Letter to the Government Gazette: Elements in the upcoming elections

Some of the elements in the upcoming election can be separated, so that some of the confusion can be cleared up. The easiest is fentanyl, gangs, and immigration, because fentanyl, gangs, and crimes of all kinds are against the law, while immigration is a different issue — one that requires a change in the laws by an act of Congress. In short, the criminal items are by definition different from immigration.

Another possible confusion is whether or not the war in Gaza is genocide. On October 7, 2023, Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu’s Defense Minister, stated: “I have ordered a complete siege of the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” which is a pretty clear plan for the total annihilation (= genocide) of the population, and that the enemy was “a human animal.”

But the US administration (both Democrats and Republicans) supported Israel despite US complicity in the murder of thousands of Palestinian women and children. Of course, Israel should defend itself against Hamas’s criminal attacks, but killing many thousands of civilians seems a bit extreme — and yet the US continues to send ammunition and money to Israel. This conundrum cannot be solved by our elections, but hopefully the International Court of Justice will see justice done.

Richard Dunn, Williamsburg