Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Letter | If Israel Controls Gaza, Is My Own Government Bombing Me?

To the Editor,

I have to laugh at Peter Beinart’s parenthetical remark, “Yes, Israel still rules Gaza,” maliciously inserted into his latest, “Joe Biden’s Moral Cowardice On Israel,” and wish to consider its implications.

Just a few months ago, I made sure I could quickly get into my miklat (bomb shelter) as Gaza’s rulers decided to have more than 600 rockets and mortars launched at us in Israel. If “Israel still rules Gaza,” that means that my own government decided to launch all those rockets, putting Benjamin Netanyahu in the same category as Bashir Assad.

Beinart closes by advising Joe Biden “the first step is to speak about Israel honestly, without dishonest omissions and misleading clichés.” He should take his own advice.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein, Netanya

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.