Regarding Meagan Cass' op-ed "Our Jewish community stands with Palestine" (Oct. 9): The writer, who unfortunately misappropriates the expression "our Jewish community" 20-plus times, expresses a naïvely typical and under-informed line of thought among a very small minority of younger Jewish people today whose sympathies lie more with who they perceive as the real "underdog" in Israel's struggle to survive.
What she and her small group don't choose to grasp is the very fact that Israel is literally surrounded by 22 Arab Muslim states, most of which expelled their Jewish citizens decades ago and many of which are sworn to annihilate the nation of Israel, an ongoing struggle since 1948.
Are thousands of innocent Muslim civilians being killed? Yes — but is it "genocide" as she so glibly charges? No, because Israeli defense forces have no choice but to fight a war started by terrorist groups operating and hiding within civilian areas; thus, either no terrorists are rooted out or innocents are killed alongside them, a sad fact of wars in modern times.
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Most importantly, the historical fact that this writer appears to ignore is that Palestinian leaders have turned down multiple two-state solution proposals since 1947 in favor of perpetuating attacks against Israel while also preferring to keep their exiled people as eternal UN refugees — hence doubly victimizing them, the real issue at hand.
Linda Shore
Creve Coeur