To the Editor:
Re “How Joe Biden Misplaced His Manner in Gaza,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, April 21):
The masterful, balanced and well-reasoned column by Mr. Kristof, written not in anger however in deep sorrow, ought to function a warning to President Biden.
In standing by Israel’s atrocious conduct of the battle and letting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poke a finger in America’s eye, Mr. Biden not solely cedes his ethical standing but in addition dangers destroying the unity of the Democratic Get together; the potential for a turbulent conference; and the lack of Michigan and the election to Donald Trump.
One solely hopes that he adopts a course that reduces the prospect of any of those outcomes.
Masood Haider
Princeton Junction, N.J.
To the Editor:
The battle began by Hamas is a take a look at of whether or not a civilized world will settle for Hamas’s barbaric ways — together with its atrocities on Oct. 7 and hiding its terrorists, arms and Israeli captives amongst and beneath a dense civilian inhabitants.
President Biden has not misplaced his manner in any respect. The reality is the other: He has proven the braveness to assist Israel struggle evil and show that barbarism doesn’t win and shouldn’t be tried by others.
Tod Cooperman
Scarsdale, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Nicholas Kristof’s highly effective cri de coeur rightly portrays President Biden as a tragic determine, an excellent and first rate man whose limitations have led to unspeakable horrors in Gaza.
However it isn’t too late to reverse course. In a choice due Could 8, the Biden administration can and will conclude that Israel’s assurances that weapons it receives from the U.S. can be utilized in accordance with worldwide humanitarian legislation and that it’s going to facilitate the passage of humanitarian support should not credible. On that foundation Mr. Biden should cease the switch of offensive weapons to Israel.
The proof that Israel’s assurances should not credible is now overwhelming. Israel continues its extreme restrictions on support and secure passage inside Gaza to succeed in ravenous individuals. Ambulance and medical convoy workers have been killed on supposedly secure routes.
Israel’s breaches of worldwide legislation at the moment are amply documented, particularly its flouting duties of proportionality and taking all possible precautions to reduce civilian hurt. It has even proven indifference to the duty to forestall sufferers inside hospitals from dying throughout hospital sieges.
Lives can nonetheless be saved if the president truthfully applies his personal requirements. He should.
Leonard Rubenstein
Alexandria, Va.
The author is a professor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being and the writer of “Perilous Medication: The Wrestle to Defend Well being Care From the Violence of Conflict.”
To the Editor:
In his greater than 4,000 phrases in regards to the struggling in Gaza, Nicholas Kristof doesn’t as soon as point out the phrase “hostage.” The trauma of Israelis didn’t finish on Oct. 7. It’s a fixed wound whereas hostages stay captive in Hamas tunnels.
Daniel Wolf
Teaneck, N.J.
Trump, ‘Unprecedented’
To the Editor:
Let’s remind ourselves that each reference to “unprecedented” within the context of Donald Trump — his candidacy, his conduct and the prison expenses they produced — quantities to an unprecedented new low: a brand new backside we’ve hit, a reducing of requirements we by no means thought this nation would sink to.
Steven Schild
Winona, Minn.
The author is a retired journalism professor.
When Display Time Overwhelms Class Time
To the Editor:
Re “Get Tech Out of the Classroom Earlier than It’s Too Late,” by Jessica Grose (Opinion, nytimes.com, April 10):
Thanks for Ms. Grose’s considerate piece, and kudos to the San Luis Obispo dad and mom for taking motion to restrict expertise of their California faculty district.
I grew up when lecture rooms had been screen-free (not counting occasional films projected on a pull-down display). I worry that right now’s youngsters are lacking the upper improvement of essential considering, creativity and social abilities that comes from hands-on studying, prolonged studying, deep focus, stay dialogue and unstructured non-screen play time.
Youngsters simply get “hooked” on the fast spikes of leisure or consideration they get from texts and social media, however these don’t foster the power to focus deeply within the methods they should develop as competent, empathetic, engaged and fulfilled human beings.
A college day crammed with screens is not any substitute for the joy and psychological improvement a toddler will get when inspired to learn to their coronary heart’s content material on a subject of curiosity. Or the empathy they develop from studying a well-written novel that will get them occupied with different individuals’s lives and circumstances. Or the problem-solving abilities and confidence they develop from bodily, hands-on actions corresponding to woodworking, lab experiments or gardening. Or the social abilities they study from interacting — human to human — with different kids and adults.
I hope dad and mom in every single place will push for modifications to reduce display time at school. Certainly, I believe all dad and mom ought to have the chance to decide on a public faculty setting for his or her youngsters that minimizes display time, whether or not that’s a magnet faculty of their district or designated lecture rooms of their faculties.
When you don’t have youngsters at school and suppose this doesn’t matter to you, keep in mind that right now’s youngsters are our future well being care practitioners, pilots, bridge designers, civic leaders and so forth.
Beth Karpf
Boulder, Colo.
How Sorrow Modifications Us
To the Editor:
Re “We Don’t Should Drown in Local weather Grief,” by Liz Jensen (Opinion visitor essay, April 12):
Ms. Jensen’s essay expresses such an essential reality about grief — whether or not the heart-wrenching grief of bereaved dad and mom or the horrifying concern for the well being of our planet.
When our son died abruptly — much like Ms. Jensen’s loss — “devastated” turned the last word understatement. As I realized to place one foot in entrance of the opposite, I knew deep inside that there could be no such factor as closure. How might I shut the interval through which I grieved my firstborn little one? Love doesn’t simply cease, and loss doesn’t both.
A sensible pal instructed me that I might ask my questions so long as I wanted to try this, and I might make his life and demise a part of me. As Ms. Jensen so eloquently says, whereas closure just isn’t potential, remodeling sorrow into one thing significant is.
Let it stretch your dedication to stay in honor of the one you love … no matter that appears like. Let it create a depth of compassion you didn’t know was potential. Let it make you stronger, extra grateful for all that you’ve and have had, and let it make you gentle and tenderly out there to others who battle.
Ms. Jensen wove her two sorrows collectively and let that information her. Don’t let loss make you blind to the sweetness and surprise that’s perpetually round us.
As W.S. Merlin wrote within the poem “Separation”:
Your absence goes by me
Like thread by a needle.
Every thing I do is stitched with its shade.
Jane Prepare dinner
Austin, Texas
Comply with California’s Lead on Property Taxes
To the Editor:
Re “It’s Time to Finish the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes,” by Andrew W. Kahrl (Opinion visitor essay, April 12):
California’s landmark Proposition 13, handed in 1978, solved all the issues recognized by Professor Kahrl. The worth of your own home is the value agreed on between you and the vendor, elevated by as much as 2 p.c a 12 months to account for inflation. This eliminates any subjectivity created by assessors or evaluation fashions. The tax charge is mounted at 1 p.c of this worth.
Though native governments have been adept at including charges (not taxes, which require voter approval), this method remains to be the gold normal for property taxes and is chargeable for a lot of California’s relative prosperity.
Thomas Burns
Berkeley, Calif.
