The water crisis in Gaza is sad and tragic, that is true (“Water crisis in Gaza demands our attention,” Voices, Oct. 23). But why should Israel offer a solution to problems created solely by Hamas? Besides, solving Gazans’ water crisis won’t move them one inch toward appreciating Israel or even respecting its right to exist.
The facts about Hamas-led Gaza, which Mr. Elsner clearly doesn’t understand, include the following:
*Hamas has been in power for more than eight years and has done nothing to improve the lot of the average Gazan;
*Gazans send their kids to Hamas summer camps, where they are taught from the age of 4 how to wear a suicide belt, how to place mines and IEDs, and how to shoot at Jews.
*Their U.N.-funded schools teach hatred of the Jews, as in this typical Gaza math problem: If you kill one Jewish solder and two more, how many do you kill?
*The parents could easily stop their children or teach them differently in their own homes but they don’t;
*When tunnels emanating from Gaza were used successfully by Hamas to kill Israel’s soldiers, Gazans partied in the streets.
What would Mr. Elsner have written if their plan to infiltrate on Rosh Hashanah would have succeeded, using the tunnels to pop up under the dining rooms of settlements and slaughter hundreds of Jewish men, women and children?
Would he have written the same article and asked Israel to provide goodwill gestures to Gaza?
Maybe Mr. Elsner should send them a letter or print an article in their papers to ask them for gestures on their part, and they could start by eradicating from their own charter the sentence that explicitly states their intention to destroy the state of Israel – and he wants Israel to show them gestures? It’s their turn now.
ALAN SHERMAN
Potomac
Saying that “Hamas should act first” is tantamount to saying Israel should not act at all. That’s a shameful position to advocate.