To the Editor:
Re “How Joe Biden Misplaced His Method in Gaza,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, April 21):
The masterful, balanced and well-reasoned column by Mr. Kristof, written not in anger however in deep sorrow, ought to function a warning to President Biden.
In standing by Israel’s atrocious conduct of the conflict and letting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poke a finger in America’s eye, Mr. Biden not solely cedes his ethical standing but additionally dangers destroying the unity of the Democratic Social gathering; the opportunity of a turbulent conference; and the lack of Michigan and the election to Donald Trump.
One solely hopes that he adopts a course that reduces the possibility of any of those outcomes.
Masood Haider
Princeton Junction, N.J.
To the Editor:
The conflict began by Hamas is a take a look at of whether or not a civilized world will settle for Hamas’s barbaric techniques — together with its atrocities on Oct. 7 and hiding its terrorists, arms and Israeli captives amongst and beneath a dense civilian inhabitants.
President Biden has not misplaced his means in any respect. The reality is the alternative: He has proven the braveness to assist Israel combat evil and show that barbarism doesn’t win and shouldn’t be tried by others.
Tod Cooperman
Scarsdale, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Nicholas Kristof’s highly effective cri de coeur rightly portrays President Biden as a tragic determine, an excellent and respectable man whose limitations have led to unspeakable horrors in Gaza.
However it isn’t too late to reverse course. In a call due Might 8, the Biden administration can and may conclude that Israel’s assurances that weapons it receives from the U.S. might be utilized in accordance with worldwide humanitarian regulation and that it’s going to facilitate the passage of humanitarian help are usually not credible. On that foundation Mr. Biden should cease the switch of offensive weapons to Israel.
The proof that Israel’s assurances are usually not credible is now overwhelming. Israel continues its extreme restrictions on help and secure passage inside Gaza to achieve ravenous individuals. Ambulance and medical convoy employees have been killed on supposedly secure routes.
Israel’s breaches of worldwide regulation are actually amply documented, particularly its flouting duties of proportionality and taking all possible precautions to attenuate civilian hurt. It has even proven indifference to the duty to forestall sufferers inside hospitals from dying throughout hospital sieges.
Lives can nonetheless be saved if the president actually applies his personal requirements. He should.
Leonard Rubenstein
Alexandria, Va.
The author is a professor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being and the writer of “Perilous Drugs: The Battle to Defend Well being Care From the Violence of Struggle.”
To the Editor:
In his greater than 4,000 phrases concerning the struggling in Gaza, Nicholas Kristof doesn’t as soon as point out the phrase “hostage.” The trauma of Israelis didn’t finish on Oct. 7. It’s a fixed wound whereas hostages stay captive in Hamas tunnels.
Daniel Wolf
Teaneck, N.J.
Trump, ‘Unprecedented’
To the Editor:
Let’s remind ourselves that each reference to “unprecedented” within the context of Donald Trump — his candidacy, his conduct and the legal expenses they produced — quantities to an unprecedented new low: a brand new backside we’ve hit, a decreasing of requirements we by no means thought this nation would sink to.
Steven Schild
Winona, Minn.
The author is a retired journalism professor.
When Display Time Overwhelms Class Time
To the Editor:
Re “Get Tech Out of the Classroom Earlier than It’s Too Late,” by Jessica Grose (Opinion, nytimes.com, April 10):
Thanks for Ms. Grose’s considerate piece, and kudos to the San Luis Obispo mother and father for taking motion to restrict expertise of their California faculty district.
I grew up when lecture rooms have been screen-free (not counting occasional motion pictures projected on a pull-down display screen). I worry that as we speak’s youngsters are lacking the upper improvement of vital considering, creativity and social expertise that comes from hands-on studying, prolonged studying, deep focus, stay dialogue and unstructured non-screen play time.
Youngsters simply get “hooked” on the fast spikes of leisure or consideration they get from texts and social media, however these don’t foster the flexibility to focus deeply within the methods they should develop as competent, empathetic, engaged and fulfilled human beings.
A college day crammed with screens isn’t any substitute for the thrill and psychological improvement a toddler will get when inspired to learn to their coronary heart’s content material on a subject of curiosity. Or the empathy they develop from studying a well-written novel that will get them eager about different individuals’s lives and circumstances. Or the problem-solving expertise and confidence they develop from bodily, hands-on actions comparable to woodworking, lab experiments or gardening. Or the social expertise they be taught from interacting — human to human — with different youngsters and adults.
I hope mother and father in every single place will push for adjustments to attenuate display screen time at school. Certainly, I feel all mother and father ought to have the chance to decide on a public faculty atmosphere for his or her youngsters that minimizes display screen time, whether or not that’s a magnet faculty of their district or designated lecture rooms of their colleges.
In the event you don’t have youngsters at school and assume this doesn’t matter to you, keep in mind that as we speak’s youngsters are our future well being care practitioners, pilots, bridge designers, civic leaders and so forth.
Beth Karpf
Boulder, Colo.
How Sorrow Modifications Us
To the Editor:
Re “We Don’t Need to Drown in Local weather Grief,” by Liz Jensen (Opinion visitor essay, April 12):
Ms. Jensen’s essay expresses such an vital reality about grief — whether or not the heart-wrenching grief of bereaved mother and father or the horrifying concern for the well being of our planet.
When our son died abruptly — much like Ms. Jensen’s loss — “devastated” grew to become the final word understatement. As I discovered to place one foot in entrance of the opposite, I knew deep inside that there can be no such factor as closure. How may I shut the interval by which I grieved my firstborn youngster? Love doesn’t simply cease, and loss doesn’t both.
A clever pal advised me that I may ask my questions so long as I wanted to do this, and I may make his life and loss of life a part of me. As Ms. Jensen so eloquently says, whereas closure just isn’t attainable, remodeling sorrow into one thing significant is.
Let it stretch your dedication to stay in honor of the one you love … no matter that appears like. Let it create a depth of compassion you didn’t know was attainable. Let it make you stronger, extra grateful for all that you’ve and have had, and let it make you smooth and tenderly out there to others who battle.
Ms. Jensen wove her two sorrows collectively and let that information her. Don’t let loss make you blind to the wonder and marvel that’s endlessly round us.
As W.S. Merlin wrote within the poem “Separation”:
Your absence goes via me
Like thread via a needle.
Every little thing I do is stitched with its coloration.
Jane Prepare dinner
Austin, Texas
Comply with California’s Lead on Property Taxes
To the Editor:
Re “It’s Time to Finish the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes,” by Andrew W. Kahrl (Opinion visitor essay, April 12):
California’s landmark Proposition 13, handed in 1978, solved all the issues recognized by Professor Kahrl. The worth of your private home is the worth agreed on between you and the vendor, elevated by as much as 2 % a yr to account for inflation. This eliminates any subjectivity created by assessors or evaluation fashions. The tax price is fastened at 1 % of this worth.
Though native governments have been adept at including charges (not taxes, which require voter approval), this technique continues to be the gold customary for property taxes and is liable for a lot of California’s relative prosperity.
Thomas Burns
Berkeley, Calif.
