Israel Must Eliminate Hamas
Please take a moment to close your eyes and visualize yourself in these situations: What if you woke up and saw your grandmother’s bloodied body on her Facebook page, posted by her murderer? What would you do? Turn the other cheek? What would you do if someone broke into your home and murdered your loved ones?
Of course, you’d be devastated. Of course, you would not stand idly by. Of course, you’d be angry. Of course, you would want to eliminate the evil. That is precisely what Israel must do—eliminate the evil of Hamas. This is not a war of choice for them. It is a war of obligation, of survival.
Hamas is a terrorist organization whose stated goal is to eliminate Israel off the face of the Earth. This is a war of self-defense. This is a war of obligation to ensure the survival of the State of Israel.
This is not a war against Palestinians. This is a war between Hamas and Israel. Not all Palestinians are members of Hamas. Hamas rains terror in Gaza as well as Israel. There are many innocent Palestinians in Gaza who are victims of Hamas.
Hamas places weapon arsenals inside and under hospitals, churches and schools. They use their own people as human shields. Hamas has continued to send hundreds of rockets into Israel. They have plenty of fuel for their rockets, but not for their hospitals.
If Israelis did not have shelters, their death toll would be far higher. Why doesn’t Hamas let innocent Palestinians take shelter in their tunnels? How can Israel possibly defend herself without causing harm to innocent victims when they are deliberately placed in harm’s way? What is Israel to do? Turn the other cheek and risk being annihilated?
The cruelty ingrained in Hamas members is beyond belief. There is documentation of someone who called his mother to brag that he had just murdered a Jew. Imagine calling your mother to gloat that you are a murderer. They cut babies out of their mothers’ wombs. They kidnapped innocent women and children. They slaughtered young people from all over the world gathering for a peace festival.
The last thing Hamas wants is peace. They have a history of undermining peace negotiations. They launched their first wave of suicide bombing during the Oslo peace conference. In October, just as Saudi Arabia and Israel were negotiating peace, they attacked.
Israel and the Palestinians have the potential to come to a peaceful resolution once Hamas is eliminated. Neither side of the Israel-Palestinian problem is innocent. Both sides share responsibility for the problem and hopefully will share responsibility for the solution. But this is not the time for peace negotiations. First Israel must ensure its right to survive.
Marilyn Gootman
Listen to Mayors on Guns
More than 50 Georgia mayors sent a message to Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly. The mayors asked the governor and General Assembly to put in place, “enhanced gun safety measures in Georgia.”
The mayors asked for:
• continued enhancement of behavioral health supports and funding,
• a level playing field for background checks that includes all purchases or transfers,
• mechanisms that identify and prevent potential purchases by those who have been demonstrated to be at risk for illegal activity with guns,
• a focus on the specific weapons that are demonstrated to create rapid destruction through high capacity or rapid fire action, and
• requirements for safe storage of guns.
Why would Georgia’s mayors do something so extraordinary?
$23.9 billion: Gun violence costs Georgia $23.9 billion each year.
1,800: Every year 1,800 people die by guns in Georgia.
190: One hundred and ninety Georgia teens and children die by guns every year.
No. 1: Gun violence is the leading cause of death among Georgia children and teens.
19: Georgia had 19 multiple-victim shootings in the first 10 months of 2023.
101: Gun-related murders shot up 101% over the last decade in Georgia.
Zero: The places in Georgia which are safe from the threat of injury and death from gun violence.
100%: Georgians who care deeply about the lives of men, women and children in Georgia.
Georgia’s mayors are speaking to us loudly and clearly. We must listen to them. And we must act, just as they have done.
Bruce Menke
How to Truly Celebrate Veteran’s Day
Now that the fallen have all been remembered, now that the medals have all been pinned and the ribbons all hung, now that the wreaths have all been laid and the cheers and confetti followed all the parades, now we can remember the holiday began as Armistice Day.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, an armistice brought the cessation of all the hostilities of World War I, the “war to end all wars.”
In 1926 Congress created Armistice Day to “…perpetuate peace… and mutual understanding between n ations…”That day was to celebrate, as one writer said so well, “a farewell to arms.” That kind of day, if we can remember, can happen again, even as we approach a new kind of eleventh hour.
Jim Baird
Athens Needs Affordable Housing
The housing crisis in Athens Clarke County has been a common topic for debate. A recent report showed that about 64% of single-family homes in Athens are used as rental properties, and the vast majority of new developments are tailored to student living. Two-bedroom, two-bath apartments in downtown developments average over $3,000 per month, a price tag well out of reach for many local residents.
Prosperity Capital Partners, a Florida-based investment firm, made news in 2022 for displacing many low-income tenants in our community. After purchasing properties in three major multifamily neighborhoods, the company drastically raised rent and stopped accepting government housing vouchers. One year later, and local government has done little to help these displaced families.
I have been a resident of Athens for over 12 years. Just within the last two years, I have experienced a 30% rent hike. This drastic increase has squeezed my two-income household. Lower-income families in our community are doubtless feeling the impact even harder.
The state’s ban on rent control laws unfortunately limits some of what local government can do to combat this, but other actions can still be taken. The commission should make greater efforts to expedite zoning law changes that could make subsidized communities like Micah’s Creek possible. Micah’s Creek, and other communities like it, could offer secure affordable housing that is not at risk for buyouts similar to the Prosperity Capital Partners fiasco.
The commission’s temporary ban on short-term rental properties was a step in the right direction. Action needs to be taken to make this ban permanent. Commission members agreed that short term rental properties significantly contribute to the housing affordability problem in Athens. These rentals are creating a housing scarcity, which encourages continually rising housing costs. These rentals are not occupied by residents who contribute to and care for larger community goals.
The nation at large is facing a housing affordability problem, and Athens is feeling the effects especially hard. Local government has a responsibility to protect lower-income families from facing displacement and homelessness as a result of these inflated prices.
Brittany Patton
We Have Zoning for a Reason
I was intrigued to read the Comment by Michelle McQuien (Nov. 22) detailing how short term rentals help some Athens homeowner’s make ends meet.
I would ask McQuien how she and her husband would feel if someone purchased the home next door and decided to raise hogs to help make ends meet? How would McQuien feel if her next door neighbor suddenly opened a nightclub featuring live music Friday and Saturday nights? To help make ends meet, of course. I could go on, but I think you get my point.
We have a restrictive zoning code in place. Whether or not that zoning code benefits our community is a discussion for another day, but the code exists.
Making your ends meet should not be the duty of your neighbors. Well, maybe it should, but again, that’s a discussion for another day.
Rick Stanziale
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
