January 15, 2009
Dear Mrs. Clinton,
First of all, congratulations! We look forward to your leadership in international affairs, which brings me to my point:
As you may be aware by now, according to the UN, after 20 days the Israeli assault on Gaza has killed more than a thousand Palestinians and injured more than 4000. Half of all Palestinians killed and injured are civilian, one third of all killed and injured children. Try to imagine the misery of all those families with children ridden in bullets, their homes destroyed. What do they have left to live for?
Thirteen Israelis were killed in this attack, ten of which are soldiers and a few of those by friendly fire. While the intent is there, obviously Hamas is not closely capable of causing significant damage on Israelis, but Israel must defend itself by killing over a thousand and remains excused. If Hamas is guilty of intent to kill and terrorize, Israel is actually doing the killing at a massive genocidal scale. The difference between the two sides is even more vast than an intent to murder and a first degree murder. A truly independent observer that is genuinely interested in doing the greater good would look to stop the party doing the greater harm – and by a great disproportionate measure, the party doing most of the killing, especially of innocent people and children.