a group of people whose lives are being considered as worthy of value, of persisting, of flourishing in this world. If they are lost, it is not considered to be a true loss.'

It's important to note that the Arab league has repeatedly offered to normalize relations with Israel, in exchange for ending the occupation and allowing the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders—about 22% of historic Palestine. This offer is embodied in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

In fact, in September 2024, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, representing 57 Arab countries, declared, 'I can tell you here, very unequivocally, all of us, right now, are willing to guarantee the security of Israel in the context of Israel ending the occupation and allowing the emergence of a Palestinian state.'

Yet, as Smotrich has provocatively stated, 'My life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that equal rights for all people are the foundation for peace in the world. True stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved through military victories or diplomatic agreements that ignore the rights and aspirations of Palestinians.

Terry Hansen Milwaukee

How Healthy is the U.S. Healthcare System?

To the Editor: People from around the world come to the U.S. for treatment at places like the Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic—among the best medical institutions globally.

But for most of us, especially in rural America, that’s not reality. Last year, two of our regional hospitals closed. Now, the so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' proposes cuts to Medicaid and reduced reimbursements for hospitals treating BadgerCare patients. More rural hospitals will likely shut down, and the chances of opening new ones will shrink even further. Cutting funding won’t improve healthcare. Instead, we should address the root causes of high costs. Why do Americans spend twice as much on healthcare as people in other countries—while achieving worse outcomes for the general population?

Medicare for All could bring significant savings by:

■ Drastically reducing administrative waste and billing complexity;

■ Reining in pharmaceutical price gouging;

■ Ensuring everyone has coverage, reducing ER overuse;

■ Encouraging early detection by making primary care accessible.

Multiple studies—including from conservative think tanks—estimate potential savings of $450–700 billion per year. But powerful industry lobbies oppose it because it threatens their profits.

I urge our Representative Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany and our Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson to vote NO on the “Big Beautiful Bill” and to pursue real, sustainable solutions to fix our broken healthcare system instead.

Markus Fasel Chippewa Falls