Since the rise of Donald Trump, newspapers and other news media outlets have struggled to report the truth; the paradigm of reporting both sides is inadequate when one side spouts boldfaced lies. Importantly, the paradigm of reporting both sides is also inadequate when a state-of-the-art military commits genocide against civilians, as Israel is doing to Palestinian people in Gaza with financial assistance from our tax dollars. This genocide is being waged in part through Israel’s intentional mass starvation of children (through its blockade of food), which is a war crime. As I write this on Aug. 25, Israel has just bombed Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza , which is also a war crime as designated by the Geneva Conventions, but Israel has made striking hospitals a routine – and in so doing, has shredded any semblance of international law or respect for humanitarian agreements.
I am an American Jew, and I am asking my local newspaper to resist being manipulated by a government that is committing genocide. Instead of publishing Israel’s talking points, please publish coverage of the international organizations, such as the United Nations and Amnesty International, that have documented what’s happening on the ground. Even Israel’s own leading human rights groups have found that the country is committing genocide. Money and power are largely the reasons that headlines in the U.S. do not accurately report what Israel is doing, and as a result, many Americans are confused. There is nothing confusing about this: Israel is committing a genocide of the Palestinian people, and genocide is a crime against humanity.
Mattea Kramer
Amherst