To the Editor:
Re “I Am Gaza Metropolis’s Mayor. Our Lives and Tradition Are in Rubble,” by Yahya R. Sarraj (Opinion visitor essay, nytimes.com, Dec. 24):
Mr. Sarraj, I really feel unhappy studying your piece. I’m notably mourning the lack of your eldest son and the destruction of these elements of Gaza which have impressed you all through your life. These horrible occasions are attributable to conflict.
The individuals of Gaza celebrated the start of this conflict. Did they not know what would observe? And did you additionally not know?
And did you not know that Hamas’s said objective is to destroy the state of Israel? And did you not know that if Hamas acted on this objective it will convey conflict on Gaza?
And but regardless of understanding all this, you point out none of it in your article. As a substitute you counsel that Palestinians wish to stay in peace with their neighbors. However three quarters of Palestinians favored the Hamas invasion of Israel. Is that this your concept of peace?
Did you not know that Hamas has constructed a whole bunch of miles of tunnels underneath your properties, hospitals and faculties? And but you marvel why Israel is bombing them.
In case you are considering peace, don’t you suppose a very good beginning place could be an sincere description of what has occurred between Israel and Gaza and to not fake that Gaza is an harmless sufferer of indiscriminate army aggression?
Robert Niederman
Chapel Hill, N.C.
To the Editor:
I applaud The New York Instances for publishing Yahya R. Sarraj’s neutral and earnest first-hand account of the horrific occasions unfolding in Gaza.
In line with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel has now hit the Gaza Strip with the equal of two nuclear bombs.
The demise toll has surpassed a staggering 21,000, of which greater than 8,000 are youngsters. Greater than 80 % of the inhabitants — about 1.9 million individuals — has been displaced.
In a media ambiance the place any Palestinian voice is swiftly silenced as antisemitic, I commend your journalistic integrity in bringing numerous viewpoints.
Asma Ahmad
Orange, Calif.
To the Editor:
Yahya R. Sarraj isn’t any harmless. His letter is eloquent in its exposition of how Gaza was wronged by Israel. And it’s tragic that his son has been killed.
However he and his group are accountable.
He’s a Hamas appointee. He’s a part of the group that conceived of and executed a horrific assault on Israel. He glosses over the assault. He fails to precise horror at or condemn what occurred in Israel and seeks to deflect duty for the inhumane acts and fee of grotesque conflict crimes by Hamas. As a substitute he blames Israel.
He doesn’t criticize Hamas’s actions over time since Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005. Or the tunnel metropolis constructed to accommodate weapons and conceal the Hamas militants. Or the diversion of sources to construct a company bent on destroying Israel. Or the firing of hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Mr. Sarraj’s letter is pure, unadulterated propaganda. It’s supposed to offer legitimacy to Hamas, a genocidal, evil group and nothing extra.
Why publish it?
Jeremy Levin
New York
To the Editor:
I commend you for publishing Mayor Yahya R. Sarraj’s visitor essay, although it’s possible you’ll get accused (unfairly in my opinion) of being pro-Hamas or antisemitic.
I believe it’s essential to your readers to start to get a really feel for the ache and destruction attributable to Israel’s counterattack following Hamas’s brutal assault on Oct. 7.
It’s necessary for the world to see even simply this small sliver of the fact that the individuals in Gaza are struggling. It’s important that we get truthful, goal data from each side of this tragic battle and never suppress data just because it makes any person uncomfortable.
It is a son of Holocaust survivors scripting this.
Joseph Tein
Friday Harbor, Wash.
Putin Gained’t Profit From Western Enterprise Exits for Lengthy
Whereas it’s true that the Kremlin has subverted the principles governing enterprise exits to shore up its funds and political assist within the brief time period, in doing so, it has damaged each investor regulation on the market.
With these expropriations, Russia will forgo Western investments and credit for the foreseeable future. Kremlin-style “waronomics” provides solely a really momentary and synthetic increase. Vladimir Putin’s insurance policies now will significantly weaken Russia’s progress prospects, even within the medium time period.
Companies are additionally not helpless bystanders; they’ve a selection. Relatively than anticipate expropriation whereas working the intense and rising danger of complicity in Russia’s conflict crimes, they need to face their dilemma head-on.
The Russian authorities de facto already controls the property of companies that stay in Russia. That’s the reason firms must make an moral and swift exit technique, primarily based on enhanced human rights and due-diligence processes that decrease advantages for the Russian state.
The place no credible sale choice exists, and within the face of clear and direct contributions to mass human hurt, firms ought to write down the loss and/or take the case to worldwide arbitration or search different authorized treatments.
What are they ready for?
Tymofiy Mylovanov
Nataliia Shapoval
Eleanor Nichol
Mr. Mylovanov is Ukraine’s former minister of financial growth and the president of the Kyiv College of Economics. Ms. Shapoval is chair of the Kyiv College of Economics Institute. Ms. Nichol is the chief director of the B4Ukraine Coalition.
The Supreme Courtroom’s Abortion Capsule Case
To the Editor:
Re “Supreme Courtroom Plans to Hear Problem to Abortion Capsule Entry” (information article, Dec. 14):
It’s scientifically and ethically absurd that our highest courtroom will even take into account that an “abortion capsule” was not sufficiently evaluated. Over 30 years in the past, I used to be a part of the group that first introduced this treatment to the USA from Europe, the place it had already been proven to be secure and efficient. The American Medical Affiliation agreed, with a coverage assertion I drafted. It nonetheless took the F.D.A. over 4 years to approve it — hardly a hasty course of.
Since then, huge analysis and scientific expertise have confirmed its judgment. Our courts are speculated to be above politics and to honor our constitutional separation of church and state.
Many of the anti-choice activists difficult this treatment are avowedly “Christian.” That any courtroom, not to mention the Supreme one, will even entertain their blatant disregard for medical science, girls’s reproductive wants, our Structure and powerful American majority opinion is a nationwide embarrassment.
Steve Heilig
San Francisco
Pets and Social Media
To the Editor:
Re “My Yr of Being Very On-line About Canine,” by Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer and Mark Peckmezian (Opinion, Dec. 24):
I learn this piece to Idaho, my 11-year-old, 70-pound, typically well-behaved goldendoodle. We thereafter agreed to keep up our longstanding choice to keep away from all types of social media.
I discover these platforms basically vacuous, and since he lacks opposable thumbs, Idaho has hassle dealing with small digital gadgets.
Joseph D. McInerney
Lutherville, Md.
