Letter to the editor: U.S. needs to stand up to protect innocent Palestinians

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas fired over 5,000 rockets into Israel, causing 1,200 deaths and destruction to the Jewish homeland.

We are moved to tears as we continue to witness daily human suffering of tens of thousands of deaths and injuries of men, women and, yes, children in Gaza. No individual should live under constant fear or threat from any aggressor.

The Palestinians are not Hamas. They did not initiate the assault that started this war. Israel cannot justify their relentless daily attacks on the innocent Palestinian people while communities and lives are destroyed in the name of eliminating Hamas.

Our country, rightly so, has given Israel aid and support since the inception of the Jewish state in 1947 in the amount of over $150 billion. We do so in solidarity of shared values and support of a democracy. This war should not give Netanyahu the right to inflict war crimes on the Palestinian people in the name of extinguishing an enemy of the state.

Our country needs to address the ongoing suffering this war is causing. The United Nations is trying to do that. The U.S. needs to get on board and facilitate a permanent ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can be administered to those suffering before there is total genocide of innocent people.

Katie Forsythe

North Huntingdon