The news report of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks posted to the Jewish Voice for Peace website is basically regurgitated Hamas party line. There is no horror, no outrage at the Hamas atrocities of that day.
Instead, an anemic recital of general concern in the style of an official position drafted by a committee, followed by a standard-issue justification for Hamas's crimes, normalizing those atrocities and blaming Israel as entirely responsible for the Hamas attack.
"Right now, Palestinians, Israelis, and all of us with family on the ground are terrified for loved ones. We grieve the lives of those already lost and remain committed to a future where every life is precious, and all people live in freedom and safety."
The Jewish Voice for Peace report disputed the credibility of claims by Israel (which the United States and other democracies confirm as facts) while repeating as gospel unverified Hamas accounts. A double-standard?
In his letter, Thomas Kim Hill invoked South Africa's peaceful transfer of power as assurance that Israeli Jews need not fear a Palestinian takeover.
Sorry, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is no Nelson Mandela, any more than Benjamin Netanyahu is the incarnation of F. W. de Klerk. An infeasible fantasy may look good in an opinion piece, but any intelligent person would be insane to stake their life on a kinder, gentler Hamas.
Finally, Hill claims that "No Truth, No Justice, No Peace […] is taken from the Jewish Torah." I wanted to see the context, particularly because that chant at demonstrations sounds like a threat of violence if we do not get our demands. So it was important to see what the Torah actually says. Unfortunately, Hill invoked scripture without giving the reference to the book, chapter, and verse, which would have taken, at most, 17 characters.
Regardless of real-world human shortcomings, Jewish law, teachings, and rabbinical commentary recognize that even when deadly force becomes necessary, it is terrible to take a life. It is nothing to celebrate - an indecent violation.
I very much doubt that Hill actually studied the Torah. More likely he was reciting a debating point, which he had come by secondhand.
Steven K-Brooks
Brattleboro
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.