Members Published Letters & OpEd's - New Hampshire Peace Action

Concord Monitor – June 18, 2026

Keep American defense decisions American

As a U.S. military veteran, I oppose Section 224 of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which would permanently intertwine U.S. and Israeli defense technology, including artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons. American military sovereignty and oversight are nonnegotiable — this provision undermines both.

Section 224 directs the Pentagon to coordinate U.S.-Israel defense research, development, and procurement across AI, cyber, missile defense and biotechnology. Unlike traditional aid, it embeds Israeli-developed systems directly into U.S. infrastructure, making the relationship difficult to reverse.

I am especially alarmed by the AI component. Israel has developed predictive AI used in drone targeting for their genocide in Gaza. Integrating these systems into U.S. operations risks importing tactics that could be turned against civilians, including political dissenters.

Veterans and service members must defend American interests, not foreign ones. We all must urge New Hampshire Representatives Pappas and Goodlander, and Senator Shaheen, to strip Section 224 from the NDAA before it becomes law.

David DeTour, Weare

June 9, 2026 – Concord Monitor
Having presumptive candidates is not democratic

Being a Democrat in New Hampshire is hard these days. We need leaders who are transparent, responsive and unwilling to be bought while facing complex and urgent issues.

Right now, there is a Democratic primary race for our next U.S. Senator. The primary vote is Sept. 8 but in New Hampshire Democratic circles, it is presumed that Chris Pappas will win. We all saw the painful result of the last presidential race with no primary — yet Pappas is already the “anointed one.”

Pappas is a flawed candidate who has taken millions from PACs. It is not just taking the money that is problematic — it is his compromised positions that result. This week I wrote to Pappas asking him to intervene on the abduction of a U.S. citizen by the Israeli Defense Force. I received an insulting boiler plate response about his “best hopes for peace in Israel/Palestine” that had absolutely nothing to do with my concern. This is an insincere politician that feeds people what he hopes will appease them. I was not appeased.

I want a politician that actually cares, is not bought and truly has the best interest of all New Hampshire residents. That candidate is Karishma Manzur who will champion Medicare for all, oppose wars of distraction and profiteering, build a humane immigration system and work so every person in New Hampshire can afford housing, health care and a livable wage. Read about her!

Please don’t assume this race is a done deal — there is far too much at stake.

Anne G. Romney, Portsmouth

May 29, 2026 – Concord Monitor
Legislators undermining democracy

While the world is focused on Iran, the humanitarian crisis continues in Gaza. Israel is still blocking aid. Children are growing up malnourished, orphaned, without homes and denied hope. The suffering and deprivation are horrific.

Our four federal legislators have admirably called for an end to suffering in Gaza.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: the Gaza Famine is a “shameful black mark on humanity.”

Rep. Chris Pappas: “The war must end and relief must get to innocent civilians in Gaza who desperately need it.”

Sen.Maggie Hassan: “It is vital that humanitarian aid surge into Gaza.”

Rep. Maggie Goodlander signed a letter that demanded Secretary of State Marco Rubio ensure “desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Gazan civilians.”

Their trumpeted concern is only political theater. All four legislators have refused to take legislative action. Tellingly, they’ve refused to support two critical bills central to delivering needed aid to Gaza: S. 898 and H. R. 2411. They’ve refused to leverage U.S. aid to force Israel to open Gaza’s borders. Months of calls to their offices have been repeatedly met with the non-answer: “There is no statement at this time.” Meanwhile, Israel continues to impose horrific suffering on Gaza with impunity, our legislators pretend to care and we are paying for it all.

When legislators brazenly mislead their constituents like this, they are undermining our democracy and should be voted out. Shame on them and the party that supports them.

Tricia Saenger, Temple

Focus on Israel is long overdue

May 16 − To the Editor:

Jack Ohayon’s May 7th LTE attacks local efforts to educate our community about the humanitarian crisis in Palestine as “exhausting and unbalanced.”

To those of us who are part of the effort to bring attention and compassion to the extraordinary suffering of the Palestinian people, feelings of exhaustion, unbalance and injustice are all too familiar.

For decades, the truth about the Palestinian struggle has been grossly under-reported and suppressed in US media. Only since October 2025 have people paid serious attention to this dire situation. Ohayon argues that Israel has remained the singular focus of outrage while countless humanitarian crises exist around the world. He contends the focus on Israel is based upon hostility to Jews. It is deflection to blame criticism of Israel on hostility to Jews. The critical point he ignores is how the US is complicit and pays for these atrocities in Palestine, which is not the case for the other examples of injustice he cites.

As an American Jewish person who has slowly and painfully learned deeply disconcerting truths about the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, I feel the focus on Israel is long overdue and just. When I travelled to Israel and the West Bank to see what was “real” vs “propaganda,” it became excruciatingly clear that exhaustion, imbalance and devastation are what Palestinians live day in and day out.

I was at the West Bank Town Hall and I applaud the presenters for learning about this injustice and educating our community about the Palestinian plight.

Anne Romney, Portsmouth

Urge Congress to cease US support for actions that abuse Palestinians

May 15 — To the Editor:

As I’m writing, today is Nakba Day, a day to reflect on the time in history when more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from Palestinian land and found themselves concentrated in what are now called occupied territories, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and also neighboring Arab states. A recent West Bank Town Hall was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church (South Church) in Portsmouth to present the case of a continued Israel occupation that operates as an apartheid system. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israeli residents are governed by civil laws and tried in civil courts while Palestinians are governed by military laws and are tried in Israeli military courts. The result is that Palestinians have very few due process rights under this operating “legal” system. Detainees can be held without charge for extended periods. During interrogation, detainees have also complained of psychological and physical abuse. Suspects are often held in custody for the duration of judicial proceedings. Amnesty International and other human rights watch organizations have identified this system as apartheid. A report published by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) explains that the One Rule: Two Legal Systems is a system built intentionally to discriminate against Palestinians where many of their due process rights are ignored.

Over the past decades, Israeli military occupation has led to the destruction of Palestinian homes and villages. This occupation and oppression of Palestinian lives in the West Bank is funded by American tax dollars. Bulldozers and military weapons used in the eviction of, and destruction of homes is paid for by a U.S. annual budget of 3-4 billion dollars. Higher contributions have been given in recent years as supplemental additions to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Without a home, Palestinians are left (if they survive) to fend for themselves while the Israeli occupation of the West Bank continues.

The question is why are U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to propagate this apartheid system? In the current One Rule: Two Legal Systems there is no justice for Palestinians living in the West Bank. Recent editorial opinions suggest we should move our attention away from U.S. tax dollars being spent to support these injustices and study other peoples oppressed in Iran, Somalia and Sudan. While these human rights violations are serious and should be condemned, so should a system designed to allow current human rights violations to continue against Palestinians at U.S. taxpayer expense.

Please contact Representatives Goodlander and Pappas and Senators Shaheen and Hassan to urge them to stop the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars that have the effect of supporting a system skewed to mistreat and remove a people that deserve equal treatment and justice, that deserve a sense of security they have not experience for years if not decades.

Bob Moore

Here’s why we protest US sending weapons to Israel – Seacoastonline

May 15 — To the Editor:

In a letter published on May 7, Jack Ohayon calls advocates for peace and justice for Palestinians “obsessed.” He says we are not to be taken seriously because we are focused on Israel when there are many other conflicts in the world.

This is not a new argument. When people called for an end to U.S. intervention in Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran we heard the same thing: Why do you care about those places and not others?

Here is one answer: Some of us feel most responsible for what our own country does with our resources and taxpayer money. We believe we should start with our own government, which we should also have the most influence over.

The United States is using taxpayer money to give billions of dollars of weapons to Israel while protecting them from international law. How could an advocate for peace living in the U.S. be taken seriously if they did not talk about Israel while this reality continues? Especially when the U.S. has legal mechanisms such as the Leahy Law and Arms Export Control Act which make it a crime for us to arm countries that are engaged in plausible war crimes.

Mr. Ohayon also claims that the focus on Israel makes local Jewish people feel targeted. However, most peace activist do not equate Judaism, or even the citizens of Israel, with the government of Israel.

The focus is not on the people of Israel because of religious or ethnic identity. It is on the behavior of the Israeli government because of their actions. While we believe we should work to influence our own governments, we understand that there is often a meaningful difference between what the people want and what a government does.

Amy Antonucci, Barrington

May 13, 2026 – Concord Monitor and Union Leader
Israel’s unrestrained piracy

Israel’s recent interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which included a New Hamsphire resident, roughly 600 miles from its shores, should concern anyone who values international law. Stopping civilian vessels in international waters, detaining about 175 unarmed activists and reportedly disabling boats raises serious legal and moral questions that cannot be dismissed as routine “security.”

Israel maintains the operation was lawful and necessary to enforce its blockade. But projecting force onto the high seas to block humanitarian aid crosses a clear line. Freedom of navigation is a cornerstone of international law, and actions like this set a troubling precedent, especially when civilians and aid shipments are involved.

This is not an isolated event. It reflects a broader reality in which, despite a nominal ceasefire, Palestinians in Gaza continue to face deadly violence and severe restrictions on aid, while in the West Bank tens of thousands remain displaced amid ongoing raids and settler attacks. A ceasefire that does not protect civilians or ensure access to basic necessities is not a meaningful peace.

The question is not just about one flotilla, but about whether international norms will be applied consistently. If the seizure of civilian vessels in international waters is tolerated, the consequences extend far beyond this conflict. The rule of law cannot be selective without losing its meaning. The continued silence of our legislators and our citizens rises to complicity.

Speak out: contact senators Shaheen and Hassan and representatives Pappas and Goodlander, and demand an end to Israel’s unlawful, aggressive actions.

David DeTour, Weare

I applaud those calling out Israel’s wrongdoing

May 11 − To the Editor:

In contrast to the biased criticism that Jack Ohayon leveled against community members (letter, 05.07), I applaud the Unitarian Church in Portsmouth for hosting the recent “West Bank Town Hall.” We need to know how our tax dollars are spent.

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II. In FY2024, Israel received $6.82 billion, and the new 2026 bills have allocated an additional $4 billion in aid. Nearly all current U.S. aid to Israel goes to its military under a 10-year memorandum of understanding (2019-2028) that pledges $3.8 billion per year. In the past 30 months, the U.S. has provided $16.3 billion in direct military aid to Israel.

Israel’s conduct in the West Bank is not complicated. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, declaring that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible. The Court stated that Israel is committing apartheid-like policies. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem detailed Israel’s apartheid policies in an extensive report issued in 2021. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reached the same conclusion. In January 2026, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reported that Israeli policies in the West Bank violate international law regarding apartheid.

In contravention of international law, Israel continues to destroy Palestinian homes and olive trees to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank. Since October 2023, over 1,088 Palestinians, including 238 children, have been killed in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers and the Israeli armed forces.

I do not want my tax dollars supporting Israel’s apartheid system. I am grateful to those in the Seacoast area who feel likewise.

John T. Fussell

Letter: Demand an end to Israel’s unlawful war

To the Editor: Israel’s recent interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla — which included a Granite Stater — roughly 600 miles from its shores should concern anyone who values international law. Stopping civilian vessels in international waters, detaining approximately 175 unarmed activists, and reportedly disabling boats raises serious legal and moral questions that cannot be dismissed as routine “security.”

Israel maintains the operation was lawful and necessary to enforce its blockade, but projecting force onto the high seas to block humanitarian aid crosses a clear line. Freedom of navigation is a cornerstone of international law, and actions like this set a troubling precedent when civilians and aid shipments are involved.

The continued silence of our legislators and citizens rises to complicity. Speak out: contact your representatives — Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Representatives Chris Pappas or Maggie Goodlander — and demand an end to Israel’s unlawful, aggressive actions.

DAVID DeTOUR, Weare

Seacoast online

Penny poll shows Americans want money spent at home, not on foreign wars
April 23 − To the Editor:

On Tax Day, April 15, New Hampshire and NH Veterans For Peace members conducted a penny poll in
Market Square, Portsmouth, NH.

A penny poll is a way to invite the public to express their opinion about where our government should
spend our tax dollars. Interested people are given 10 pennies and then a chance to put one or more of
the pennies in to 10 different containers that represent federal departments. The options were
Education and Child Care, Health Care, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Environmental
Protection, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Veteran’s Benefits, Arts and Humanities and Agriculture. Forty-
seven individuals participated.

The highest totals were for Health along with Education and Child Care at just over 20% each with
Environmental Protection at just under the 20% mark. Other categories filling out the total were
Veterans Benefits, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Arts and Humanities with
approximately 7% of the vote each followed by Agriculture at almost 5%. The lowest levels were Military
Spending with 2.4% and the last was Nuclear Weapons which received one vote.

We also offered information on how the U.S. discretionary budget is actually spent. In reality 55.8% of
our tax dollars go to the Pentagon, while Health Care and Education each get around 9% and
Environment each; Energy nearly 3%.

Although only a small portion of the Seacoast population were sampled and this is far from a scientific
experiment, we have run this poll about 7 times over the past 15 years with similar results. It no longer
surprises us that people want their tax dollars used to support the livelihoods, needs and environment
of people in our communities instead of waging and funding wars and destabilizing foreign
governments.
Wes Flierl, Rochester and Bob Moore, East Kingston
Members of NH Peace Action and NH Veterans For Peace

Concord Monitor – May 2, 2026
Civilian deaths

I want to thank Gary Seidner for his April 24 letter, so I can point out the flaws of one of Israeli’s main talking points: the dismissal of the 72,000 Palestinians killed by Israel because the statistics are reported by the Gaza Health Ministry in a Hamas government. (Reminding me of Holocaust deniers who quibble over the 6 million.) One reason that news organizations trust these numbers is that the Ministry provides the names. The number doesn’t include those buried under rubble, or those who died of starvation or preventable disease because of Israel’s obliteration of Gaza’s infrastructure.

When Israel says that 22,000 are “terrorists” (admitting that 50,000 — more than two thirds — are civilians), how would they know unless they are using the names on the Ministry’s list? Whether all, or even most, are terrorists is doubtful, since Israel often applies this label to Palestinians opposing the occupation. If Hamas had actually 22,000 terrorists, it would have done a lot more damage on Oct. 7.

A third of those killed on Oct. 7 were also Israeli soldiers. That doesn’t excuse an attack that mainly kills civilians, just as Israel’s murder of at least 50,000 civilians — more than 50 times the civilians killed on Oct. 7 — is not excused because they killed some terrorists along the way. Under Jewish law, a human life is sacred, possessing infinite value: not just Jewish lives, but all lives.

Bob Sanders, Concord

Concord Monitor – April 29, 2026
Humanizing each other

At the Nashua Holocaust Memorial, there’s an unforgettable image of a mother crouched over her child waiting for a Nazi soldier to fire. He had taken bets on killing both with one shot. No words exist for such suffering except the nearby warning, “Never Again.”

Being Jewish, I understand instinctively the desire to protect one’s kin against persecution. Yet, I disagree with Gov. Ayotte’s declaration of April 29 as “End Jewish Hatred Day.”

According to Anne Romney’s recent letter, ‘Antisemitism is a constant and growing threat … singling out Jew Hate above all other forms of hate, however, plays into the trope that Jews are special.” She references Black and trans communities with whom we need to be in solidarity.

My grandfather, born in 1882, would have agreed, reminding us of antisemitism’s everlasting history. He was a secular Jew, a humanitarian and, above all, a man of action. In 1939 living in Belgium, my grandfather’s philanthropy paid for 100 Jewish families to emigrate to neighboring Luxembourg. He also financed an “old age home,” cherished by my grandmother. When Germany invaded, its residents perished to establish an army headquarters.

These stories taught us that the soldier pointing the gun at innocent victims is not the answer. Hate will consume you and hold you hostage. Romney affirms that because we share a future, we need to humanize each other. The descendants of my grandfather’s saved families survived thanks to this guiding principle.

Ann Podlipny, Chester

Concord Monitor Letter: Anne Romney – 2316

April 24, 2026
‘End Jew Hatred Day’ is bad for Jews

Gov. Ayotte has declared April 29, 2026, “End Jew Hatred Day,” an annual observance supported by “the non-partisan, grassroots organization End Jew Hatred” whose purpose is to “foster unity and combat Jew-hatred through public awareness and solidarity.”

Awareness and solidarity are important goals, but this type of public declaration is an offensive and ineffective approach.

As a Jewish American, I believe this is performative, virtue signaling that does not combat antisemitism (or Jew-hatred) and contrarily contributes to its rise. The awareness it brings is distasteful and counterproductive. Solidarity is diminished by focusing attention on Jews over others similarly victimized by hate.

Antisemitism is a constant and growing threat, something I fear greatly. Singling out Jew Hate above all other forms of hate, however, plays right into the trope that Jews are “special” and somehow advantaged over others. Why isn’t there Stop BIPOC Hate Day or Stop Trans Hate Day? Jews have been criticized for abandoning the BIPOC community by assimilating into whiteness/affluence and leaving others behind. Why are we again in this unique category of the oppressed?

Jewish people need to be in solidarity with all victims of hate and discrimination. We need to stand with others and have them stand with us. We do not need to be elevated above others who experience hate. “End Jew Hatred Day” is more harmful to Jews than helpful.

Anne Romney, Portsmouth

Concord Monitor Letter: Sharon Racusin – 2248

April 22, 2026
Being Jewish isn’t monolithic

I am a Jewish citizen of New Hampshire and I reject all the assertions made in Liz Gabert’s letter on April 15. Governor Ayotte’s proclamation to “End Jew Hatred Day” panders to her Jewish constituents. She is using the version of antisemitism which has been used against anyone including people like me who criticize Israel. What Gabert sees as “Jew hatred exploding across the globe,” I see as translating criticism of Israel (antizionism) into antisemitism.

Ms. Gabert speaks of Oct. 7 as the beginning of a Jewish genocide. Hamas launched an attack that everyone agrees was heinous, but the genocide of Gazans followed immediately and continues to this day. What Israel did was use the tenets of Zionism to exploit the horror we are still watching unfold with the help of the Biden and now Trump administration. Sadly the oppression of Palestinians began long ago.

Ms. Gabert assumes, falsely, that I am a member of her all-encompassing family of “the Jewish People of New Hampshire,” she most likely does not distinguish between Judaism and Israel or Gazans from Hamas. I do not support Israel’s equally heinous actions against the Palestinian people of Gaza or the West Bank who are systematically being attacked by Jewish settlers with impunity.

The painful silence of our Governor and members of Congress is because they refuse to act and stop it. It is sad to think that they won’t speak the truth because they will lose the votes of people like Ms. Gabert.

Sharon Racusin, Hanover

Concord Monitor – April 20, 2026
To ignore genocide is to remain silent

As a Jew who doesn’t like being hated, I would like to respond to the Liz Gabert letter extolling the Governor for naming April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day.” She ends the letter “We the Jewish people of New Hampshire thank Gov. Ayotte for standing with the Jewish community at a time when so many remain silent.”

Liz, you don’t speak for me, and you are the one who remains silent.

Antisemitism is exploding across the globe mainly because of Israel, a state that appropriated our Jewish star for its flag and has nearly obliterated Gaza. Those who have been touched by the Holocaust — my late uncle survived Auschwitz — can’t remain silent when we see it happening again, especially when it is perpetrated by a Jewish state.

However horrible Oct. 7 was, and indeed it was a war crime against 1,200 mostly Israeli civilians, it is almost completely overshadowed by Israeli destruction of Gaza with more than 72,000 dead, the ongoing Israeli-blessed West Bank settler violence and the blatant ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Lebanon. More than thrice as many people died AFTER the Gaza ceasefire than on Oct. 7.

To condemn antisemitism and ignore Islamophobia and actual genocide is to remain silent. The only reason to do so, besides racism, is the misguided belief that Jews are always victims, never perpetrators, which is itself antisemitic. Jews can be just as good, and bad, as anyone else.

Bob Sanders, Concord

A silent conflict in Palestine – Concord Monitor
April 11, 2026
By JOHN BUTTRICK

Buried in the cacophony of war in Iran and in Lebanon, the underreported silent suffering of Palestinians continues in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. The land, often spoken of as “the Holy Land,” has a historic, and for some, a sacred connection among Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens of the United States. Therefore, what happens in Israel/Palestine, in a sense, happens to all of us.

The crashing of bombs and missiles upon Iran and Lebanon must not be allowed to muffle the awareness of the explosions in Gaza nor the military and settlers’ guns, the stones and the vandalism in the West Bank. While world attention has been centered upon Iran and Lebanon, six Palestinians have been killed by settlers, the UN said.

Awareness is the first step toward bringing an end to the carnage and suffering of the Palestinian people. Two incidents in the West Bank and Jerusalem have broken through the silence to expose the plight of the Palestinian people. The World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel evacuated 11 of its international volunteers. These volunteers, some from the U.S., observe and report on the life of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Their need to be evacuated is the result of the serious life-threatening conditions they have witnessed, involving Israeli military and Israeli settler violence against Palestinians. Even their identifying vests are no guarantee the they will be safe in the midst of the escalating conflict.

The second incident involved Israeli police preventing several heads of local churches from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass. This was the first time in centuries that the heads were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

At least 4,765 Palestinians from 97 locations have been displaced by settler violence between January 2023 and mid-February 2026, according to the UN’s humanitarian office. There has already been a stark increase in both Palestinian injuries and displacement from 2025 averages, according to the Church World Service.

The military actions of the U.S. and Israel against Iran and the Israeli war against Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to dominate the news. At the same time, the ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the violence and death in the territory. In the West Bank, Israeli Defense Forces continue to defend the aggression of Israeli settlers against Palestinians, conduct the demolition of Palestinian homes, set up checkpoints to restrict the movement of Palestinians and protect new Israeli settlements. It is important to recognize U.S. complicity with Israel’s actions that violate international law and ethical imperatives. For example, as a volunteer accompanier with Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, I witnessed Israeli military carrying U.S. weapons at checkpoints in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

We must continue to accompany, in mind and spirit, those homeless, hungry, injured and grieving men, women and children who live in the West Bank and in Gaza. One way to do this is to urge the U.S. to withhold all military aid to Israel as long as it’s used for the oppression of Palestinians. Also, accompanying the Palestinians in their time of distress means telling their story to all who will listen. And it means flipping the relationship of Israel and the U.S. with the Palestinians from treating them as enemies to treating them as good neighbors. This action would establish security for both. Now that would be news worth reporting!

John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He served as an EAPPI volunteer in 2010. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.

Union Leader – Apr 11, 2026

Letter: Are we bombing the wrong country?

To the Editor: President Donald Trump’s reasoning for our current war on Iran, conducted with Israel, is very curious.

We’re bombing Iran because Trump claims it violated the nonproliferation treaty against building nuclear weapons — which it hasn’t built. Hypocritically, we’re bombing alongside Israel, that belligerently refused to sign that same treaty and itself has actually built nuclear weapons.

Another alleged reason for bombing Iran is that the regime ruthlessly killed up to 45,000 Iranian protesters. Hypocritically, our ally Israel has ruthlessly killed more than 72,000 in Gaza and has been widely accused of committing genocide. Yet we’re not bombing Israel.

Still another alleged reason for bombing Iran is that it poses an imminent threat to its neighbors. Yet, our ally Israel bombed six neighboring countries just in 2025 while Iran hadn’t bombed anyone. How ironic. Israel has even widened the present war to mercilessly bomb Lebanon causing a humanitarian crisis. There are almost as many Lebanese casualties as Iranian casualties. Who’s the bigger threat to their neighbors?

President Trump said we’d keep bombing Iran until it opens the Strait of Hormuz to shipping but it’s U.S. and Israeli bombing that caused Iran to close it in the first place.

What a curious war we’re waging that’s driving ourselves deeper and deeper into debt. Listening to Trump’s reasons for this war, one could almost think that we are bombing the wrong target!

TRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Reader Opinion, Keene Sentinel 4/9/26: “We fail when we spend more on war than peace, by Paul Krautmann

Just a quick note as we near income tax day: April 15, 2026.

The following figures are from GovTrack.us:

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 — also known as the Pentagon Budget appropriated $393 billion under President George Bush.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 appropriated $680 billion under President Obama.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 appropriated $700 billion under President Trump.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriated $778 billion under President Biden.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriated $1,000 billion under President Trump. That is $1 trillion.

All of these budgets were passed easily in the Senate and House with little opposition from Democratic and Republican Party members.

The proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 is $1,500 billion under President Trump. That is $1.5 trillion. Trump has stated, “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare …”

These budgets represent your tax dollars at work. More and more dollars for the Pentagon equals more and more war.

Present war spending:

$2.9 billion: Venezuela military escalations — The operational price tag of the Navy fleet Trump deployed to the Caribbean peaked at over $20 million a day! In four and a half short months, the administration spend nearly $3 billion on dozens of U.S. Navy ships, fighter jets, drones and logistics vessels in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Pentagon has not shared an official cost estimate.

$1 billion to 2 billion per day: war on Iran — Trump’s was on Iran is costing us between $1 billion and $2 billion each day. The first two days of bombing alone cost $5.6 billion — this includes the horrific Tomahawk missile strike of Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school that killed 175 children and staff. And this is just the beginning.

Martin Luther King stated before his death, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

When will we elect leaders who are anti-war?

PAUL KRAUTMANN. Keene

Letter: Will Thomas – 2120 Concord Monitor

April 8, 2026
Wars based on lies

In war, the first casualty is truth. Major U.S. wars were based on lies: The Vietnam War (The Gulf of Tonkin Attack), the First Gulf War (remember the Kuwaiti incubator babies left to die?) and the 2003 Shock and Awe Attack on Iraq (the weapons of mass destruction).

And in 2026, we have the lies of both the Trump administration and the lies of the Israeli government under Netanyahu. Iran posed no existential threat to Israel and to the U.S. Yet, both have issued orders to their militaries to bomb Iran in their efforts to punish Iran for its “terrorism.” Historian Howard Zinn said, “How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?”

So, today as I write this, Manchester has dedicated another memorial to those military personnel who died combating “terrorism.” Perhaps most people reading this won’t recall Martin Luther King Jr.’s words in 1967 during the American War on Vietnam when he said that “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is the United States.” It was true then and it’s still true today.

From history, we may conclude that America is addicted to war, which may be why we can’t abandon militarism. How many people might conclude that militarism is our new religion? It involves glorifying military actions, centering defense spending and influencing civilian life with a military mindset.

The current president wants $1.5 trillion for the War Department. Money for warfare, little for day care or health care. Totally obscene.

Will Thomas, Manchester

April 7, 2026 – Concord Monitor
People’s right to their own land

On March 31, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz made this statement: “All houses in villages near the Lebanese border will be destroyed, in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza.”

He also said that Israel will maintain control “over the entire area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges.” He also said, “All houses in villages near the Lebanese border will be destroyed.”

The Litani River is about 20 miles north of Lebanon’s border with Israel, and makes up almost 10% of the Lebanon homeland.

More than 1.1 million Lebanese have ‌been displaced and another 1,200 have been killed in Lebanon during Israel’s recent attacks. Twenty percent of the country’s entire population have been forced from their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis.

Israel now totally controls the Golan Heights and Gaza. The U.S. opposes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but sends billions of our dollars to support Israel’s land grab from Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.

Israel does this with our bombs, our tax dollars and the full support of our federal government, including all four of our federal legislators: Sen. Sheehan, Sen. Hassan, Rep. Pappas and Rep. Goodlander. It is unconscionable.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Letter: Union Leader, April 4, 2026 A little info spread thin to justify another war

To the Editor: The pro-war Letter, “Only Trump had the spine to confront Iranian regime,” March 25, presents a historically decontextualized story to justify yet another war.

In the cases of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Palestine, war proponents promise limited initiatives to ensure Middle East stability. None of these wars produced stability. Instead, we get ongoing conflict; needless troop deaths and lifetime traumas; the murder of innocent civilians, including children; millions of refugees; extensive destruction of civil infrastructure; widespread environmental damage; disrupted markets and inflation.

Now, President Trump has led us into another cycle of violence spurred on by Benjamin Netanyahu’s 40-year desire for an Israeli/U.S. war on Iran. Israel’s brutal, 20-year illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip gave rise to Hamas, which did not exist before 1987, just as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon in 1982 gave rise to Hezbollah. Violence begets violence.

Comprehensive estimates of the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars reach as high as eight trillion dollars. These endless wars saddle future generations with debt that swallows resources needed for affordable health care, child care, housing, and education, while failing to accomplish stated goals.

Yes, the present-day Iranian government is a brutal authoritarian regime for which, unfortunately, there is no quick fix. But neither Israel’s track record of genocide, repeated military assaults, and occupation of neighbors, nor U.S. bombs and sanctions will bring peace and democracy to the people of Iran. A return to diplomacy and international law is a wiser approach.

JOHN FUSSELL, Dover

OpEd – Concord Monitor, March 27, 2026

When violence is justified as “security,” families are torn apart and communities are left in ruins. Different borders produce
different headlines, but the harm follows a familiar pattern. State-sponsored violence erodes human dignity, destabilizes families and steals futures. Communities here in New Hampshire suffer as well.

In recent months, the United States has escalated its campaign of violence on two fronts. Domestically, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has intensified raids, detentions and militarized tactics that terrorize our immigrant communities, including in New England.

Here in New Hampshire, immigrant workers sustain our science and tech industries, food service, waste management and other essential sectors. Yet, families have continued to be ripped apart, and workers building lives in our state are unjustly targeted. Civilians Keith Porter, Renee Good and Alex Pretti are dead at the hands of ICE — tragedies that sadly reflect the predictable outcomes of an enforcement system built to prioritize force over humanity.

This domestic tolerance of force mirrors U.S. foreign policy. When the U.S. launched a military operation against Venezuela in early January of 2026 (involving aerial bombardment, naval deployment and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro), it was framed as “law enforcement.” Yet, worldwide legal experts and governments condemned the action as a violation of sovereignty and international law.

The Trump administration clearly told us that oil is at the center of this escalation. Tanker seizures and illegal blockades make clear that Venezuela’s vast energy resources remain a strategic target, even as the country’s humanitarian crisis deepens. The U.S. invasion of Venezuela is not about the U.S. drug crisis, bringing democracy or strengthening human rights — it is about power, profit and control over a finite resource.

For more than a decade, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector have functioned as structural violence, collapsing their economy and restricting access to food, medicine and basic infrastructure. Sanctions are often presented as a “peaceful” alternative to war, but for those living under them, they operate as economic warfare.

War is regularly defended as necessary for public safety, but it is rarely discussed as a financial burden imposed on the public. While the total cost of the Venezuela invasion remains unknown, we understand what similar operations cost American taxpayers. During the Jan. 3 operation alone, roughly 150 aircrafts were reportedly deployed. A single B-1B Lancer bomber costs $91,330 per hour to operate, roughly three times the annual salary of a U.S. food service worker. An MH-47G Chinook helicopter costs $9,663 per hour, nearly an entire year’s worth of food for an American household.

Beyond aircrafts, the ongoing naval deployment off the Venezuelan coast has added hundreds of millions more. Prior to this January, the U.S. conducted at least 35 strikes against boats in South American waters, killing at least 115 people. Some strikes used JAGM missiles, each costing over $267,000, enough to fund SNAP benefits for 117 Americans for an entire year.

For Granite Staters already facing rising housing costs, health care expenses, and climate-related challenges like flooding and extreme weather, these spending priorities matter. Excessive spending on war and militarization diverts resources from affordable housing, health care access, climate resilience and opioid treatment programs that directly affect New Hampshire communities.

War also carries a major environmental cost. Militaries are among the world’s largest institutional polluters, and conflicts driven by oil interests accelerate the climate crisis. Rising sea levels, extreme weather, and infrastructure damage threaten our coastal regions, agriculture, and local economies across New Hampshire.

The good news is that alternatives exist, but only if we stop pretending violence is an effective or legitimate policy. At New Hampshire Peace Action, we are helping to push for de-escalation. It mobilizes to demand a more peaceful future, organizing Granite Staters to take action and call on Congress to end ICE raids, stop wars overseas and redirect public funds back into our communities. Peace is achievable, and it is built through our collective action and push for democratic accountability.

New Hampshire residents must demand better from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas and Rep. Maggie Goodlander by opposing unchecked militarization and prioritizing policies that invest in our security instead of endless war.

The people of Venezuela deserve peace and dignity, as do immigrant families here in the Granite State and people everywhere. These struggles are interwoven by policies that treat human lives as expendable in our country’s pursuit of power.
Hazel Armstrong-McEvoy is an intern at New Hampshire Peace action and lives in Peterborough.

Letter: Concord Monitor, March 23, 2026
Two terrorists

Let me state this clearly. I believe Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump are terrorists and war criminals.

They both have used extreme violence to cause fear in people, including mostly civilians, in their attempts to change the map of the Middle East regarding Lebanon, Syria, Iran and possibly Jordan and even Yemen. It should be obvious that Netanyahu wants to acquire more land to achieve what the early Zionists sought, the creation of a “Greater Israel.”

For the convicted felon and supreme grifter, his goal is also to acquire land, Gaza for example, to build more luxury hotels and make the beaches of Gaza a new resort for the wealthy of the world.

Both have issued orders to their militaries to bomb Iran in their efforts to punish Iran for its “terrorism.” As the late Howard Zinn said, “How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?” Will Israel and America’s use of weapons of mass destruction end “terrorism?” I think not, as it seems to me that there will be “blowback” from such hostile actions.

We already know about the terrible killing of over 150 young Iranian girls in a school but let us remember that it is estimated that perhaps as many 20,000 children in Gaza have been murdered by Israel with the assistance of Biden and Trump’s bombs and missiles.

Finally, as Professor Zinn commented, “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” Agreed.

Will Thomas, Manchester

March 16, 2026 – Concord Monitor
Support people, not super PACs

The other day, I was worrying about my snowplow bill. Last year my driveway cost more than $800 to plow — and it was not nearly as snowy as this year. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame the neighbor who plows our driveway. He’s got to make a living too! But it is one more financial stressor in a year filled with them.

Recently, I learned that more than $92 million of New Hampshire taxpayer dollars have been spent on weapons for Israel. Not only has this created a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, but it is creating one here as well. We have more homeless people every day. We can’t afford health care, education funding, affordable housing or assistance to the poor. Yet, we can always afford more bombs.

Our nation’s priorities must change! That’s why I’m voting for Karishma Manzur for U.S. Senate. Karishma is an advocate for health care, an increased minimum wage, universal child care and affordable housing. She will not vote to spend our tax dollars on endless war. Her opponent, Chris Pappas, has voted for over $26 billion in weapons to Israel. No surprise that he has accepted hundreds of thousands in PAC money from pro-Israeli organizations.

U.S. tax dollars can be used for life-giving priorities. It is our choice! We don’t have to struggle to get by — to pay that snowplow bill when it comes. We can change this country’s priorities by voting for politicians like Karishma Manzur, who support people, not Super PACs.

Virginia Schonwald, Barrington

Concord Monitor March 14, 2026
Wrong to sink Iranian ship

To the Editor: On March 4th, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth boastfully reported the U.S. had torpedoed an Iranian warship. That warship was returning from a peaceful multinational exercise in India and was not armed for war. Horrifically, the American submarine may have left the survivors to drown, a war crime as detailed in the U.S. Naval Handbook. That commander’s decision potentially reflects Hegseth’s inexcusable vow that our military would observe “No stupid rules of engagement.”

Rules of war are not stupid. They exist because nations understand everyone pays a price for unrestrained cruelty. You leave our sailors to drown, we’ll leave yours. Hegseth’s twisted blood lust puts our soldiers at grave risk and destroys any moral standing we’ve ever had in the world.

But then, we’re apparently following Israel’s lead. Who is in ultimate command, America or Israel? Missile strikes go unattributed — are they American or Israeli? Either way, since we give Israel billions in military aid, every bomb, every missile, is money out of our pockets. Now Israel is bombing Lebanon, too.

Meanwhile, our legislators are cashing in. While complaining that Trump didn’t ask first, they’re not demanding an end to this illegal aggression. They’re too busy pocketing campaign contributions from BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, and AIPAC (while claiming there’s no money for, say, national health care).

War is horrific. It’s not heroics, it’s not glorious. It kills and maims and destroys and bankrupts. It’s military adventurism and far flung bases that have put Americans in harm’s way. Stop now.

TRICIA SAENGER. Temple

March 12, 2026 – Concord Monitor
Stop the war on Iran

Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Representatives Pappas and Goodlander, don’t use our tax dollars for more wars in the Middle East. You voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution, which failed in the Senate and the House. However, given your unconditional support for Israel’s wars of aggression, including the genocide of Gaza, were your votes motivated more by a legitimate concern that President Trump initiated war with Iran without the required Constitutional approval from Congress, rather than opposition to war?

The opportunity to answer that question will present when Trump’s $50 billion supplement to the already staggering war budget comes up for a vote. Please prioritize New Hampshire’s needs: Say “no” to expansionist, apartheid Israel and neo-con warmongers. Billions of our tax dollars for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and trillions of our tax dollars on endless wars with Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran have been wasted. No peace, freedom or democracy results. Israel’s Middle East domination plans destroy civilian life and infrastructure and cause extensive environmental damage. The endless wars have generated millions of refugees, a life-changing hardship for them and an additional destabilizing burden on surrounding countries. Furthermore, funding these wars diverted resources that your constituents need for affordable health care, education and housing.

Humanity, fiscal responsibility and allegiance to your constituents demand that you do everything possible to stop this unconscionable war on Iran. Put your constituents first. Do not use our tax dollars to enable Netanyahu’s and Trump’s wars.

John Fussell, Dover

March 2, 2026 Concord Monitor

Support human rights for Palestinians

In September 2025, three state legislators, Senator Tim Lang, and Representatives Robert Lynn and Joe Alexander took an all-expenses paid trip to Israel. Their excursion to Israel occurred while a full-scale Genocide was ongoing inside Gaza. They traveled to Israel to meet and hear Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was reprehensible in my opinion.

Israel’s government organized this trip for some 250 state legislators to attend a conference called: “50 States for One Israel,” arranged by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They also received a briefing by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. What do New Hampshire lawmakers have to do with Israel’s foreign policies?

This conference provided legislators with information that could refute those NH citizens who support the Palestinian led movement called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign that pressures Israel to comply with international law. A BDS crusade against ending South Africa’s apartheid system in 1994 succeeded, and in America, the 1950s civil rights movement featuring the 13th month Montgomery Bus Boycott triumphed when the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional!

In 1967, Israel created an apartheid system in the brutally occupied West Bank and is now attempting to ethnically cleanse Palestinians there as well as in East Jerusalem.

Isn’t it time for state legislators and NH’s Congressional delegation to support human rights for Palestinians and condemn their Israeli oppressors?

Will Thomas, Manchester

February 17, Concord Monitor

Netanyahu, Trump and Iran

In 2002, Bibi Netanyahu testified before a Congressional committee and urged President Bush to attack Iraq. According to Netanyahu, Iraq was on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb with Iran’s help. It’s now 2026 and it seems the Israeli leader is determined to push the U.S. into attacking Iran.

In 2003, the U.S. attacked Iraq but as we later learned, there were no nuclear weapons there. For over 30 years, Netanyahu has been beating the drums of war saying that Iran was extremely close to creating a nuclear weapon. In a speech to Israel’s government in 1992, Netanyahu said it would take Iran about three or four years to have the ability to assemble atomic weapons. In a 1995 book he wrote, Netanyahu asserted that Iran’s plans for such weapons would pose an existential threat to global security. And, believe it or not, Netanyahu said in 2009 that Iran was only one or two years away from actually creating a nuclear bomb.

In 2012, the Israeli Prime Minister spoke at the United Nations, and insisted that Iran was quickly preparing the ingredients for a weapon of mass destruction.

So, here we are in 2026 and the U.S. has sent ships, planes and troops close to Iran, and it’s obvious that Trump and Netanyahu have discussed plans for a powerful attack on Iran.

if America and Israel bomb and invade Iran, look for all hell to break loose in the Middle East.

Will Thomas, Manchester

February 9, 2026 Concord Monitor
Holocaust education undermined by overlooking Gaza

A recent essay by Reps. Packard and Simpson called “Holocaust denialism has no place in the NH Legislature,” made the irrefutable statements that “erasing the past does a profound disservice to us all” and “we must confront and oppose those who wish to rewrite history.” I wholeheartedly agree. Revising this history is a grave threat to our humanity.

As a member of Not in My Name NH, a group of predominantly Jewish people deeply opposed to Israeli violence and oppression in Palestine, I noted the absence of reference to these realities in their essay. A passionate argument about the need for honest remembrance of The Holocaust would be strengthened by mentioning the killing of 70,000 Palestinians, considered genocide by many international organizations. NH efforts in Holocaust education have lost considerable moral ground by ignoring the current atrocities in Palestine.

Unfortunately, much good will toward Jewish people as victims of the Holocaust has been replaced with animus, often due to conflating the Israel government with all Jewish people. Sadly, nothing has contributed more to the rise of antisemitism than the decades of cruelty by Israel to the Palestinians.

The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition is also problematic by identifying criticism of Israeli as antisemitic and stifling free expression from people who want to oppose the situation but fear appearing antisemitic.

“Never forget. Never repeat” would have more meaning if the argument included current events/atrocities/violence/horrors and condemned the same acts of cruelty that the history we wish to preserve highlights.

Anne Romney, Portsmouth

Union Leader February 6, 2026

To the Editor: We’re living in unprecedented times of rising authoritarianism. The Most Reverend Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, laments what he calls “the cruelties, killings and merciless demonstrations of raw power that have been raging throughout the world … atrocities of war in the Holy Land and Gaza, repressive governments, starving and battered children” and “reliance upon unjust and arbitrary laws governing immigration…”

Being Jewish, I was raised to be wary of fascism’s early warning signs — people deemed undesirable first scapegoated, then segregated, and finally murdered in the name of a racist ideology. I thought any comparison to the “Shoah” (destruction) was a dangerous form of erasure that dishonored both victims and survivors. The Holocaust Museum, the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations also oppose the analogy, warning against comparisons that equate ICE agents with Nazi storm troopers or the suffering of children like Hind Rajab and Liam Ramos with that of Anne Frank.

Now, as a member of Not In My Name NH, a group of mostly Jews advocating for a permanent cease fire, increase in humanitarian aid and self determination for the Palestinian people, I believe these priorities, rooted in human dignity and compassion, transcend politics. Though more than 71,000 Palestinians murdered might number less than six million, we must never forget that in order to truly honor the lessons of history every life lost deserves full moral weight and that tragedies don’t need to be numerically comparable for us to grieve them fully.

ANN W. PODLIPNY, Chester

Concord Monitor February 5, 2026
Gestapo tactics can overwhelm our safety

On the last (frigid-temps) day of January, hundreds gathered at the New Hampshire State House plaza for signs-holding. Predominantly: ICE OUT. We’re not in Minnesota or Maine, but care. We recognize Gestapo tactics as ICE agents break down doors, detain people (especially if Mexican-“colored” or Somali like Congresswoman Omar Ilhan), rough up people, out-number their victims. All without justification. All this bad while masked and minus legally-required, personal warrants.

At Homeland Security D.C. headquarters, parrot Sec. Kristi Noem, brain wiped out by whatever our toxic president offered when he elevated her beyond her competency to be Secretary overseeing ICE, doesn’t recognize how her agents behave badly, unlawfully.

Saturday’s speaker with us — a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor. She is the first woman to have a Ph.D. from M.I.T. Not spending speaking time on Holocaust experience, she warned us about ICE’s being like Hitler’s Gestapo. Her reason for her and her granddaughter’s presence: we must not accept and fold to the Gestapo tactics of ICE. That history gap of his may explain his failure to get the importance of NATO, to our loss.

Lynn Rudmin Chong, Sanbornton

Concord Monitor, January 29, 2026
There is no ceasefire in Gaza

A recent podcast hosted by a prominent New York Times journalist featured a guest who asserted that “the war in Gaza is over.” Despite the October 2025 ceasefire, this claim does not reflect reality.

Hostilities have not truly ended. Civilians in Gaza continue to suffer and die as the ceasefire remains fragile, frequently violated, and overshadowed by the ongoing blockade and humanitarian crisis. The devastation of infrastructure, lack of access to basic necessities, and lingering military actions have created conditions of sustained catastrophe rather than peace.

The United States remains deeply implicated in these circumstances. Through the continued provision of military aid, weapons and technology, it sustains the very machinery of destruction that perpetuates Palestinian suffering. Public opinion polling shows that a majority of Americans oppose such blanket support, yet federal policy lags far behind this moral consensus.

As the ten-year Memorandum of Understanding that formalized U.S. weapons funding for Israel nears expiration, both governments are discussing a potential reduction in direct Foreign Military Funding. While such a move may appear to signal progress, it is undermined by efforts from policy groups such as the Heritage Foundation to expand “co-development and co-production” of weapons with Israel. This rebranding effectively continues U.S. complicity under a different name.

Lasting peace and justice require more than semantic shifts in policy. Legislators must be urged to end all forms of material support for state violence and confront the moral consequences of continued participation in human suffering.

David DeTour, Weare

January 24, 2026 – Concord Monitor
Senator Hassan’s spirit of 1776?

I received an email from Senator Hassan regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, events that ended as follows: “Looking ahead, we’re going to have to decide as a country if we’re going to be governed by the spirit of January 6 – lawlessness, authoritarianism, and extremism – or the spirit of 1776 – a love of freedom, defense of democracy, and respect for the rule of law.”

I am still reeling from the ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good, our government’s assault on Venezuela, its funding of Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians and President Trump’s threat of war with Iran. I want to believe the Senator’s commitment to freedom, democracy and the rule of law, but given her past decisions, I remain skeptical.

Lovers of freedom, defenders of democracy and those who respect the rule of law don’t support apartheid and genocide, with votes in support of the Israeli regime. They don’t support legislation in contravention of our First Amendment that conflates legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism or that impedes free speech with anti-boycott laws. They don’t hide behind explanations of Israel’s brutal oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people with phrases like “it’s complicated.”

The failure of politicians to put the needs of our people and our Constitution first, rather than the interests of powerful lobbies such as AIPAC, has placed our nation on a slippery authoritarian slope. A lover of freedom, democracy and the rule of law recognizes the humanity and freedom rights of all people and acts accordingly.

John T. Fussell, Dover

Intelligence

As 2026 begins to hit its stride and we pray nourish our hopes for it, it might be wise to look
around. In his December 8 column in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman addresses the war in Ukraine and how to end it. In his opening, he argues that a Munich style truce, such as the one President Trump has proposed, would be a disaster. Like the Munich Pact, it wouldn’t last, all the concessions would be on Ukraine’s side, it would leave Vladimir Putin free to resume the war at his pleasure, and it would continue the Ukrainian people’s suffering.

Any lasting peace, Friedman insists, will require tough, rigorous, careful negotiating, flexibility and concessions on both sides, and firm guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty. It won’t be pretty, and it won’t be perfect, but as he phrases it, a dirty deal would be better than a filthy one.So far, so good. Then he pokes fun at Putin: why is Russia wasting resources on a slog of a war when it could develop artificial intelligence instead, and get in on the greatest technological revolution ever before it falls too far behind countries which are already in? Buried in the joke is the sly hint that the US might do the same by pulling back on its own military adventures, even though Trump has given the techies the order to go full speed ahead. Damn the environmental torpedoes!That’s where Friedman’s argument goes off its track. Artificial intelligence is hugely capital,
water, and energy intensive. Once running, the data centers will fry the planet, not to mention the higher electric bills and blackouts their voracious appetite will cause. How about some taxpayer subsidies and fossil fuel fire to keep those data centers going, scarecrow?As he often does, Friedman has proposed a technological and entrepreneurial solution to a moral and political problem. All that does is further entrench the advantages of a military-plutocratic elite and worsen the socio-economic and environmental damage which results. What’s more, the events of January 3 have made his proposal irrelevant.
We’ve already blown our chance to keep global warming below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.Now that it’s 2026, we’ve got four more years to cut fossil fuel use enough to keep the planet below 2.0. Right now, fossil fuel use is still rising and the warming is headed toward 2.6.Rather than artificial intelligence, how about some actual intelligence instead? New START
expires in three weeks. While that’s too short a time to get a new arms control pact, how about beginning the negotiations to get there? Or are the business opportunities from a breakneck arms race too tempting for the powers-that-be on all sides to resist?
How about saving the money, energy, and water that data centers would consume for human use-at least until we know how to control them and the AI they’d serve?

How about putting an end to our president’s flamboyant criminality, which he flaunted as he bombed Venezuela’s capital and kidnapped its president, while he continues to finance genocide in Gaza? How about breaking our long-standing habit of overthrowing foreign governments whose leaders disagree with our policies? How about providing enough decent food, pay, housing, clean energy, and affordable health care for everyone? Yes, everyone. How about doing all we can to salvage the environment upon which all our planet’s life depends? And how about doing all we can to make America safe for democracy?That would be a proper way to offer homage to Martin Luther King’s birthday, the anniversary of which we observe today.

John Raby, January 15, 2026

Concord Monitor – 1/9/26
National security?

Recently, Congress passed and President Trump signed legislation authorizing a record $901 billion in military spending for FY 2026. It had bipartisan support: 312-112 in the House and 77-20 in the Senate. However, there is no bipartisanship on our national health care crisis. Congress adjourned last month without addressing the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, resulting in large increases in health insurance premiums for about 22 million Americans. Congress has also done nothing about the escalating cost of medical care.

The mantra accepted by too many is that our “national security” requires billions and billions of taxpayer dollars and ballooning federal deficits. Are we more secure because an armada of U.S. warships — including a $13 billion aircraft carrier, some 15,000 military personnel and advanced technology which murdered some 115 people in small boats off Venezuela that posed no immediate threat to anyone? Are we more secure because of President Trump’s “Christmas present” strikes on rural Nigeria? Are we more secure because U.S. weaponry still kills people in Palestine despite a “ceasefire”? Does providing $142 billion in military technology to Saudi Arabia make us more secure?

That many of us can no longer afford essential medical care and that our children and grandchildren will be burdened by deficits passed on to them does not make us more secure.

Bjorn Lange, Concord

Concord Monitor – January 8, 2026
Remove Trump and Netanyahu from power

The attack on Venezuela was clearly a violation of the UN Charter and International Law. Quite simply, it wasn’t about Nicolas Maduro being behind sending cocaine into the U.S., it was about the largest reserves of oil in the world. Recall the 2003 attack on Iraq? It was called “Operation Iraqi Liberation” — OIL. Same thing with Venezuela — Operation Absolute Resolve which translates to the U.S. resolving to seize Venezuela’s oil!

Trump is “off the rails” and such a hypocrite as he has pardoned several major drug smugglers including ex-Honduran president, Juan Hernandez, after he was convicted of working with drug smugglers to ship 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S. Hernandez had been sentenced to serve 47 years in prison but the convicted felon, set him free!

Trump and his sycophants represent a “clear and present danger” to both the U.S. and to the world. Moreover, he and his buddy, Netanyahu, are global anarchists and terrorists. Would that the citizens of both the U.S. and of Israel, remove these fascist leaders from their positions of power, nonviolently.

William Thomas, Manchester

December 20, 2025 OpEd, Union Leader

Karishma Manzur: Let’s not have a repeat of Iraq debacle in Venezuela

WE MUST learn from the disastrous second Iraq war and stop President Donald Trump from dragging the United States into another unjustified conflict, this time in Venezuela.

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration assured Americans that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, posed an imminent terrorist threat, that Iraqis would welcome U.S. forces as liberators, and that the war would be quick and inexpensive. All of these claims proved false.

The Bush administration manipulated intelligence reports. The war lasted years, it spilled into Syria, killed more than 575,000 Iraqis and Syrians, took the lives of 4,492 American service members, injured more than 32,000 service members, cost an estimated $6 trillion, destabilized the region, and left Iraq under yet another authoritarian regime.

Those lessons should be taken seriously because the Trump administration is using a similar playbook with Venezuela.

Trump has labeled President Nicolas Maduro a narco-terrorist responsible for America’s fentanyl crisis. Administration allies insist Venezuelans would welcome U.S. intervention and that removing Maduro would bring democracy. These assurances echo the false promises used to justify the Iraq war. But the facts do not support Trump’s claims.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the fentanyl supply is coming primarily from Mexico, produced with chemicals from China. The Trump administration has provided no evidence linking Maduro to the fentanyl epidemic. Yet it has ordered the U.S. military to carry out lethal strikes on alleged smuggling boats, killing some 90 people.

Even if these individuals were drug traffickers, extrajudicial killings violate U.S. criminal law, including murder statutes that apply on the high seas. These killings were illegal and constitute murder.

The Trump administration is continuing to further escalate tensions by stationing a U.S. Navy carrier group off Venezuela’s coast, restricting Venezuelan airspace, and reportedly authorizing covert CIA operations. Military generals and admirals have been dismissed or sidelined, including Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command, who questioned the legality of the boat strikes.

These steps point to Trump marching the United States toward a war that would endanger U.S. service members and inflict enormous human and financial costs.

Trump’s rationale to stop drug trafficking is contradicted by his recent plans to pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez. A notorious drug trafficker who was convicted in U.S. federal court for trafficking more than 500 tons of cocaine into the U.S., and was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison.

If stopping illegal drugs were the true priority, such a pardon by Trump is inexplicable.

The more plausible motive is control of oil reserves. Just as Iraq’s oil reserves were a driving force behind the 2003 invasion and directly benefited corporations tied to the Bush administration, Venezuela’s vast oil reserves now appear to be shaping Trump’s agenda.

We cannot allow another disastrous war. For decades, direct or indirect interventions by the U.S. across Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and elsewhere have killed thousands of civilians, led to environmental devastation, mass displacement, hunger, disease, and produced millions of refugees.

The conflicts have also diverted billions of taxpayer funds that could have helped communities here at home. We are currently spending an astronomical amount of $900 billion annually that could instead be invested in housing, health care, public education, child care, infrastructure, and other essential services for the American people.

Like most Granite Staters, I believe our foreign policy must protect our service members, uphold the rule of law, and strengthen national security.

We must demand that Congress members confront executive overreach, investigate potential war crimes being committed by the Trump administration, and halt this dangerous escalation toward conflict with Venezuela.

This conflict will endanger our service members, harm Venezuelans, drain our financial resources, add to our national debt, and repeat the catastrophic mistakes of Iraq. We must act now to prevent another war built on lies.

Karishma Manzur, PhD, is a Democratic candidate for the 2026 U.S. Senate election. She lives in Exeter.

December 4, 2025

Would you speak up for Palestinians?

While most people in America and around the world acknowledge that a genocide has occurred in Gaza, little attention has focused on the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. According to NPR, Israel’s government is once again defying international law by using its military and its 700,000 “settlers” to drive Palestinians off their land.

Human Rights Watch says 32,000 Palestinians were expelled recently from three refugee camps in the West Bank which constitute war crimes while since Oct. 7, 2023, more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces and by illegal Jewish “settlers” who have escalated their violent attacks on Palestinians.

The UN says that 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank were displaced when Israel demolished their homes while a further 500 people were made homeless in East Jerusalem. Yuli Novak, director of Israel’s human rights organization, B’Tselem, notes the “international community must put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold those responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people to account.”

Israel’s government has made clear they wish to annex the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem. Human rights advocates say this makes Israel guilty of “crimes against humanity” and a serial violator of international law which Israel ignores. It can do so because its benefactor, the U.S. Congress supports Israel unconditionally.

Would you speak up for Palestinians who are seen by Israelis as “animals” and “cockroaches,” stripping these human beings of their dignity and humanity?

Will Thomas, Manchester

Concord Monitor – November 28, 2025
Reaching out beyond our borders

Over the holidays, human suffering may be the last thing on our minds. Though inevitable, it can’t be ignored — Gaza is just hours away.

While Hallmark cards proclaim Peace, Love, Joy, symbolized by an olive branch in a dove’s beak, Palestinian-owned olive trees are being destroyed to further limit food access. No harvest means an empty stomach and the $3.8 billion spent in federal funding for Israel’s defense is financing a bloodbath.

Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl was killed fleeing Gaza City along with her family members. She pleaded on the phone with her mother while blood gushed out of her mouth staining the dress she didn’t want her mother to have to wash.

Artist Frans Al Salmi was killed by the Israeli military while painting a canvas that became stained with her own blood instead of its intended colors, her depiction of a martyr facing the same fate as her own.

Issa Amro, longtime peace activist recently nominated for a Nobel Prize praises international solidarity for helping Palestinian resistance. “You are our energy, you are our power, you are our protection — and you are giving us hope to continue and remain fighting and staying in the land.”

Though “Peace on Earth” may never be possible, “good will toward men” always is. By contributing this season to organizations like World Central Kitchen and Friends of Hebron we transform suffering into purpose and and give true meaning to the dove’s mission.

Ann Podlipny, Chester

Concord Monitor – November 19, 2025
Reality of fighting genocides

I recently attended a program on genocide prevention and education sponsored by the World Affairs Council and the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. It promised a “powerful” discussion on resisting “tools of hate” using “present-day parallels.” Thus, I expected a focus on Gaza since it’s certainly present-day, it’s plausibly been called a genocide, and there have been accusations of media bias. Not to mention, it’s funded with our taxpayer dollars.

I was disappointed.

While discussing how “hate” grows and how to stop it (don’t embrace stereotypes, see the good in others, talk to those you disagree with), they focused on genocides far away. More importantly, their focus on grassroots hate actually misses the point. Genocides are top-down campaigns. They serve some interest of the powerful who will tolerate no dissent. The critical element of all genocides is the ruthless suppression of the good people who always push back. The truth-tellers.

Hitler and Stalin both brutally persecuted those who spoke out. Here in America, we punish truth-tellers, too. They’re maliciously accused of antisemitism (even when they’re Jewish). Truth-telling academics lose funding or get fired. Students are denied degrees or deported. Those donating to help Gazans risk charges of “material support for terrorism” and years in prison. Conscience-driven economic boycotts of Israel are outlawed. Truth-telling legislators are “primaried” and censured.

This is the reality the panel should have explored. Fighting genocides requires confronting powerful interests at great personal risk. Perhaps it’s that truth that kept them silent.

Patricia Saenger, Temple

Janet Simmon: US Tax dollars should not be used to support Israel, intercepting aid
Nov 4, 2025

To The Daily Sun,

Since 2007, mercy ships have been attempting to carry aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. On Oct. 1, New Hampshire state Rep. Ellen Read sailed with a flotilla of 42 boats with 462 people from 47 nations to take medicine, food and water to Gaza. The flotilla was organized to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and mobilize millions worldwide to stand for humanity.

All the flotilla’s vessels were illegally intercepted by Israeli ships in international waters. Their communications were systematically jammed.

They are beginning to return and tell their stories.

They were taken to the port of Ashdod then to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert.

Reports from Americans who were held:

“An Israeli military vessel circling, shining a spotlight on us, and we knew that if they decided to ram us or stop right in front of us, and we hit them, we could sink.”

“They came and hit us right away with spotlights and with high pressure water cannons. … It pounded me in the back of the head, whacked my head right into the steering wheel, and I lost vision.”

“They took my passport, zip-tied me, chained my ankles.”

“Four or five soldiers or military prison guards beat me, punching me in my stomach, back, all around my torso, and they clubbed me on the back of the neck.”

“I didn’t meet a single person who saw a lawyer, and we asked at every opportunity.”

Some reported medications withheld, guards in the night with shotguns, dogs, riot shields.

Our U.S. Consulate, whose job is to help our citizens abroad, refused assistance.

These courageous humanitarians put their lives on the line. I protest my tax dollars being used to support such attacks.

Ellen Read was scheduled to return to NH on Nov. 3.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Letter: Step back from the nuclear brink

November 4, 2025

Last week, Donald Trump declared the United States would resume testing of nuclear warheads, something we suspended in 1992. The other major nuclear powers stopped testing, too, achieving a major step back from the nuclear arms race which made the Cold War so perilous.

In recent years, all three nuclear powers have invested heavily in new ways to deliver nuclear warheads but to this point, all have refrained from nuclear test explosions.

The knowledge that leaders such as Trump and Putin have control over omnicidal arsenals is and should be terrifying. The fact that Trump’s statements reveal his own ignorance about the arsenal and nuclear testing is alarming.

I hope that the alarm bells are ringing loudly on Capitol Hill. Senator Shaheen called Trump’s statement “dangerous and reckless.” I hope Senator Hassan and Representatives Goodlander and Pappas, likewise, denounce Trump’s plan.

There is an alternative: Instead of marching willfully to the nuclear brink we can take a step in the opposite direction. That direction is expressed in resolutions (SRes 323 and HRes 317) calling for a negotiated pathway toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the removal of the president’s sole authority to launch them. I urge the New Hampshire delegation to provide their endorsements.

In the early 1980s, New Hampshire communities were at the forefront of a national movement calling for the nuclear arms race to be halted. That movement contributed to Ronald Reagan’s change of heart and a turn toward sanity. It’s time for another such reversal.

Arnie Alpert and Judy Elliott, Canterbury

October 31, 2025 – Concord Monitor
Gaza genocide continues despite ceasefire

The announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza was good news. Despite being hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough, facts paint a darker picture.

Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack was never defensible. It dropped hundreds of massive bunker buster bombs on the small enclave despite not knowing where the hostages were held and despite knowing that Gaza was densely populated with children and families. By inflicting indiscriminate killing and maximum damage, Israel exposed its genocidal intent from the very start.

Instead of restraining Israel’s devastating attacks, Washington rushed more weapons and more aid to super-charge the carnage. Congress cheered right along (including our four legislators).

Over the next two years, Washington actively undermined all ceasefire efforts. We vetoed six UN ceasefire resolutions, continued sending powerful weapons, defunded humanitarian aid agencies and condemned international legal bodies critical of Israel.

Not until Gaza was virtually wiped off the face of the Earth did Israel suddenly “agree” to a ceasefire with Trump posturing as deal maker. In reality, this ceasefire just signaled a new phase in the Gaza genocide. The “hot war” may have ended but Israel is still dropping bombs and still blocking desperately needed food and aid. Washington talks tough but does nothing while Gazans are still facing existential death and desolation.

Make no mistake, the genocide continues and we are still complicit.

Tricia Saenger, Temple

October 30, 2025 – Concord Monitor
Fragile ceasefire – Israel-Gaza War

Whether a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza War is maintained remains to be seen. History has shown that brokered ceasefires have not been held or were difficult to maintain when one side’s conditions in an agreement were not fulfilled. Meanwhile the spirit of the Palestinian people remains one of resistance and persistence.

The Israeli Defense Forces have used access to food and medical care as a bargaining chip in ceasefire negotiations. Food restriction to a civilian population is a violation of international humanitarian law.

During the two-year Israeli-Gaza War, approximately 400 secure food distribution sites were providing food and medical care to Palestinians in Gaza. In early 2025, Israel banned the aid system known as the UN Relief and Works Agency.

In May of 2025, another system was established entitled The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation backed by both the U.S. and Israel. The GHF network, however, only provided four distribution sites, three of which were co-located in offensive combat zones where the IDF was undergoing military operations.

As American taxpayers, we are currently providing funding used by the IDF and stand complicit in the treatment and dire conditions that remain in Gaza. Please contact your U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, and Representatives Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas. Urge each of them to end U.S. funding for weapons used by the IDF. Ask your representatives to sign on to H.R. 3565 which is called Block the Bombs Act.

Bob Moore, East Kingston

October 30, 2025 – Concord Monitor

By BOB SANDERS

You can greet the news of a peace deal in Gaza with either cynicism or hope. I choose both. My brain mainly agrees with the cynics, but my heart mostly embraces the hope, though both organs are conflicted.

The cynics say that this is just another pause in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Gaza, to make way for a land grab by Israel, a cleansing that is becoming so thorough it has crossed the line into attempted genocide: the near extermination of the Palestinian people on that land, through death and terrorism.

They point to the fact that these pauses have happened before to assuage public opinion — dating back to the Camp David accord — but the killing resumes once the pressure is lifted.

I say, yeah, but what caused pause this time?

Conventional wisdom said that Donald Trump strong-armed Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister went overboard by bombing Hamas negotiators in Qatar. To convince the prime minister, the president reportedly said that Israel couldn’t fight the whole world.

In this case, the president was right, and Netanyahu knew it.

The whole world did turn against Israel. They’ve had it with the incessant mass murder via bombings, shootings, destruction of infrastructure, starvation on such a massive scale that it practically eclipsed the horror Hamas inflicted on Oct. 7.

Public opinion was shifting rapidly. In the United States, a large majority opposed Israel’s policies. Heck, a slim majority of my fellow Jews agreed. I didn’t need a poll to tell me this. When I rode across the country with my Ride Against War on Gaza jersey this summer, I got unbelievable support and nearly no opposition. Internationally, peace demonstrations have reached a fever pitch, pressuring governments to recognize Palestine, and back ever-increasing multi-country flotillas of aid to break the inhumane blockade to a starving population.

No, Israel and Hamas didn’t agree to this just because of Trump. Trump and Netanyahu halted the bombing because of a worldwide peace movement that we haven’t seen the likes of since Vietnam.

That gives me hope. That’s what gives Palestinians hope, that brings many of them out on the streets dancing, that has them marching to what is left of their homes, only to find in many cases that they had no homes. They aren’t stupid. They know this could all fall apart. But they have just seen the “whole world” rise up to support them and that help stopped the bombs from falling.

This movement was never just about a cease fire, but a permanent sustainable cease fire, a lasting peace. And you can’t have peace when Israel continues to occupy Gaza and West bank, where they continue to control land and water in favor of one ethnic group over another.

Palestinians need to be treated equally, whether it is in one state or two. That is the only way both sides can be free of the threat of violence breaking out again. Trump’s plan for Gaza does little to address that, and that’s why the cynics are probably right. Chances are this pause is going to come to end, and the hope of those Palestinians, celebrating at the mere interruption of their killing, are going to be dashed again. If we let that happen.

A lasting peace is never perfect. But it is possible. It happened in Ireland. It happened in South Africa. It can happen in Israel and Palestine. But the “whole world” has to be in on it, has to be watching, has to keep up the pressure. Now is not the time to wait and see what is going to happen, to stop protesting, to reward Israel with billions more for arms. Because it is not over, until it really is over.

During this pause, we must cut off military aid to Israel, for its war crimes and to discourage continued military action against Palestinians. Israel is a powerful country that can defend itself, and they don’t need billions of dollars from us. Maybe if their citizens are taxed to pay for this permanent war and occupation (rather than ours) they won’t be so supportive of it.

We make sure the organizations giving humanitarian aid are unimpeded (and that includes the United Nation’s UNRWA).

We must push for a peace negotiation that include those who speak for Palestine, and that works toward a future where both Palestinians and Israelis manage to share that land in peace and as equals.

We can’t let this slim chance for peace slip away.

Bob Sanders, a founder of Not In My Name, Inc., a group of Jews opposed to Israeli’s policies against Palestine, biked 3,000 miles across the country over the summer in his Ride Against War on Gaza (RAW GAZA).

Goodlander backs antisemitism bill

October 24, 2025

Former Senior White House aide Maggie Goodlander answers a questions during a Valley Newsâ€™ editorial board meeting on Monday, July 22, 2024, in West Lebanon, N.H. Goodlander is running in the Democratic primary for New Hampshireâ€™s Second Congressional District after longtime incumbent Annie Kuster made public her decision to step down.

By JOHN S. HANCOCK II

Rep. Maggie Goodlander’s third-largest campaign donor, the pro-Israel group NORPAC, is holding a fundraiser for her in Teaneck, N.J., on Oct. 26. The group’s primary purpose is to raise campaign funds for pro-Israel candidates and to lobby for its legislative agenda. That agenda includes a bill that would codify a controversial definition of antisemitism into law — one that 104 human rights groups warn “wrongly label[s] criticism of Israel as antisemitic.” More than 700 NORPAC members met with 350 congressional offices on May 20, asking them to specifically sponsor this bill. And on May 29, Goodlander became a co-sponsor.

NORPAC’s upcoming fundraiser will be the second it’s held for Goodlander. The first occurred one year ago, on Oct. 9. Photographs from that first event were posted on NORPAC’s Facebook page and show Goodlander smiling alongside the group’s top leaders. Among those leaders was the fundraiser’s host: Allen Friedman, chairman of NORPAC’s “talking points committee.”

On April 29, Friedman appeared in a YouTube video titled “How to Talk to Congress About Israel,” and explained, in stunning detail, NORPAC’s strategy for getting pro-Israel legislation passed. According to Friedman, the group arranges meetings with members of Congress and approaches them with four rehearsed “talking points.” Each one of these talking points ends with an “ask” for a legislative commitment. As Friedman explains, “our goal is to walk out of that meeting with either a willingness to co-sponsor a particular piece of legislation, or at least to think carefully about co-sponsoring a particular piece of legislation.”

One of the key pieces of legislation Friedman highlighted was the Antisemitism Awareness Act. This bill would force the Department of Education to reference a controversial definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. And Friedman is remarkably clear about why NORPAC supports it: “The key element there is that it equates anti-Zionism and antisemitism.”

The ACLU vehemently opposes this bill, warning that the IHRA definition “would likely chill free speech … by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.” If the bill passes, schools will be forced to either crack down on criticism of Israel or risk finding themselves in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. And just a single violation could result in a devastating loss of federal funding.

While the bill has not yet passed, the crackdown on free speech has already started under the Trump administration. Columbia University, for example, was threatened with losing $400 million in federal funds for allegedly not protecting Jewish students during campus protests. In its fight to restore that funding, the university adopted the very IHRA definition this bill seeks to codify nationwide.

On April 30, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke about the Senate version of this bill, saying, “I worry very much that the Antisemitism Awareness Act, that we are considering today, is unconstitutional and will move us far along in the authoritarian direction that the Trump administration is taking us.”

Sanders is right to be worried. Of the bill’s 88 sponsors in the House, the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is the top donor for 53% of them, according to OpenSecrets donor data. But what’s really breathtaking is the donor data that’s exclusive to Democrats. Of the 26 Democrats who sponsored this bill, which includes Goodlander, AIPAC is the top donor for 85% of them.

This is not a coincidence. The overwhelming majority of Democrats who sponsored this anti-free speech bill are financially dependent on pro-Israel donors. This is a great example of why Sanders said, “No Democrat should accept money from AIPAC.” And it applies just as much to NORPAC.

According to Federal Election Commission data, Goodlander has received over $114,000 from AIPAC and NORPAC combined, with a mere 5% of the funds coming from New Hampshire. This is not a model of representation that benefits New Hampshire constituents: It is the model of a transaction that benefits New Jersey donors.

If we hope to compete with these outside interests, then we are going to have to start making “asks” of our own. And the president of NORPAC, Dr. Ben Chouake, has given us the blueprint to become effective like they are. As he rightly says, “One person making a phone call makes a difference to a member of Congress.” Let’s take his advice.

Please, call Goodlander’s Concord office at (603) 226-1002 and politely ask the question that addresses this conflict of interest: Will Goodlander continue to accept money from NORPAC?

John S. Hancock II lives in Concord. He can be reached at JHancock2@ProtonMail.com.

October 22, 2025 – Concord Monitor
Keep their story alive

The recent No Kings protest drew huge, spirited crowds rallying in both serious and carnivalesque fashion against our current administration’s fascist agenda. I’ve noticed that one rallying cry has been virtually absent from the protests I’ve attended — the plight of the Palestinian people.

Let’s not forget Trump’s complicity in the tens of billions of dollars sent to Israel in offensive military aid and high tech weaponry or the diplomatic cover he has been given in the last two years. Let’s not mistakenly think that this latest “peace agreement” has resolved the issue of the Palestinian right to self determination.

I often attend the Indigenous National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock, Mass., where there is a regular presence of Palestinian supporters in solidarity with Native Americans. Both have similarly experienced oppression through government policies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, forced removal, starvation and genocide.

With profound appreciation for 50501 and many other organizations in the resistance movement, I urge them to remember that Palestinians are human beings and like every Israeli killed or held hostage they too have names. Let’s honor their story by holding signs for a free Palestine, and at future rallies continue to call for a just peace in the Middle East.

Ann Podlipny, Chester

October 17, 2025 – Concord Monitor
Gaza ceasefire is not the end goal

I am relieved that, for now, the violence, starvation and devastation throughout Gaza have stopped. I hope the surviving hostages will be able to heal in time. This brutality needed to stop — but that is just the beginning of what will be an immense period of grieving, PTSD and rebuilding.

Historically, people from outside Palestine only pay attention when the conflict erupts — and turn away when things quiet down. For Palestinians, things never quiet down. For decades they have lived under oppression, occupation and apartheid. That things can return to “normal” is an impossible notion. The world has watched and there has been no attempt to hide the cruelty. Israelis, too, are forever changed by these events and can hardly return to feelings of security and impunity they had prior to Oct. 7.

The new peace “deal” is not a deal for Palestinians. They are not even granted citizenship in their own land. I, as an American Jew, could go to Israel tomorrow and become a citizen. How does this not lead to more resistance, more uprisings, more violence, more loss? All people want to live with dignity, safety and self-determination. A democracy is not a democracy if it only applies to one segment of the population.

I implore Americans, Jewish and other, to stand up for Palestinian rights by telling our politicians that this war is not over — that the battle for Palestinian human rights wages on and this country has a role to play in helping that fight.

Anne G Romney, Portsmouth

Goodlander talks Gaza – Concord Monitor

October 14, 2025

By JOHN S. HANCOCK II

In my Aug. 20 op-ed, I asked you to join me in calling Rep. Maggie Goodlander’s office about her top campaign donor, the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. You did. And in doing so, you achieved something I had failed to accomplish for nine weeks — you got a response. On Aug. 22, Goodlander issued her first press release addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Now, as a fragile ceasefire takes hold in the region, it’s critical to examine the record of our representatives during this crisis. And for Goodlander, the place to start is with her press release.

The timing was unmistakable. On Aug. 20, my op-ed had criticized Goodlander for not co-sponsoring a resolution that calls for urgent aid to Gaza. And on Aug. 22, her press release stated she would soon become a co-sponsor.

On Aug. 25, I received a phone call from Goodlander’s new Chief of Staff Mariana de Vreeze. She informed me that Goodlander had read my op-ed and would be in touch within the next couple of weeks to schedule a meeting.

I’m very appreciative that Goodlander reached out to me, and that a statement was made on the famine in Gaza. However, her press release also made a striking claim, stating that “Goodlander has been a consistent voice for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and the urgent delivery of critical aid to Gaza.”

This claim stood in stark contrast with my own experience.

Over nine weeks, I had called Goodlander’s office 29 times with basic questions on Iran and Gaza. Those questions went completely unanswered. And when I searched Goodlander’s website and social media pages for information on Gaza, nothing ever came up.

I later confirmed with her office that up until the Aug. 22 press release, this was the only time Goodlander had made a public statement on Gaza while in public office.

While Goodlander’s decision to co-sponsor the resolution that calls for urgent aid to Gaza (H.Res. 473) is a welcome development, it is important to understand what this resolution actually does. As a non-binding resolution, it only acts as a symbolic gesture of support — nothing more. Even if the resolution Goodlander co-sponsored was passed, it would still do nothing to deliver aid to Gaza.

A bill to do deliver aid was introduced in Congress in March 2025 (H.R. 2411). This is the bill that would restore funding to UNRWA, the United Nations humanitarian agency that was, by far, Gaza’s largest provider of food and medicine. While 69 of Goodlander’s colleagues have sponsored this vital legislation, she has not. And her decision has life-and-death consequences.

No other organization can match UNRWA’s capacity to deliver aid in Gaza. During the crisis, it provided shelter to one million people, clean water to 600,000, facilitated 63% of the population’s health care, and delivered two-thirds of all food aid. But now, UNRWA warns its “financial situation is disastrous,” putting all those essential services in danger.

UNRWA’s struggles are a direct result of AIPAC’s lobbying. In March 2024, Congress voted to defund UNRWA, giving Israel the green light to begin dismantling the UN agency altogether. One year later, Israel started blocking UNRWA’s food deliveries from entering Gaza, and the result was a man-made famine, with children starving to death.

This was the context in which Goodlander chose to support a symbolic, non-binding resolution, but not the bill to save Gaza’s largest provider of food and medicine. Her decision creates the appearance of taking action, while doing nothing to deviate from the agenda of her top donor, AIPAC.

This raises an alarming question: Are AIPAC-supported politicians deceptively using symbolic gestures, like resolutions, as substitutes for meaningful action? An analysis of the OpenSecrets donor data for both pieces of legislation reveals a disturbing trend.

The symbolic resolution was first introduced on June 4, and its sponsors fall into two distinct categories: the 102 members who signed on early, within the first month of the resolution’s introduction, and the 21 who signed later on.

Of the 102 “early” sponsors, AIPAC is the top donor for 15% of them. But for the 21 “late” sponsors — Goodlander’s group — that number skyrockets to a staggering 52%. And the contrast with the bill to save UNRWA is even more telling: Of its 69 sponsors, AIPAC is the top donor for just 6%.

Even as children starved to death, AIPAC-supported candidates still failed to support the bill that would save lives. Instead, they turned to the symbolic resolution for political cover from their own constituents.

It is of the utmost importance that we ensure New Hampshire takes no part in these deadly charades ever again.

It has now been seven weeks since Goodlander’s office promised to contact me within a couple of weeks to schedule a meeting. That has not happened. In the 118 days since I began asking questions, I have experienced only one moment of success: when you picked up your phones. It is now clear to me that your calls alone will determine if we get answers. So I am asking you to join me once again.

Please, call Goodlander’s Concord office and respectfully ask the exact same question that you asked in August: Will Goodlander continue to accept money from AIPAC?

John S. Hancock II lives in Concord. He can be reached at JHancock2@ProtonMail.com.

America – A shining city on a hill?

In the eyes of the world, America has lost all integrity and moral authority — Gaza is genocide pure and simple, aided and abetted by enormous U.S. economic, military and diplomatic support. Israel has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians, mostly woman, children and non-combatants. It uses systematic starvation, an internationally condemned war crime, as a tactic. It has killed at least 270 Palestinian journalists, preventing them from reporting facts on the ground which contradict the Israeli “narrative.”

Netanyahu and his Zionist zealots may succeed short term in “eradicating” Hamas, but this will only sow the seeds for other groups to arise. Calling out Israel does not excuse the immoral actions of other actors in the area, but doing to others what was done to you to prevent it from happening to you again, besides being morally bankrupt, is more likely to encourage the very conduct and bigotry you fear and condemn.

Gaza and much of Palestine has been pulverized. A two-state solution is meaningless when all that is left is rubble. My tax dollars have gone to arm and support a regime that intends to obliterate another people, and I’m forced to give to non-profits to address the devastation Israel has caused. Are we truly a “shining city on a hill”? Contact Congress to let them know this is not acceptable; not what America should be or stand for. Urge Congress to pass HB-3565 Block The Bombs Act, a small step towards Israel accountability.

GREGORY DAVIS, SALEM

OpEd, Union Leader, 9-17/25 (another version of this was printed in the Concord Monitor 9/23/25)

RECENTLY, a program titled “The General’s Son Speaks: Confronting Truth in Israel-Palestine” was scheduled at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth. The speaker, Miko Peled, the son of an Israeli general, planned to share his personal story of questioning what he had been taught and seeking a path toward peace. However, before the event could take place, 3S Artspace received threats of violence.

With concern for everyone’s safety, the program was canceled. No judgment here, the officers and staff at 3S Artspace were legitimately fearful of violence directed at staff, the public and the building itself.

At first glance, this might seem like the loss of just one local educational event. But what happened reflects a much deeper problem. When fear and intimidation silence people, we all lose something essential.

Free speech is more than a legal right — it is the foundation that allows us to live, learn, and grow together. When it’s denied through threats or violence, the damage extends far beyond a single cancelled event.

Sadly, this deliberate silencing of voices is not isolated. In recent months, our country has witnessed an alarming rise in political violence. Former President and then-candidate Donald Trump was targeted by assassination attempts on July 13, 2024, and Sept. 15, 2024. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro survived an attempt on April 13. In Minnesota, state Rep. Melissa Hortman was killed and state Sen. John Hoffman wounded in an attack on June 14. Then, on Sept. 10, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered in another targeted attack.

These acts of violence cross party lines and should deeply concern us all. When people try to silence others with bullets instead of words, democracy itself is at risk. Free speech depends on the shared agreement that ideas are met with ideas — not fear, not violence.

Ezra Klein recently wrote: “Political violence is contagious. It is spreading. It is not confined to one side or belief system. It should terrify us all. The foundation of a free society is the ability to participate in it without fear of violence.”

A thriving community depends on a diversity of voices. We grow by engaging with perspectives different from our own, even when they challenge us. If we only listen to those who think as we do, we miss the complexity and richness of diverse experiences and remain trapped in echo chambers.

The canceled program at 3S Artspace wasn’t intended to tell anyone what to believe. It was an invitation to hear one man’s story — the son of an Israeli general grappling with one of the most painful and complicated conflicts in the world. Listening in this way reminds us that behind every argument or headline are real human beings whose lives and struggles we may never experience. When voices are silenced, the exchange of ideas disappears. We stop learning from one another, and our judgments grow dangerously simplistic.

Free speech matters because it allows us to confront moral complexity. Every culture, every family, every individual brings unique values and beliefs. In a healthy society, these differences can be explored and debated openly. We don’t have to agree — but we must be willing to listen.

The conflict in Israel and Palestine raises extraordinarily difficult questions about history, justice, morality, and identity. When a program addressing such a topic is shut down, it sends the message that certain views are too dangerous to hear. This spawns a culture where disagreement itself feels threatening, and only one “acceptable” narrative is allowed — shutting doors to understanding instead of opening them.

Free speech also fuels creativity and innovation. Many breakthroughs in history began with someone daring to think differently. When people fear backlash or violence, they silence themselves before anyone else does. This quieter form of censorship is equally damaging. The speaker at the canceled event might have inspired new ways of thinking about peace or inspired someone to create art, write, or start a project that might enable individuals to see this issue, or others, through new eyes. Those possibilities are gone when fear replaces curiosity — opportunities for growth and connection vanish and our democracy suffers.

The greatest cost of losing free speech is how it erodes our shared humanity. When denied the chance to truly listen to the “other,” we risk more than our voices. We risk losing our sense of what it means to live together as human beings.

Addendum: After the original venue canceled the Miko Peled program, the University of New Hampshire, Durham — upholding the time-honored role of educational institutions in fostering critical thinking and open inquiry — stepped up, accepted the risk, and has provided ample space so the event can move forward.

Scott Dickman on behalf of Not In My Name-New Hampshire. He lives in Concord.

Keene Sentinel. Reader Opinion: Institute’s silence on Gaza is deafening, by Jessica Bullock
Sep 12, 2025

I am joining with the voices who have been writing to The Sentinel to call out the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Why is the institute silent on the genocide in Gaza??

When I look back on programming the institute has offered since the genocide began, the topics include Cambodia, Australia, Guatemala and Sudan, but nothing about Gaza.

Upcoming topics include Myanmar, Spain and Bosnia. Again: nothing about Gaza.

The only programming that comes remotely close is the institute’s film screening of “Combatants for Peace,” which can hardly be considered a proper stand-in for education on the Gaza genocide, as it features an organization criticized for its normalization of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The institute’s mission statement says, “the Institute provides a crucial space for fostering analysis of past and present genocides, innovative teaching, and high-impact events and programs.”

Where is its analysis of the present genocide in Gaza? Where are its programs? Why has the institute done nothing to address the American-funded annihilation of the Palestinian people?

On Aug. 31, as reported by Reuters, “The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.” One would think the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ resolution would finally cause the Cohen Institute to break its silence on Gaza, and yet: crickets.

The idea that the institute still believes it deserves any credit in the world of genocide scholarship is almost laughable, except that nothing about this is funny.

What a unique opportunity for our community to have the Cohen Institute here among us! What an absolute shame that it is failing Gaza so completely.

Cohen Institute: your silence on Gaza is deafening and egregious. You owe our community an apology and an explanation.

JESSICA BULLOCK
Surry

Laconia Daily Sun – Sep 8, 2025

Israel attacks good Samaritans, against Geneva Convention

A boat full of aid for Gaza set sail from Italy earlier this summer. The boat was carrying food, water and medical supplies. There were no weapons or ammunition on board. There were 21 people including journalists aboard.

The boat is named after the Palestinian cartoon character Handala, a barefoot refugee child, seeker of justice, who in resistance to the occupation turned his back to the world and would not turn around until the Palestinians have freedom.

On July 26, the Israeli military boarded and took over the boat. According to the AP: “the coalition that operates the vessel Handala said the Israeli military ‘violently intercepted’ the ship in international waters about 40 nautical miles from Gaza, cutting the cameras and communication, just before midnight Saturday.”

All the people on board were detained at gunpoint and all the supplies were seized, including baby formula.

International humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Conventions, which Israel signed, protects civilians during conflict. This protection extends to people delivering humanitarian aid. According to international law, the parties to a conflict must allow the rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian relief to civilians in need.

It is time for the U.S. to stop sending our tax dollars and billions in weapons to Israel. Collective punishment is the direct opposite of what we say are our values.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Letter – Concord Monitor – September 6, 2025

Another hospital destroyed with US bombs

In the past two years, civilians in Gaza have been bombed relentlessly, deprived of food, water and medicine. Their homes, hospitals and schools have been destroyed. Just last week, another hospital, in a so-called “safe zone” was bombed, killing patients, journalists and medical personnel.

The U.S. continues to provide the weapons for these blatantly illegal acts. Our own laws demand that the U.S. refuse to supply weapons to be used against civilian populations. Yet our laws are ignored, thanks to the massive campaign contributions which the American Israel PAC (AIPAC) gives to our elected representatives.

Representative Pappas and Representative Goodlander could and must demand an end to these atrocities. One step our Representatives can take is to support HR 3565 — the Block the Bombs Act — to end the atrocities committed with U.S. weapons. Represent your constituents, Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander, not some wealthy special interest that demands you turn a blind eye to genocide.

VIRGINIA SCHONWALD, Barrington

Letter – Foster’s – August 31, 2025

Rep. Pappas’ troubling disregard of U.S. interests

Aug. 24 – To the Editor: As Israel’s genocidal siege of Gaza continues, it escalates West Bank annexation. On August 20th, the Israeli government granted final approval for the construction of the E-1 settlement that will divide Ramallah and the northern West Bank from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank with 3,500 new settlement units. The UN Office for Human Rights said, “[the plan] represents another grave and unlawful step to consolidate annexation of the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law.” Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich celebrated the approval of the E-1 plan, saying, [This is] “historic …[and] a significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion and consolidates the Jewish people’s hold on the heart of the Land of Israel.”

In central Hebron, settlers took additional land. Peace Now reports, “Nowhere in the West Bank is apartheid more apparent. The establishment of a new settlement within a dense Palestinian area in Hebron, particularly in an area under Palestinian control, is a provocation that undermines Israeli political and security interests. Its establishment constitutes a violation of both a signed international agreement and Israeli military law.”

“Since the beginning of 2025, OCHA has documented more than 1,000 attacks by Israeli settlers in 230 West Bank communities. Israelis killed 11 Palestinians in these attacks, including five by settlers, five by soldiers, and one killed either by Israeli settlers or soldiers. In addition, Israelis injured 696 Palestinians in these attacks, including 473 by Israeli settlers, 217 by Israeli forces, and six for whom it remains unknown if Israeli settlers or forces wounded them.

Representative Pappas’ continued unconditional support for Israel in the face of Israel’s ongoing crimes disregards U.S. interests, international law, and Middle East peace.

John T. Fussell, Dover

Letter – Concord Monitor, August 28, 2025

“Bombs harm us all”

Americans seem to not notice the disastrous environmental effects of the bombing of Gaza.

Over 100,000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Gaza, an area about twice the size of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Large bombs pulverize concrete, heavy metals and chemicals. Everything even close to the dropping of a 2,000-pound bomb becomes vaporized, including human beings. The sea breezes blow this toxic mix over the lands to the east. These pollutants are dropped over land and water, sometimes thousands of miles away. Imagine breathing this toxic mix!
What’s happening in Gaza doesn’t stay in Gaza.

Israel has also dropped white phosphorus on Gaza and Lebanon which seeps deep into the soil and water, remaining there for years.
This polluted air, water and soil also creates silent victims including wildlife, livestock and pets. Gaza is on the secondmost important air corridor for migratory birds and butterflies in the world. The center of this route goes directly through Gaza. More than 1.5 million migratory birds journey between their breeding grounds and their wintering spots in Africa. The birds can not survive without food, water and resting places.

The money and bombs WE send are directly responsible for this loss.
I implore representatives Pappas and Goodlander to cosponsor Block the Bombs Act H.R.3565. Senator Shaheen and Senator Hassan: please support a companion bill in the Senate. Cut off the flow of arms that violate international law while destroying the environment.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

Letter – Concord Monitor 8/26/25

From the sea to the river

Many who opine on Israel/Palestine say that the non-Jewish people living there are full of hatred for Jews. And say that the Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” reflects a determination to eradicate Israel and its peoples. There may be some, like Hamas fighters, who do feel that way. But that is not what the average Palestinian wants. They want the chance to live happy, productive, peaceful lives with equal rights in the places that their ancestors have lived for generations. The Netanyahu government has now explicitly declared the intention to completely take over Gaza and is allowing ever more Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Watching this unfold, the only surprise is that these policies were not widely known in the world before this; they have been part of the platform of Netanyahu’s Likud party since its formation decades ago. For Likud, the stated goal was only that Israel had to have full sovereignty from the sea (Mediterranean) to the river (Jordan). But, with the excuse that there are some Palestinians who want to prevent that Israeli expansion with armed struggle, the Israelis have controlled the non-Jewish people of these areas.
The allies that keep Netanyahu’s government from collapsing are explicit that they wish to remove all non-Jewish people. The latest military push in Gaza from the Israelis is in full agreement with this goal of ethnic cleansing. How can the world allow this? Why does our government provide money, weapons and diplomatic support for these illegal actions?
Contact your representative to cosponsor legislation to stop providing bombs to Israel, H.R. 3565. Ask Senators Shaheen and Hassan to cosponsor similar bills.

JENNIFER SMITH, Pembroke

Letter, Concord Monitor, 8/22/25

Possible ceasefire in Gaza

Diplomats in Egypt and Qatar have brokered a ceasefire proposal for the ongoing war in Gaza. Hamas has accepted the proposal as of Monday, Aug. 18. The recent proposal awaits a response from Israel who is currently gearing up for a military offensive in Gaza City.

There is a crisis of famine proportions in Gaza. Palestinian people, including children, are now dying daily from starvation. As of Aug. 19, the number of Palestinian deaths due to lack of food, according to the Palestinian Health Authority, is 266 including 122 children.

On Aug. 14, more than 100 food aid organizations including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Doctors without Borders said in a statement that Israel was weaponizing food aid and obstructing access that could be made available for starving Palestinians in Gaza.

The long-term effects of starvation of children (those able to survive starvation) are reduced mental cognition and increased vulnerability to regional diseases due to poor immune system development. There are upwards of 300,000 people currently living in Gaza City. With the threat of a military escalation in the city, this can only lead to an increased risk of starvation.

Please contact Representatives Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas and Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen and request they urge Israel to stop the escalation of violence, agree to the current ceasefire proposal and allow for adequate food aid to offset the pending famine.

BOB MOORE, East Kingston

Letter, Concord Monitor 8/21/25

Don’t vote for genocide

Israel has imprisoned 2 million people and is purposefully starving them to death by only allowing a trickle of food in. Israel can’t afford to do this itself — it depends on American tax dollars. Make no mistake — this is an American project and our legislators are supporting it.

Is this what we want? Instead of funding basic programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and food stamps we prefer to use tax dollars to pointlessly kill children in Gaza?

Our federal legislators (Shaheen, Hassan, Goodlander and Pappas) refuse to call for an end to taxpayer funding of Israel. Why? The sick truth is they are doing it for campaign cash and power. They are serving those making money off genocide — the military-industrial complex, big tech, the fossil fuel industry and the powerful Israeli lobby AIPAC.

Politicians who make a cold political calculation to overlook genocide in return for winning elections are a terrifying threat to us all. We have an election coming up. Representatives Pappas and Goodlander are looking for your votes so they can continue their unconditional support for Israel’s genocide — Pappas for U.S. senate and Goodlander to remain in the House. This is our chance to be clear that we want our tax dollars to benefit Americans, not to enable genocide. If political candidates won’t listen, don’t give them our votes. Show them our American values can’t be sacrificed for the highest bidder.

Patricia Saenger, Temple

Concord Monitor OpEd 8/21/25

Maggie Goodlander and AIPAC

Goodlander grew up in Nashua, but went off into the world and made her career in federal government, but she said that uniquely New Hampshire culture of political and community involvement keeps her coming back to her home state.

As the world confronts the horror of Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza, Rep. Maggie Goodlander has remained silent and done nothing. Her inaction paints a stark contrast between herself and over a hundred of her colleagues in Congress, who have publicly shared photographs of dying children and signed onto resolutions seeking to feed them. As a result of their advocacy, many of them have been attacked by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which is Goodlander’s top campaign donor. Her relationship with the lobbying group now raises unavoidable ethical questions.

AIPAC has been trying to cover up Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza for over a year. Documents obtained by The American Prospect in March 2024 reveal AIPAC’s instructions to its members: tell Congress that “reports that people are starving in Gaza are false.” The documents also show that AIPAC pushed for dismantling UNRWA, which is the United Nations humanitarian agency that delivered 67% of all food assistance to Gaza.

In late March 2024, the U.S. obliged by officially prohibiting funding to UNRWA. The flimsy justification for doing so involved Israel’s unproven allegation that 12 of UNRWA’s 30,000 employees had aided Hamas — a claim the UN’s highest investigative body found no conclusive evidence for.

Regardless, as of March 2025, Israel has blocked UNRWA from bringing additional humanitarian aid into Gaza. While the UN agency does its best to continue operating, its ability to provide food and medical supplies to civilians has been devastated. In response, hundreds of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations signed a joint statement calling for UNRWA to be restored. But those calls have gone completely unanswered.

AIPAC succeeded in its efforts to cripple UNRWA. And now, Gaza is on the brink of full-scale famine.

The IPC, which is the global initiative that measures food security, reported that 500,000 people are going multiple days without food, and that 320,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition. Of these children, 24 died of starvation in July alone.

Despite the irrefutable evidence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to say, “There is no starvation in Gaza.” But he’s the only one still making that claim. Even President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama have acknowledged the starvation crisis in Gaza. And 40 U.S. Senators signed a letter that urgently calls for additional aid.

Goodlander had an opportunity to provide that aid in March 2025, when 56 of her colleagues introduced a bill to urgently restore funding to UNRWA (H.R. 2411). Advocates from UNRWA flew to Washington D.C. to personally meet with lawmakers and urge them to support this bill. But Goodlander still failed to sign on.

She had another opportunity to address the famine in June 2025, when Rep. Pramila Jayapal introduced a resolution that called for the “urgent delivery and disbursement of humanitarian aid” to Gaza (H. Res. 473), which112 Democrats signed onto. But Goodlander, yet again, decided not to.

When I searched Goodlander’s congressional website and social media pages for any mention of the crisis, nothing came up. I asked her staff about this on July 30, and the most recent public statements they found occurred well before she had taken public office.

Goodlander’s silence is clearly no accident. Over nine weeks, I’ve personally called her office 29 times to politely ask for her position on the ongoing crisis. Her staff has been very helpful in recording my various questions and contact information, but I have yet to receive a single response to any of my questions — a fact that surprised even her own staff members.

One of them kindly offered to pass my information to a “higher-up” on Aug. 4, and later confirmed they had done so when I called back on Aug. 13. The result? Continued silence.

Goodlander’s refusal to engage with her constituents on an issue of this magnitude is a profound betrayal of the public trust. That is why I am asking you to join me in breaking through her wall of evasion.

Please, call Goodlander’s Concord office at (603) 226-1002 and let’s respectfully ask the one question that cuts to the heart of her silence: Will Goodlander continue to accept money from AIPAC?

When you call, you will likely be told her office cannot discuss “campaign matters.” Do not be deterred. This is a bad-faith excuse designed to shut down a legitimate question about public ethics and a clear conflict of interest. Remind them of this politely, but firmly.

When I asked the offices of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Thomas Massie if they accepted money from AIPAC, neither had difficulty answering my question. Both promptly answered “no.”

Whatever response you receive from Goodlander’s office, I want to hear about it. The fight for accountability is a collective one.

John S. Hancock II lives in Concord. He can be reached at JHancock2@ProtonMail.com.

Letter, Union Leader 8/20/25

Contamination of war isn’t confined to a blast radius

To the Editor: We do not get to choose the air we breathe. In New Hampshire, we have been breathing air from the fires in far off Manitoba.

As if the killing of children, bombing of hospitals, and destruction of sewer treatment plants isn’t horrifying enough, consider the harm to people who breathe the air.

In just one month, Israel dropped more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip; the equivalent of two atomic bombs. The highly toxic white phosphorus that Israel has dropped on Palestinians can seep deep into the soil and water systems, remaining there for many years.

More than 100,000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Gaza, an area about twice the size of Lake Winnipesaukee. We seem to not notice the disastrous environmental and health effects of the bombing.

What’s happening in Gaza doesn’t stay in Gaza.

Large bombs pulverize concrete, heavy metals, and human beings. Human cremation occurs at temperatures between 1,400°F and 1,800°F. The blast temperatures of MK84 bombs identified as being dropped on Gaza are 4,496°F. You can’t even have an honest body count because Palestinians are being vaporized.

The vaporized bits are not only in the air, but in the water, in the land, on the food. Think about what those bombs do to the air people beyond Gaza breathe. The air never stops moving.

Representative Chris Pappas and Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan take heed. If the environment and health are issues you support, do not vote for more bombs.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinion/letters/2025/08/04/you-should-call-detainees-illegals-letters/85502389007/

LETTERS

Despite atrocities, Hassan still supports weapons for Israel

Aug. 2 − To the Editor:

Despite the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, Senator Maggie Hassan again voted to send military aid to Israel. Miraculously, Senator Shaheen voted no and for that people can be grateful. But, for Hassan, no manner of facts regarding the war crimes the Israeli government continues to commit, she is totally committed to sending taxpayer funded (but not taxpayer supported) military assistance to Israel. Even if every man, woman and child dies in Gaza, Senator Hassan will undoubtedly say “I was Israel’s best friend” and everything that happened there was “due to Hamas, bah, bah, bah.”

Donna Pare, Stratham

Diaspora Jews need to reject Netanyahu government

Aug. 1 − To the Editor:

There are children in Gaza who look like those rescued from Dachau and Auschwitz. They are not starving because Hamas is stealing food, they are starving because Israel prevented food from entering Gaza for 3 months and now has made food distribution centers a shooting gallery. This is a conscious act of genocide by descendants of a genocide.

Unfortunately, many in the diaspora continue to support Israel’s actions. Justifying starving, killing and forcing others they do not like into ghettos when their group is in the majority, encourages others to feel justified doing it to you when they are in the majority.

In my opinion the diaspora needs to say they stand behind Israel, but not Israel’s current government. More than half of Israelis are doing this. It is time to join them.

Walter Hamilton, Portsmouth

Seacoast Online 8/1/25

The crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached catastrophic conditions

The crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached catastrophic conditions. There is food and medical aid waiting at the borders, but Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are admitting none or very little food through controlled checkpoints. Up to 90% of homes once occupied by Palestinians in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and the families of these homes have been displaced to other regions, many of them on multiple occasions.

In late January of this year, the Israeli parliament effectively dismantled a previous aid network set up by the United Nations, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a network that once provided food and medical aid to Palestinians. In May of this year, an alternative aid network was established by Israel and the U.S. named the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) but supplies and locations made available to Palestinians via GHF are few and far between.

Liz Allcock, the head of protection for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza stated, “All of Gazan society – no matter who they are – is suffering from critical food shortages.” She warned that one-quarter of the population is at risk of acute malnutrition.

On Tuesday, July 22^nd, NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shared a formal statement which reads, “I am gravely concerned by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza where 76% of the civilian population are expected to face emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger by the end of September. Instead of working through respected international aid organizations, the State Department approved $30 million for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in late June, ignoring its own vetting standards and waiving legal requirements to consult with Congress.” Senator Shaheen went on to say, “”Since the U.S. began supporting the GHF, more than 700 starving people have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured while desperately seeking food at GHF distribution sites.”

The crisis in Gaza is near-famine status, and if there are no policy changes by the U.S. and Israel, the warnings offered by Senator Shaheen will come to fruition. Please contact Representatives Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander and Senator Maggie Hassan and request that they join Senator Shaheen and call for immediate action to offer aid to the Palestinian people on the brink of starvation.

Bob Moore
East Kingston

MY TURN

The verities of antisemitism

By JOHN BUTTRICK

As a child, I listened to radio episodes of a super hero. Each episode was introduced with the phrase “Truth, justice and the American way.”

You guessed it. Yes, it was Superman, adopted by American parents and a defender of the defenseless! However, his values get him into trouble in James Gunn’s new movie, “Superman.” He chooses to help the poor defenseless nation of Jarhanpur, who is being attacked by the sophisticated and heavily armed military of its Boravian neighbor who is also an ally of the United States.

Ironically, Superman’s commitment to his understanding of the values of “the American way” puts him at odds with the U.S. government, which chooses to support Boravia by taking no action concerning its unjust attack on Jarhanpur.

The parallels between the fictional plot of “Superman” and the real-life plight of the Palestinians in the Israeli war in Gaza suggest the possibility that the movie serves as an allegory exposing American complicity with the war crimes of Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Columnist, Mai Elnady writes, “James Gunn’s new movie, Superman, strikes the biggest cultural blow to date against the United States’ mindless support of Israel, even as Israel commits war crimes and guns down innocent Palestinians on a daily basis.”

That is, as an allegory, the movie reveals a nature of the U.S. that is contrary to the values of “truth, justice and the American way.”

Yet, some would say that withholding support for Israel is antisemitic. Therefore, “Superman” is an antisemitic movie.

The problem with labeling a story or a person antisemitic is it may be imprecise or it may include one of several different

definitions. The American Jewish Committee defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” The Jerusalem Declaration describes antisemitism as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews.”

The United States government describes antisemitism as employing sinister stereotypes and negative character traits, as well as “the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” Including “targeting the state of Israel” in the definition makes it nearly impossible to criticize any actions of the Israeli government without being labeled antisemitic.

The most confusing accusation of antisemitism is when it includes criticism of the state of Israel. The U.S. government accedes to Israel’s claim that it’s a Jewish state.

However, this begs the question, is it really possible to have a Jewish democratic state?

It seems Israel is under an obligation to explain how it can possibly be a democracy that favors Jews over all others in its nation, for example Christians, Muslims or those unaffiliated with a religious community. If it is not possible, then government and faith are separate identities. This separation allows a government to be judged while the Jews within the state (or Christians in the U.S. for that matter) are recognized for their faithfulness. It is the action of the state of Israel, not Judaism, that violates humanitarian law when it bombs and starves Palestinian citizens in Gaza.

In addition, according to U.S. government rules, it is also antisemitic to, “apply double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” Israel is expected to conduct the war in Gaza and the West Bank in ways that meet the standards of the U.S. and other democratic nations.

However, American standards for conducting a war seem lower than other democratic nations, considering the exclusive complicity of the United States with Israel through its military aid, its withdrawal from UNESCO and its votes in the United Nations that support Israel. Therefore, one must choose the American standard or the more restrictive standard of the other democratic nations. The boundaries for antisemitism become fluid and confusing.

So, do we pay attention to the message of the “Superman” allegory or do we dismiss it as antisemitic? It is difficult to perceive Superman as antisemitic given that fictional Jarhanpur is not a Jewish state. Perhaps what we need in the real world is a superhero defender of the defenseless, rather than a complicit United States, to set the bar for evaluating Israel’s war conduct.

Let the Jerusalem Declaration describe antisemitism as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility, hatred or violence against Jews as Jews.” Let the state of Israel bear the responsibility for its actions. Let Judaism carry the message of hospitality, welcoming to the stranger and love of neighbor. Let Jews know safe space among fellow human beings.

Let truth and just peace become the American way.

There are parallels between the fictional plot of “Superman” and the real-life plight of the Palestinians.

JESSICA MIGLIO/WARNER BROS. PICTURES/TNS

John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@ gmail.com

Letter: ‘Never again’ should be more than a slogan Union Leader 7/25/25

‘Never again’ is just a slogan when victim becomes villain

To the Editor: On July 15, 2025, The New York Times published an essay by a prominent scholar of Holocaust and genocide studies, Dr. Omer Bartov, of Brown University. At first, he was reluctant to identify that what Israel was doing inside Gaza was a genocide. Finally, he commented that he had “… been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.”

Dr. Bartov joins Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli Human Rights organization, B’Tselem, who had earlier concluded that the human beings in Gaza were being subjected to a campaign of brutal genocide.

Moreover, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur for the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, has issued two reports that hint that genocide was occurring in Gaza. For releasing those reports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has placed sanctions on her, one of which would prohibit her from entering the U.S.!

A publication called Middle East Eye quotes Dr. Bartov: “the systemic destruction in Gaza not only of housing but also of other infrastructure — government buildings, hospitals, universities, schools, mosques, cultural heritage sites, water treatment plants, agriculture areas, and parks — reflects a policy aimed at making the revival of Palestinian life in the territory highly unlikely.”

Perhaps, as Americans and human beings, should we question “Never Again” as something that was applicable to only Jewish people?

WILL THOMAS, Apple Brook Way, Manchester

OP-ED – Union Leader 7/25/25

Jesse Gillis: Foreign policy has local impact

I’M INDIRECTLY involved in the war in Ukraine. As a U.S. citizen who pays my taxes, I’m materially involved. Those aid packages our Congress creates, votes on and approves are means to materially support the Ukrainian government with military arms and equipment, intelligence services, humanitarian aid, etc.

It’s paid in large part through our federal tax revenue. Since the invasion in 2022, the U.S. taxpayer base has provided over $118 billion. Yet, this does not account for all the time federal officials, elected or not, dedicate to this war. That dramatically increases the financial support the taxpayers contribute.

As citizens, we vote for candidates to fill a position in the federal government. Our Congress represents us and votes in favor of sending those aid packages. Supporting the Ukrainian government is a largely bipartisan policy. This ties the citizenry into the war because we provide the political and financial support.

If I purchase goods from U.S. corporations who are active in the Russian economy, do I support the Russian military? If not, then why are some popular candy, retail, and manufacturing corporations criticized for supporting the Russian military by still partaking in their economy?

The same goes for investments; by investing in defense contractors, armament manufacturing, or other corporations tied to the war, you are participating in it. These are the various means by which we are indirectly involved in the war.

If you are with me so far, then wouldn’t I, as a U.S. citizen who pays taxes and votes, be indirectly involved in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza?

Our Congress and executive branch combined have sent more than $18 billion in aid packages, largely military support, since October 2023.

They tell us publicly they support Israel. So, when our Congress under both Biden and Trump, provide Israel weapons to commit mass slaughter and conduct a starvation campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza, then I’m indirectly involved. No matter how small a part, when my government, through our legislative and executive branch, sends military weapons, I’m involved.

They knowingly violate our own laws with impunity and we allow them to.

While our Congress say they are concerned about the humanitarian crisis, they are whitewashing genocide. They are blaming Hamas. Hamas hasn’t killed over 15,000 children. Hamas isn’t bombing apartment complexes, markets, and hospitals. Hamas isn’t destroying medical equipment. Hamas isn’t shooting paramedics and covering it up. Hamas isn’t setting a world record for number of journalists killed. Hamas isn’t preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and slowly starving the population.

Hamas didn’t break the ceasefire. This is what the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continue to do.

In March, ex-IDF Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told Channel 13 news that the IDF is being sent back into Gaza. I expect they will commit war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and continue killing babies and women.

Recently, Prime Minister Netanyahu said the IDF will permanently occupy the Gaza strip. The security plan calls for creating a “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza, relocating everyone in the north to the south. How is this not using food as a weapon to ethnically cleanse the north for settlements?

When our Congress — particularly Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Rep. Chris Pappas — are forced out of silence when asked about the atrocities, they feign concern about the Palestinians and lie about Netanyahu’s intentions. They provide political cover and the military means to perpetuate this genocide. Their silence is complicity. How monstrous. How sociopathic. They vote to spend my tax contribution to break U.S. and international laws for another country to slaughter people. They must be held to account.

Why else does U.S. foreign policy matter? President Dwight D. Eisenhower said it well in 1953: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed… This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

Air National Guard veteran Jesse Gillis lives in Pembroke.

MY TURN
Longing to make America great again

By AMY ANTONUCCI and SANDRA YARNE

What makes a nation great? A strong economy, a high standard of living, the well being of all its citizens, its military might, its ability to support other nations? Or is it something more ephemeral, such as trustworthiness, integrity, demonstrating leadership on critical issues facing the world?

The recent U.S. bombings of Iran illustrated the power of the U.S., but it undermined our reputation. On the day before the U.S. was to begin negotiating with Iran, we ignored laws and history and attempted to “obliterate” three of their nuclear sites. The United States has demonstrated its exceptional military might by joining with Israel in these preemptive attacks on Iran. However, these attacks went against the U.N. charter, international law and common morality. As the world watched the “Make American Great Again” leader, our country further decimated something precious — our integrity and trustworthiness.

Making war the day before a planned negotiation only confirms that the U.S. is about having its own way no matter what cost to another nation. This deceit shows the whole world our disrespectful behavior. It sows seeds of fear and distrust and likely encourages other nations to try to actually build nuclear weapons as their only way to keep U.S. bombs from falling on their people. This feeds into an arms race that siphons money from human needs and causes environmental destruction that undermines our ability to exist.

And, it risks the nuclear war that we have only narrowly avoided until now.

There is an opportunity for greatness in this moment. It depends on the citizens of the U.S. waking up to our politicians’ shortsighted, dangerous behavior and demand compliance with international law from our government.

The U.S. could begin taking us back from the brink of a nuclear exchange. A nuclear exchange of five to seven warheads could begin a nuclear winter, leaving all life on Earth in jeopardy. Instead of joining with Israel to destroy and kill, we could support the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT), negotiate with Russia on START and other treaties we have broken or walked away from and sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (see ican.org for the full text of the TPNW). We can reinvest in the type of dedicated diplomacy and patient negotiations that stopped Iran from building a nuclear weapon for 30 years without the deaths, resources squandered and good will burned that the past two weeks have incurred.

We accuse other countries of rogue actions, even though we have not signed the treaties on the abolishing of chemical weapons, biological weapons, landmines or nuclear weapons. We tolerate and work with Israel as an enforcer of nuclear containment when they are a non-signatory of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and have a nuclear arsenal they have threatened to use. We drop bombs on civilian populations, assassinate people by drone and terrorize entire regions. This is not what a great nation does. It is the machinations of a rogue state.

While the media debates over and over whether the attack destroyed Iran’s unproven program to build a nuclear bomb or not, it could be informing us about the legal and cooperative things our nation could do to keep the entire world safe. They could be honest about how others in the world see us and how our actions might come back to hurt us.

Fortunately, some of our elected officials are concerned about our safety. This year, for the twentieth time, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the U.S. to lead the effort to reverse the global arms race and prevent nuclear war.

As citizens we can ask persons running for office how they will work to abolish nuclear weapons. We can call Representatives Goodlander and Pappas and ask them to become co-sponsors of HR 317 which calls for the halt of the nuclear arms race. We can work with our cities and towns to join the nine communities in New Hampshire that have signed the Back from the Brink resolution to abolish nuclear war. See preventnuclearwar.org and nhpeaceaction.org.

We are about to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. on August 6 and 9. New Hampshire Peace Action, an organization born out of the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s, will be sponsoring a free memorial gathering on Saturday, August 9 at 5 p.m. in Concord. All are welcome.

Let’s make America great again and cooperate with the rest of the world for true security by taking steps to abolish all nuclear weapons.

Amy Antonucci is the chair of the New Hampshire Peace Action Education Fund board and lives in Barrington. Sandra Yarne, Ph.D., is a member of the New Hampshire Peace Action Education Fund board. She lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and works in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Which side are you on?

As someone who has contacted U.S. Senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and my Representative, Chris Pappas to voice my concerns about Israel’s military attacks not just in Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank where Israeli occupation forces protect illegal “settlers,” I have been disappointed with their continued overwhelming support for Israel.

When I received a link to a website that collects information about political action committees that, in this case, lobby for Israel, I discovered what the pro-Israel groups had donated to our Senators and to our Representatives. During her political career as a Senator, Jeanne Shaheen has collected $574,295 dollars from pro-Israel PACS. Senator Hassan has received $641,392 dollars, while Representative Pappas has collected $523,333 dollars. Representative Goodlander who is in her first year in Congress has received $172,646 dollars.

(See Trackaipac.com) As one who receives messages about various bills introduced in Congress, two caught my eye. The first was House Resolution 473 which calls for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza. 103 Democrats signed on to this Resolution, but not Pappas or Goodlander.

Yet another bill or resolution was HR 3565, to limit U.S. weapons to Israel. There are 26 cosponsors, all Democrats. Sadly, Pappas and Goodlander did not sign on, At times, I wonder which side are our elected Congresspeople on – the side of Israel or on the side of humanity?

WILL THOMAS, Manchester

Concord Monitor 7/22/25

MY TURN

Pappas and Goodlander’s political theater, sponsored by AIPAC
By JOHN HANCOCK

Over three weeks ago, New Hampshire’s representatives staged a disturbing piece of political theater designed to mask a betrayal of their constituents. It involves two resolutions in Congress that could influence the likelihood of a future war in the Middle East.

One is a genuine bipartisan resolution aiming to reclaim congressional authority over declaring war. The other is a counterfeit resolution that would make congressional authority irrelevant. Reps. Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander favor the counterfeit resolution, but have irresponsibly hidden that fact from their constituents.

This raises an unavoidable question: Who are they doing this for?

On June 23, the Monday after President Trump bombed Iran, Pappas issued a press release, stating “Congress must reassert its authority… That is why I will support H.

Con. Res. 38.” H. Con. Res. 38 is the bipartisan resolution introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie on June 17 to block hostilities with Iran without congressional approval. Pappas and Goodlander failed to support Massie’s resolution before the bombing, but mounting pressure from constituents caused Pappas to eventually declare his support.
However, instead of signing onto H. Con.

Res. 38 as promised, Pappas co-sponsored an alternative resolution called H. Con. Res. 40, and failed to publicly communicate that switch to his constituents. When you look at the resolution he put his name on, it’s easy to understand why.

Unlike H. Con. Res. 38, H. Con. Res. 40 contains a giant loophole, allowing the president to wage war against Iran if defending an “ally or partner of the United States from imminent attack.” This language was deliberately added to benefit Israel. It gives a blank check to bypass Congress through the exact justification Trump used in his first attack on Iran. That justification was the “collective self-defense” of Israel, even though Israel had initiated the conflict with Iran on June 12. This loophole allows Israel’s future aggressions against Iran to justify U.S. military action without congressional approval.

And that defeats the entire purpose of having the resolution in the first place.

H. Con. Res. 40 was first introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks on June 23. According to OpenSecrets, Meeks’ single largest campaign donor is the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC – a financial commonality he shares with Pappas and Goodlander.
AIPAC’s influence becomes undeniable when you analyze the donor data of members who exclusively co-sponsored only one of the two resolutions. According to OpenSecrets, of the representatives who currently only stand with Massie’s resolution, a mere 2% count AIPAC as their top donor. But among members that currently only back Meeks’ resolution, that number skyrockets to a staggering 42% who count AIPAC as their top donor. This is not a policy disagreement. It is a donor-driven deception.

While Goodlander has avoided taking a public stance on either resolution, her preference is clear. Speaking recently to columnist Jennifer Rubin, Goodlander vaguely praised H. Con. Res. 40 for having “some important differences from an initial bipartisan resolution.” Those “important differences” are, of course, the war-enabling loophole. So why hasn’t Goodlander spoken clearly on her views to the public?

It’s part of a calculated strategy of evasion. When public pressure mounted after the bombing, Goodlander issued a press release titled “Goodlander Asserts Congressional Authority Over War Powers.” But there wasn’t much asserting going on. The only thing the press release explained was that Goodlander signed onto a letter that supported the concept of a War Powers Resolution. Meanwhile, there was an actual War Powers Resolution sitting on the table, which was Massie’s resolution. Goodlander didn’t even acknowledge it. And of the 12 House Democrats that signed onto the meaningless letter, AIPAC was the top donor for six of them.

Over four weeks, I’ve called Goodlander ’s office 14 times to learn her stance on Massie’s resolution. I have yet to receive an answer. And this silence is particularly troubling due to her persistent alarmism on Iran and nuclear weapons.

In her conversation with Rubin, Rubin highlighted that U.S. intelligence agencies have routinely concluded Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Goodlander stammered in her response, stating “Tthe intentions of the Supreme Leader, I think, are very difficult to discern.” She then expressed hopes that the intelligence community would eventually share its findings with Congress for clarity.

This is a remarkable admission of ignorance when you consider Goodlander’s fearmongering. Pappas and Goodlander’s rhetoric has been so consistent with AIPAC’s talking points against Iran that both have received public ‘thank you’ messages from AIPAC on social media. And now, Goodlander astonishingly admits she possesses no concrete evidence to justify what she’s been saying.

These charades are a disgrace. And they benefit only blood-soaked donors like AIPAC. Frederick Douglass warned, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” Join me – call Pappas and Goodlander. Demand they reject H. Con. Res. 40’s loophole, and insist on truth over deception.

John S. Hancock II lives in Concord.

“I learned this week that the US has military bases in 95 countries and is rapidly adding more. The American public did not ask for these. The people of the “host” countries were not consulted. The US has nuclear weapons stored in many of these bases. In some countries, their own government doesn’t even know that we have nuclear weapons stored there.

Many of these military bases occupy stolen Indigenous lands. In all cases they cause massive environmental damage. Military bases heighten tensions and make locations into targets for attack. Often this is the only contact with Americans for the people who live there. The local residents often do not see us as friendly.

This report was published by World Beyond War on July 14. You can view their web site to see the surprising maps.

We need to halt all new construction of military base infrastructure to re-think their purpose, cost and impact. We also need to stop our race to destroy and instead invest in a livable future.”

Janet Simmon

Laconia Daily Sun 7/18/25

There is fundraising event in Keene on Friday, July 11, for Chris Pappas, the announced Democratic Party candidate to succeed Jeanne Shaheen in the United States Senate from New Hampshire. One must find where and when the event takes place by donating to the guy’s campaign. I guess that the local Democrats are not admitting those of us who might pose a difficult question like why he continues to support war. Beware of political parties that are secretive.

I suggest that as many of you as possible stand outside the event in opposition to Pappas and his candidacy. I bet that the word will get out about the where and when of this (secret) event.

Pappas, the NH District 1 representative on Capitol Hill, has approved at every turn support for war in Gaza and Ukraine.

In addition, he has been unwilling to meet with peace and justice oriented groups despite repeated attempts. In spite of his repeated line that “Nothing is more important to me than listening to my constituents and ensuring that every voice in my district is heard,” people questioning his foreign policy stances cannot get his attention.

Pappas has voted for the absurd, grotesque, wasteful National Defense Authorization Act (the Pentagon Budget) every year that he has represented District 1. This year the NDAA is over 1 trillion dollars.

Pappas has never championed Universal Health Care (Medicare for All) or Social Security reform by eliminating the Social Security wage cap.

During the Trump years there has been much criticism of the toadies, sycophants, and boot-licker politicians who blindly support Trump.

I view Pappas as of the same ilk in the Democratic Party—no leadership, no proposals for the betterment of us in New Hampshire. And where has the Democratic Party taken us?—more Trump and his idiocy, and continuous WAR.

Is Pappas who you want for your next United States Senator?

START PEACE. STOP WAR. RIGHT NOW EVERYWEHERE

Paul Krautmann, 258 Court Street, 603 313-3481

Keene Sentinel, 7/8/25

“A reminder of a crisis”

Today I am fasting for Gaza. I fast once a week to bear witness to the unending suffering there. But I’m lucky. I know I will eat again at the end of the day. I know my hunger pains will subside.

Fasting brings home the immensity of the suffering Israel is intentionally inflicting on the families of Gaza. I can’t imagine the increasing desperation caused by going hungry for months. I can’t imagine watching helplessly as your children and other loved ones slowly starve. I can’t imagine the ruthless cruelty of those who enforce this strategy. It’s terrifying to think there are people who dehumanize others so completely that they have absolutely no empathy — the most basic of human emotions.

We are guilty as well. Israel cannot sustain this genocidal apocalypse without US aid. We have sent over $22 billion to Israel since October 2023 with barely a peep from our NH legislators. They actually voted to defund the UN agency that kept Gazans fed while inexplicably supporting an alternative group (GHF) that has killed Gazans desperately queuing for food.

Four times our government vetoed UN ceasefire resolutions. Fasting will not solve anything but it compels me to speak up, to call out my legislators who appear unmoved by Gaza’s man-made, worsening tragedy.
When you enjoy a meal today, please take a moment to consider the unimaginable cruelty our taxpayer dollars are supporting. If you find that horrifying, tell your legislators. Tell them to stop funding genocide.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Concord Monitor 7/3/25

No more weapons of war

Without a declaration of war, the US has dropped huge bunker buster bombs on Iran. Iran poses no threat to us. Remember the cost of our war on Iraq whose “weapons of mass destruction” did not exist. Yet the US squandered more than $2 trillion and that war cost over 4,000 American lives and over 100,000 Iraqi lives.

And now we are bombing Iran under equally false perceptions. The US Intelligence annual threat assessment notes no increase in nuclear bomb development in Iran. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors on the ground at Iran’s facilities report no new development.

Iran has honored the agreement that the Obama administration and Iran signed in 2016 called the JCPOA.There was no verifiable reason for the US to bomb Iran. These strikes do, however, give Iran a reason to distrust the US.

I call on the U.S. Congress to fulfill its constitutional obligation and pass the War Powers Resolutions: Tell Sen. Shaheen and Sen. Hassan to co-sponsor S.2087 and Rep. Pappas and Rep. Goodlander to co-sponsor H.Con.Res.38.

Israel has managed to saturate the press with misinformation with stories about Iran’s nuclear project which are not verified as there are no reliable sources and no verifiable facts.

And what’s behind all the bombing and killing? Israel’s desire to own the land of the Palestinians. We must stop the bombing.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

Concord Monitor, 7/1/25

No More Bombs

Union Leader 6/30/35

Bomb cost is counted in billions and in livesTo the Editor: In the United States we act as though losing billions of dollars and thousands of lives is insignificant.

After being misled in 2003 to think Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction,” the U.S. squandered more than $2 trillion, more than 4,000 American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives.

We bombed Iran under equally false perceptions. As with Iraq, Israel has saturated the press with misinformation — this time circulating unverified stories about Iran’s nuclear project. There are no reliable sources that verify Israel’s accusations.

Without a declaration of war, the U.S. dropped huge bunker buster bombs on Iran. But Iran poses no threat to us. Iran has inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.S. is not under inspection. The U.S. intelligence annual threat assessment noted no increase in nuclear bomb development in Iran. IAEA inspectors on the ground at Iran’s facilities reported no new development. Iran has continued to be at the negotiating table.

There was no verifiable reason for the U.S. to bomb Iran. These strikes do, however, accelerate anti-American feelings.

According to recent polling, an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the conflict between Israel and Iran, and just 16% think the U.S. military should get involved. However, the U.S. strikes pushed us closer to an unnecessary war with Iran. This is not in the best interests of the U.S.

What is behind all the bombing and killing? Israel’s desire to own the land of the Palestinians.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

What are we allowing to go on?’ New Hampshire residents participate in Gaza solidarity fast

By choice, Jesse Gillis has only eaten one small meal a day since May 22. Working as a forester, the reduced nutritional intake has taken a toll on his body.

“I am quite tired from not eating. I’m always hungry,” said Gillis, who feels himself losing weight. “I’m satiated for maybe an hour or two after the meal, and then I’m back to hungry.”

He is among 11 New Hampshire residents participating in a 40-day nation-wide hunger strike, organized by Veterans for Peace and Friends of Sabeel North America. The New Hampshire fasters have united as the New Hampshire Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East.

“More needs to be done, especially with what’s going on right now in Gaza,” Gillis said. “I thought the least I could do is join the fast in solidarity and contribute a little bit of funds for the people that are trying to get there.”

A veteran of the Air National Guard, Gillis described feeling “disillusioned” with the U.S. government’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Pembroke resident joined Veterans for Peace last year. He is among five veterans participating in the #Fast4Gaza.

They want to see human suffering, especially among Palestinian citizens, minimized.

“It’s totally unacceptable what they’ve been allowing to happen and actively participating in for the past 20 months now,” he said. “I’m limiting my intake, so I feel somewhat hungry – but what they’ve been going through is not comparable. Between being bombed and starved and the lack of clean water and medical assistance, and the housing is gone, the water distribution, whether or not you can have clean water, I can’t imagine any of that.”

Those participating in the faste are aiming to consume a maximum of 250 calories a day, explained Megan Chapman, who helped coordinate the state-wide effort. That number falls around the estimated amount of nutrition available the average Palestinian in Gaza as a result of the blockade on aid.

“I condemn the attacks on Israelis – and Americans in Israel – that happened on October 7. And I also condemn the attacks on so many tens of thousands of Gazans who’ve lost their lives,” she said. “So few of those people have any known relationship to Hamas. These are ordinary civilians living their lives, and killing one person doesn’t undo the killing of another, and the disproportionality of the attacks is so extreme.”

Chapman, who lives in Albany, N.H. and works for the World Fellowship Center, said participants want to see humanitarian aid sent to Gaza through the United Nations and the end of U.S. arms shipments to Israel “until there can be a permanent pathway to peace,” starting with a ceasefire.

“I don’t believe that the current U.S. government position reflects the majority of the country’s wishes in terms of what should happen,” she said. “I don’t think that most Americans want women, children, elderly people, to be starved to death and then bombed when they go to seek food. I don’t think that’s something Americans want, and I don’t think it’s something that people in New Hampshire want, and so we’re just trying to escalate and show that we are willing to take the struggle into our own bodies to try to pass a message.”

Contoocook-based poet and retired educator LR Berger described her fast as a means of showing solidarity.

“All day, my meager sense of hunger keeps me nearer in spirit to those who, moment to moment, are experiencing these ongoing atrocities in Gaza,” she said.

She fasts one day a week as part of a chain of people. Both in New Hampshire and around the country, the act of people coming together feels like a step in the right direction.

“There’s a quality of solidarity between the fasters that I find very empowering,” she said. “While there are a lot of reasons for pessimism and despair, I find it energizing. And in that way, there’s more energy for future actions together.”

The strike has garnered participation from around 700 people across the country, according to Chapman.

Gillis works in forestry and hikes an average of five miles a day, in addition to carrying heavy loads and operating machinery. To carry out his responsibilities safely, he eats a small dinner each night – slightly more than the 250 calories per day. He hopes the large-scale participation in the fast will empower more people to reach out to their legislators and push for change.

“It’s not going to bring about the end of what’s going on over there, but it at least puts the attention on these people and the cause that may influence the legislature to step up, as they’ve been, it seems, introducing new bills to get immediate aid into Gaza and getting permanent ceasefire,” he said.

Chapman has said the conflict has forced her to look inward while questioning the government’s actions.

“I think that taking a step like this, internalizing it into my body, it feels like it’s a way of living the reality that that the structure of our life in the United States is trying to keep us apart from while we’re also fueling and funneling support to it,” Chapman said

Rachel Wachman, Monitor staff. June 12, 2025

MY TURN
Tough love for Israel
By JOHN BUTTRICK

Last Friday, the Concord Monitor carried an Associated Press report that Israel will be authorizing an additional 22 more settlements in the West Bank occupied Palestinian territory, some of them existing outposts.

There are already 500,000 Israeli settlers living in 100 settlements across the territory that is home to 3 million Palestinians. The presence of these settlements has been ruled by the United Nations as illegal.

Military aid and weapons from the United States contribute to the power of the Israeli military to enforce the presence of the illegal Israeli settlements among Palestinian villages. An Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in Palestine once proudly showed me his rifle, made in the United States. Also, U.S. military aid significantly supports Israel’s capability to inflict devastation upon the people of Gaza in the war with Hamas.

SEE ISR AEL C3

Palestinians pray during the funeral of a person who was killed while heading to a Gaza aid hub, along with three others who were killed during an Israeli strike, as they gather at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on June 1.
ABDEL KAREEM HANA / AP

Enough is enough!

It is imperative that the United States end military aid to its friend, Israel, as an act of tough love.

An article from the Associated Press explained, “From blast fragments found on site and analyses of strike footage, experts are confident that the vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave (of Gaza) are U.S.-made. They say the weapons include 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) ‘bunker-busters’ that have killed hundreds in densely populated areas. They turn the earth to liquid and pancake entire buildings… Lethal fragments can extend up to 1200 feet.”

It must be made clear to the Israeli government that the United States will not be complicit, even one more day, in the massive destruction of Gaza infrastructure and the unconscionable killing and injuring of children and civilians. Israel’s continued ruthlessness in its actions in the West Bank and in the war in Gaza is immoral, against humanitarian law, and just wrong.

Palestinians are worth more than fodder in the war against Hamas.
Also, these actions besmirch Israel’s good character. America’s revocation of military aid can be the tough love that rescues Israel from being the perpetrator of destruction and death of the civilian population in Gaza.

The land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea has been a land suffering conflict for centuries. The war in Gaza has become “one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” said Robert Pape, U.S. military historian. “It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.” There is no excuse for this recordbreaking massacre in a world of instant communications and established international humanitarian law.

For example, the UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take “concrete actions” if it continues an “egregious” expansion of military operations in Gaza. Leaders call on the Israeli government to “stop its military operations” and “immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza,” according to the BBC. Should the United States call for anything less?

Nearly 2 million people, about 90% of Gaza’s population, have been “displaced and live in overcrowded, unsafe conditions… With limited access to basic needs such as clean water, food and sanitation, health conditions are rapidly deteriorating. Vulnerable groups, including infants, the elderly and pregnant women, are facing heightened risks of disease, malnutrition and preventable deaths.”

About 40% of Gaza’s population is 14 years old or younger and the territory ’s median age was just 18 in 2020, making Gaza home to one of the world’s 20 youngest populations, based on figures from the CIA’s World Factbook. This is one of the world’s worst crises unfolding in real time.

Also, a doctor in Gaza reports that, according to the War Child Alliance, nearly half of the children in Gaza are suicidal, living with unbearable grief over the death of family members and friends.
Most children expect to die before they become adults. In addition to the physical and mental suffering, the Israeli/ Hamas war is instilling hate and aggression into this young generation.

The World Health Organization reports that “the entire region is on the edge of a precipice. An immediate cessation of hostilities and a sustained, unconditional ceasefire are long overdue.” Israel and the United States have the power to relate in non-combatant ways. Ending the war is a matter of will and conscience as well as a relief for young people who are despairing, grieving and suicidal.

Every citizen of the United States needs the will to become a conscience for the country, speaking the truth to power. A single voice alone will have the effect of shouting down a rain barrel, as my grandparents used to say. But, together with the World Health Organization, American citizens can be the voice of conscience in the ears of U.S. and Israeli leaders.

Listen, President Trump, listen senators, representatives, the Judiciary. Hear the voices of your people.

No more weapons. No more rationalizations. No more blaming. No more false motivations. No more stipulations. No more fear of ante- Semitic accusations. No more suicidal children. End the war.

Free the Palestinians and the Israelis.

John Buttrick lived for 3 months in Palestine as an ecumenical accompanier in Palestine and Israel for the World Council of Churches. Also, for two years, he was a United Church of Christ volunteer, working from his Concord home, developing media coordination and communication strategy for Kairos Palestine in Bethlehem.

“Riding across the country for Gaza”

On Saturday, I attended a small send-off party for Bob Sanders, who is riding his bike across the U.S. to take a stand for Gaza and Palestine. Bob named his feat RAW Gaza X-Country: RAW stands for Ride Against War. Bob will ride 4000 miles from San Francisco, CA, to Portsmouth, NH. He plans to arrive in New Hampshire in September.

Bob, a Jewish 70-year-old former reporter, will do this solo and unsupported except for stops with friends along the way. Bob last biked across the U.S. 50 years ago in 1975 when he embarked from the Bay Area as a college student, a feat memorialized in Newsday, his first published article. The purpose of this RAW Gaza ride is to raise awareness of the horrors of the slaughter and injustice in Gaza and the West Bank. He hopes to connect with other Jews who oppose Israel’s policies.

“I feel compelled as a Jew to speak out, considering what the Nazis did to us,” Sanders said. “How can I then remain silent when a Jewish nation is systematically destroying and starving an entire population of two million people with my tax dollars?” You can see his route at NH Peace Action, https://nhpeaceaction. org/event/raw-gaza-x-country-tour/ Bob is a founder of Not In My Name, NH, a group of Jewish residents who signed a letter calling for ceasefire in Gaza. He is also the founder of the cycling group, BikingOLD (BOLD).

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

Concord Monitor, June 7, 2025

Megan Chapman: Who can we count on to defend our constitutional rights?

May 30, 2025 Conway Daily Sun

To the editor:

The last few months have witnessed a remarkable phenomenon — the activation of us, ordinary people with day jobs and numerous other daily responsibilities, pushing our elected representatives to stand up and protect the Constitution. Before this, we might have expected they would automatically lead this charge in line with their oath of office.

Let’s take the assault on the First Amendment rights of those who have called for a just peace in the Middle East. In early March, the chilling arrest of peace activist and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil offered a “canary in the coal mine” for the would-be future of the First Amendment — and none of New Hampshire’s members of Congress spoke out.

After two months of constant agitation, we have seen a little movement. Rep. Maggie Goodlander joined 66 other members of Congress in signing an April 14 letter about the arrest of Mohsen Mahdawi at his citizenship interview. Sen. Maggie Hassan on April 28 voted to clarify that criticism of Israel is not tantamount to antisemitism. Yet, when all members of Congress from New Hampshire wrote a May 6 letter about the summary revocation of F-1 visas for foreign students attending schools in the state, it did not mention the targeting of students who dared speak out on Gaza.

Today, we can celebrate the recent court-ordered releases of Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumesya Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri — thanks to courageous judges, tenacious lawyers and the massive mobilization of ordinary people. However, as the Trump administration now threatens to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, can we be confident that our elected representatives from New Hampshire will stand boldly to defend our constitutional rights? Or must we lead on?

Megan Chapman, Albany

Protect the hostages

In his May 31st letter, “Is something missing,” Gary Seidner pointed out that there are Israeli hostages in Gaza.

He should, therefore, strenuously object to Israel’s blockade of food and medical supplies to the enclave, which obviously threatens the lives of the hostages. How does he think they will be fed?

He should also strenuously object to the near-total destruction caused by bombs and missiles because they threaten the lives of the hostages as well. Israel’s actions make no sense if the goal is to rescue these hostages.

If Mr. Seidner is indeed concerned about the hostages’ fate he should write to our legislators and ask them to stop American funding of Israel’s destruction in Gaza, just as I have done.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Concord Monitor June 4, 2025

Opinion: War devastates lives — and the environment, too

Scott Dickman is a board member of New Hampshire Peace Action and belongs to the Compassionate Listening Project. He lives in Concord.

A member of New Hampshire Peace Action’s Board, when I volunteered to write this essay on the intersection of militarism and the environment, I intended an analytical litany of war’s devastating consequences to the environment.

Fortunately, a lapse of several days intervened between this commitment and a visit with my grandson, when we played together in search of ants and bugs. The experience reminded me of author and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s observations, emphasizing rekindling relationships with the natural world, that plants, animals, land and humans are an intertwined web of relationships.

In that moment, our hands muddied, I understood what my intended technical research would miss — the bond between humanity and nature isn’t merely ecological, it is sacred. Walking hand in hand, how could I not be concerned about the world my grandson will inherit? And what better time to address this issue than after Earth Day, which marked the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970?

With my task now reframed, history confirms that war devastates the environment on a massive scale, extending far beyond human tragedy. It scars the Earth in ways that endure long after peace treaties are signed, leaving a legacy my grandchildren and theirs will inherit, even after the reasons for conflict have faded from memory.

War is brutal. It devastates landscapes, pollutes ecosystems, and causes long-term damage to the delicate balance of nature. While the human cost is staggering, the environmental repercussions are significant and deserve our attention. The following examples illustrate how conflict affects not only the natural world but the vital economic and political web of shared global interests.

During the Vietnam War (1965-1975), the U.S. deployed Agent Orange to clear forests sheltering enemy forces, impacting millions of acres of land, contaminating soil and water and causing severe health issues, including cancer and birth defects. Decades later, these areas still struggle to recover.

As the Gulf War (1990-1991) ended, retreating Iraqi forces set over 600 oil wells ablaze, polluting the air while deliberate oil spills dumped millions of barrels into the Persian Gulf, devastating marine ecosystems and underscoring how environmental sabotage leaves destruction long after the fighting stops.

During the Iraq War (2003-2011), extensive contamination from depleted uranium munitions precipitated elevated rates of high birth defects and cancer. Interdisciplinary research in Fallujah, Iraq, concluded that people returning to bombarded homes and neighborhoods faced a 17-fold increase in birth anomalies and myriad other health problems from heavy metal exposure from the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine (2022–present) highlights the environmental toll of modern warfare, which has led to chemical spills, water contamination, ecosystem disruption and threatened biodiversity. Fires from bombed-out buildings and fuel depots have precipitated a surge in greenhouse gas emissions, and continued attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station threaten a nuclear disaster.

More broadly, the U.S. military is one of the largest institutional consumers of fossil fuels, with massive carbon emissions worsening global warming and threatening environmental sustainability. NATO has estimated 110 million unexploded landmines contaminating nearly 70 countries and territories today, posing a significant threat to civilians, as an estimated 5,544 people are killed or maimed annually.

On April 7, NH Peace Action hosted Dr. Kali Rubaii of Purdue University. She addressed research that suggests militaries account for up to 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

War disrupts conservation efforts and worsens existing environmental problems. National parks and wildlife reserves become battlegrounds, leading to habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. During the Rwandan Civil War in the 1990s, large numbers of refugees settled in protected areas, cutting down trees for fuel and clearing land for temporary shelter, causing irreversible damage to ecosystems that housed endangered species.

Despite the grim reality, international organizations and governments can enforce laws prohibiting environmental destruction during conflicts. Post-war recovery should go beyond rebuilding infrastructure to include reforestation and pollution cleanup. Importantly, raising awareness of war’s ecological costs can also rally public support for peaceful resolutions.

In closing, I hope to instill in my grandchild — and, through him, in future generations — a deep appreciation of nature and wonder and a strong sense of stewardship for the Earth, our only home. Shouldn’t the legacy we leave our grandchildren be a world worthy of their dreams and aspirations? Unhesitatingly, “Yes!”

Concord Monitor – May 29, 2025

“No defense of actions happening in Gaza”

Concord Monitor – May 29, 2025

In Gaza, Israel keeps 2.1 million people caged, bombing the entire population continually with huge (2,000 lbs) “bunker-buster” bombs. Gazans have no defense. No anti-aircraft guns, no fighter jets, no missile defense shield. Look around you right now and imagine bombed out buildings, schools, hospitals, roads and water systems, devastation everywhere. Lives reduced to rubble.

On March 2, Israel additionally imposed a total blockade of all food, water and medical aid to the enclave, purposefully inflicting starvation on everyone. Readers must understand that what’s happening depends on American support, that we are complicit. Together, presidents Biden and Trump have rushed over $18 billion taxpayer dollars to keep Israel’s sophisticated war machine pounding Gaza’s defenseless people. Politically, we’ve defended Israel’s murderous campaign by blocking ceasefire resolutions in the UN. With unconditional American support, over 53,000 people have now been killed (mostly women and children) and many more wounded. Unknown dead lie uncounted under rubble.

Sen. Shaheen recently called for an end to Israel’s inhumane blockade but Sen. Hassan has done nothing. Representatives Goodlander and Pappas refused to sign a letter to Israeli ambassador Leiter urging an end to the blockade. We could end the destruction of Gaza tomorrow if Congress would suspend U.S. aid to Israel. We are complicit in the Gazans’ unimaginable suffering whether we’re paying attention or not. Is this who we are? Contact Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Representatives Goodlander and Pappas today. Let them know.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

‘Let us live’, a message from the West Bank: Grishaw-Jones

Guest Columnist Seacoast Online 5/20/25

Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine, Sunday, May 18, 2025

As I sit down to write tonight, my Palestinian hosts are steeling themselves for news of a renewed Israeli assault on the civilians of Gaza. These are resilient people, these hosts, and defiantly faithful: but Israel’s determination to cleanse northern Gaza and push people to the south and out casts a long shadow over every conversation, every meal, every gathering now. I am here in the West Bank for eight weeks, a sabbatical from my beloved ministry with the Community Church of Durham (United Church of Christ). And I offer what I can to the staff at The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Centre (Wi’am) in Bethlehem: friendship, some fundraising tools and strategies, and solidarity. It hardly seems enough now. So fierce is the onslaught just an hour’s drive south.

Every day I am invited to listen and witness. These dear visionaries continue to pray, and then to work for a world where their human rights mean every bit as much as yours and mine, every bit as much as an Israeli’s just miles away in settlements and Jerusalem itself. They long for an international consensus that honors international law and holds rogue nations accountable. Palestinians I meet insist—as they always have—that any kind of sustainable future begins with an end to the occupation itself: no more carved up lands, apartheid roads and checkpoints; no more strangled economies and vicious settler attacks. And no more of the US-funded genocide in Gaza. And they insist—as they always have—that a vibrant and just future involves Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze and all others here in a collaborative project where mutual respect runs deep and true.

But time is of the essence. Ethnic cleansing is real. And Israel’s systematic crippling of Palestinian economies and cultures has reached a kind of tipping point. The Palestinians I meet know this, they feel it in their bones. Where is the global community? they ask. How can the West justify such violence and destruction, and genocide? Across the Global South, American credibility—moral standing—is eroding hour by hour. I would add that the soul of the American nation is imperiled by our complicity.

While I am glad to see that Senator Shaheen joined 28 Senate Democrats in co-sponsoring SR224 (calling for urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza), I find it hard to believe that Senator Hassan did not. And while I’m similarly grateful that 96 House Democrats have signed a letter calling for Israel’s government to immediately resume shipments of aid to the Gaza Strip, I find it hard to believe that Reps. Pappas and Goodlander did not. Our leaders will one day be judged by their cowardice in holding Israel accountable for its illegal occupation and horrific violence. No matter how beholden our electeds are to AIPAC and other lobbies, they owe it to the people of New Hampshire (and the people of Palestine and Israel, too) to do what is right, to honor international law and human decency, and to end American collusion once and for all. (And to be clear, this is about much more than humanitarian aid—it’s about withholding all support for Israel until the occupation is no more and a just peace is in place.)

If they do not choose the good, I fear we lose not only the Global South’s respect, but the confidence of a generation of young people in the States—who watch this madness, live-streamed from Gaza and the West Bank, and wonder how it is a country proud of its democratic traditions and seemingly committed to human rights can brazenly fund and tragically bless the destruction of a beautiful culture and its gifted people.

At Sunday dinner, I watched and listened as 15 Palestinian friends broke bread, feasted on traditional dishes, and discussed crises near and far. Among them were academics, journalists and prosecutors, mothers and mediators and craftsmen. Their spirit was unmistakable. Their affection for one another and commitment to community, undeniable. “Let us live,” they said in English, at last, to their American guest. “We have so much to teach the world. Let us live.”

The time for bold and moral leadership is upon us all now. In the words of the great Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan: “Give us wings to open the horizons of ascent, to break free from our confined cavern, the solitude of iron walls.”

The Rev. David Grishaw-Jones is the Pastor of the Community Church of Durham. The church has made possible his 8-week visit to the West Bank, where he’s offering support to friends and colleagues at The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Centre (Wi’am) in Bethlehem. You can follow along on his blog: www.valleyriseup.blogspot.com.

Thank you, Senator Jeanne Shaheen for cosponsoring SR 224 calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Signing SR 224 may save a child’s life. It may save many. It may save children from growing up stunted and unable to function as full human beings due to lack of food and even water for their little bodies. We sit here in comfort while babies and children are starving; while trucks full of food so desperately needed are held up right at Gaza’s borders. We wring our hands while politicians play war games with children as pawns.

I admire Senator Shaheen for standing up for our values and doing what we all say we stand for.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Laconia Daily Sun, Saturday, May 17, 2025

Genocide in Gaza and Pope Francis

Three words about Gaza haunt my mind: GENOCIDE. GENOCIDE. GENOCIDE. Who has supported Israel unconditionally? In 2021, it was Biden, Harris, Blinken, Austin and Sullivan, and in 2025, it is Trump, Vance, Rubio, Hegseth and Waltz. All are most certainly war criminals. According to the media source Mondoweiss, Israel has now dropped more explosives in Gaza than fell on London, Dresden and Hamburg combined during the Second World War. The respected British Lancet organization reports that hundreds of thousands of Gazans have most likely been killed.

California Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a general trauma and critical care surgeon, traveled to Gaza in 2024 and, most recently, in March of 2025, wherein he stated there is no longer any serious health care system in Gaza. Moreover, he saw mass starvation occurring as he believes that 10,000 human beings have already starved to death, mostly small children and babies.

Pope Francis’ final speech: “The growing threat of anti-Semitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet, at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza… where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation.” (Jewish Chronicle Weekly) The Pope previously had commented on Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s population. “Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.” (www.reuters) Truth.

WILL THOMAS, Manchester

Concord Monitor, May 3, 2025

The Ecology of Occupation, Palestine’s Struggle for Land and Life.

In the fractured and scarred landscapes of Palestine, where the earth’s skin is etched with memories of violence, dispossession, and resistance, there lies an unspoken tragedy. An ecological tragedy. Beyond the suffocating walls of the occupation, beneath the rubble of homes and the twisting olive trees, there is a landscape slowly being strangled, not only by military might but by the relentless, invisible hand of environmental degradation. This is a tale not just of loss—of life and liberty—but of a land under siege, of natural resources turned into tools of war and power.

In Palestine, the land is not simply earth. It is history, identity, and memory that is saturated with the blood of ancestors and the hopes of the dispossessed. But in the hands of occupation, it is rendered mute, violated, and endlessly exploited. For the people of Palestine, the environment is both a battleground and a metaphor for their struggle for sovereignty. The occupation, in its systematic devastation, turns every blade of grass and every spring of water into a prize to be controlled, manipulated, and consumed.

Water, that essential lifeblood of the land, has been weaponized in Palestine. The Oslo Accords, in their half-hearted attempt to divide and conquer, left the water resources of the region in a state of absurd fragmentation. Oslo outlines a significant disparity in water resource allocation, with Israel receiving a much larger share, approximately four times the Palestinian portion, of the joint aquifer resources.

The West Bank’s aquifers, once shared by both Palestinians and Israelis, have been effectively monopolized. While Israeli settlements plunge deep into the earth to siphon the precious liquid, Palestinian communities are left to endure shortages, rationing, and, for many, complete deprivation.

In Gaza, the situation is more desperate. The coastal aquifer is polluted, tainted by both saltwater intrusion and sewage, leaving an entire population with undrinkable water. Children grow sick, their small bodies poisoned by the very liquid that should sustain them. The Israelis, meanwhile, extract desalinated water to their own citizens, the shimmering promise of technology and science keeping them shielded from the ecological despair that engulfs Gaza.

But water is not the only casualty of occupation. The once-thriving agricultural lands of Palestine are slowly disappearing, gobbled up by the insatiable hunger of settlement expansion. The olive tree, a symbol of endurance and defiance, has become a casualty of war. Over the past decades, thousands of olive groves have been uprooted or burned, not simply as an act of destruction, but as a deliberate erasure of Palestinian life. These trees, planted by ancestors who cultivated their lands with the sweat of their brows, have become markers of resistance. To destroy the olive groves is not merely to strike at the heart of Palestine’s agriculture, but to wound its soul. It is to sever the connection between the land and its people. The scars of this deforestation are not only visible in the charred remains of trees, but in the bodies of Palestinian farmers who stand, helpless, as bulldozers tear through their history.

The environmental toll of occupation, however, is not simply a matter of lost resources. It is a slow, creeping form of violence that permeates every aspect of daily life. The air, the soil, the water are all tainted by the structures of control. Military checkpoints, illegal settlements, and the so-called security barrier cut through the landscape like open wounds, creating a fractured topography of confinement. Roads built for settlers bypass Palestinian communities, cutting them off from their land and from each other, making the movement of goods and people a daily struggle. The ecology of Palestine is one of division, a land balkanized not only by fences and walls but by a political order that seeks to turn the environment into another instrument of domination.

Perhaps the most insidious aspect of this ecological destruction is the quiet way in which it has become invisible to the outside world. While the world’s attention is often focused on the violent clashes, the bombings, the endless cycle of occupation and resistance, the environmental catastrophe plays out in the shadows. It is not the bombs that kill, but the slow suffocation of life; the slow, deliberate erasure of an ecosystem that once thrived.

This ecological violence is, at its core, an extension of the broader political and military violence that defines the occupation. It is a means of control, a way of reminding Palestinians that they are not just dispossessed of their land, but dispossessed of their connection to it. The land is a place of memory and belonging; it is the repository of stories and dreams. To occupy the land is to steal not just the physical earth, but the very soul of its people.

But amidst this devastation, there is something else: a quiet resistance. The Arabic word for this resistance is “Sumud” (صمود). The people of Palestine have not only fought with guns and stones, but with seeds and soil. They have continued to plant, to nurture, to cultivate even as their lands are stolen from them. They have organized, not only to resist the physical occupation, but to reclaim their environment. Through initiatives to preserve water, to fight against illegal land grabs, and to replant olive groves, Palestinians continue to assert their sovereignty over the land.

Yet, the struggle is not only for the preservation of a culture and a way of life. It is also, fundamentally, a struggle for the very future of the earth. The land may be a prisoner of occupation, but it is not yet conquered. For as long as the people continue to resist, the land, too, continues to resist. This sumud persists through nonviolent protests, through agricultural resistance, and through every act of daily defiance.

The ecology of Palestine may be scarred, but it is not broken. The olive trees may fall, but their roots run deep. The water may be stolen, but the rivers will never forget the taste of their rightful owners. In the end, the struggle is not only for the liberation of a people, but for the liberation of a land; the land that has long stood as a witness to a history of pain and hope, of destruction and renewal.

And so, in the land of Palestine, amidst the rubble and the ruins, a quiet revolution stirs. It is not just for the reclamation of power, but for the reclamation of life itself, in all its fragile, pulsing, and unyielding beauty.

Michael Morrill is the director of New Hampshire Peace Action. Counterpunch. April 10, 2025

MY TURN
It’s time to stand up for Palestinians

By KARISHMA MANZUR
Karishma Manzur, Ph.D. is a science writer living in Exeter. She volunteers with various groups, including the New Hampshire Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East, which includes state chapters of Veterans for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Peace Action and several other organizations.

On March 25, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Ph.D. student at Tufts University, was walking near her apartment building when she was surrounded by six masked men and women who appeared to be armed. They handcuffed Rumeysa and drove away with her in unmarked cars. There is a video of Rumeysa’s abduction in broad daylight, a few blocks from the campus.
The video captures a bystander asking the group who they were and why they were hiding their faces, prompting a person in the group to identify themselves as police. They never produced an arrest warrant and are presumed to be members of I.C.E.

A New York Times article mentions that Rumeysa was one of several authors of an opinion essay published in the Tufts student newspaper that was critical of university leaders. Rumeysa was sympathetic to the oppressed Palestinian people and was most likely targeted for this reason. Despite a federal court order to keep Rumeysa in Massachusetts, she has been moved to a privately-owned, for-profit detention facility in Louisiana. Rumeysa’s abduction is similar to the case of the Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was abducted on March 8. We must understand that Rümeysa and Mahmoud are being detained without having been charged with or accused of any crimes. We should be outraged that Rumeysa, Mahmoud and several other students and professors have been targeted in a coordinated campaign.

The Canary Mission is a blacklisting and doxxing operation that lists the names and photos of students, professors, professionals and organizations critical of the Israeli government’s policies, including Mahmoud and Rumeysa. All of us, regardless of our political ideologies, should find these cases of abduction, detention and deportation chilling. It does not matter what our views are on Israel and Palestine. The First Amendment protects Free Speech for everyone within the boundaries of the United States, regardless of immigration status. In addition, all defendants have the right to know the charges against them and to defend themselves in a court of law. This is due process. The actions by the current administration are blatant attacks on the U.S. Constitution in support of a foreign government.

On March 27, Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA-08) posted a video message stating, “Rumeysa Ozturk was legally present with a legitimate student visa studying at Tufts University. She was bundled off without a hearing 1700 miles away to Louisiana in an I.C.E. detention facility. I am engaging with the I.C.E. leadership to try to have her return immediately to Massachusetts to resume her studies. There have been no charges against her, yet she has been abducted not far from the campus… This is reminiscent of 1939 Occupied Poland when people got bundled off. In those days, it was Jews being bundled off by the Nazis. This is not right. This is not protecting us from criminals or gang members. This is just abducting innocent students who have come here for learning.”

The students and professors being targeted are indeed the ‘canary in the coal mine.’ At present, the Trump administration is asserting unlimited authority to silence dissent across the country. These ‘test cases’ are setting a dangerous precedent. If the Trump administration succeeds with abducting innocents, holding political prisoners and expelling visa holders and permanent residents for their stances against the actions of a foreign government, the administration will be empowered to silence other dissenters, including U.S. citizens.

All of us should be shocked and outraged that our government is falsely equating criticism of the Israeli government with terrorism and antisemitism and kidnapping people based on their political opinions. Jewish Voice for Peace has explained that, “As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads… Many of us are the descendants of people who resisted European fascism and far too many of our ancestors lost their lives in that struggle… The Trump regime platforms Nazis, white supremacists and Christian nationalists. It is endangering Jewish people and using the guise of fighting antisemitism to dismantle our constitutionally protected rights to free speech and dissent.” All of us in New Hampshire must speak up against the current administration’s violations of the U.S. Constitution, attacks on the Judicial branch, its complicity in the atrocities against Palestinians and its repressive efforts against people who support Palestinians. We must contact our governor, attorney general, senators and representatives and ask them to immediately take action to stop this disturbing tactic of ambushing and kidnapping law-abiding individuals for their political views.

These authoritarian tactics are not in service of public safety, Instead, they remind us of the practices of the old Russian KGB.

MY TURN
U.S., Israel: Yes, they’re terrorist states
By WILL THOMAS

Will Thomas is a retired high school history teacher and a member of New Hampshire Veterans for Peace living in Manchester.

Let me be frank. In light of the events of recent history, I am going to designate both Israel’s government and the U.S. government as “terrorist” organizations. Why so? After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. declared a Global War on Terrorism. But what if 9/11 and subsequent attacks on the U.S. were the result of what historian Chalmers Johnson called “blowback?” Blowback refers to the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy decisions that have resulted in what many would term “terrorism.”

Reading Johnson’s book, “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire,” was relevant after 9/11, and I think it still is today. Another book that sheds light on terrorism is “Why Do People Hate America” by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Davis.

The late historian Howard Zinn also wrote that “since war itself is the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self-contradictory.” Both the U.S. and Israel use terror against their perceived “enemies,” which sadly includes women and children.
As a U.S. Navy veteran and as the son of a WW II and Korean War veteran, I agree with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said on April 4, 1967, that “the U.S. is the biggest purveyor of violence in the world today.”

When Dr. King spoke that day in a New York City church, he addressed the carnage going on in Vietnam, Laos and, later, Cambodia. His speech is called “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” We know today that our leaders at the time lied about the reason why America retaliated against the North Vietnamese for their alleged attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The result was some three million dead Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians — or more. Perhaps, Dr. King was also thinking about how our government was involved in overthrowing various governments around the world, including Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, but failing in 1961 against Cuba. In 1973, the CIA via Nixon-Kissinger, sponsored a coup against and killed the leader of Chile. The CIA, of course, has been involved in various assassinations or supported those who did our “dirty work.” A young African leader, Patrice Lumumba was killed in 1961, Diem in Vietnam in 1963, Che Guevara in 1967, and many failed attempts were made against Fidel Castro.

When the Twin Towers were attacked and many innocent people died, Osama bin Laden was blamed as the mastermind. What most people don’t recall is how bin Laden supported U.S. efforts to train and arm the Afghan mujahideen who would go on to help defeat the Russians who had been sent to assist the government in Kabul at that time. Many members of that group later became Al Qaeda.

Following the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush said terrorists hated us for our freedoms and democracy. Wrong. Bin Laden told several Western reporters that he deeply resented the stationing of U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia, especially near Mecca. He asked the U.S. to stop the sanctions on Iraq that were causing so much misery and the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children, and he complained that America’s support for Israel and its policies toward Palestinians had to change. And, as we see today, Israel’s treatment of Palestinians both in Gaza and in the brutally occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem has gotten much worse.

So, I see both Israel and the U.S. government as “terrorist” entities who ignore international law.

In Israel’s case, this involves violations of the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on Genocide and Illegal Settlements. Both countries have acted as “rogue” states violating U.S. laws such as the Leahy Law, the Export Control Act, the Genocide Prevention Act and the U.S. War Crimes Act.

Following both nation’s recent actions, I would also identify both nation-states as pariahs in the eyes of much of the world. One wonders when, if ever, the U.S. and Israel will understand that violence only begets more violence.

As I write this, the U.S. is bombing Yemen with Israel’s encouragement and threatening to attack Iran for its support of the Houthis in Yemen.

As Professor Zinn said: “We need to stop sending weapons to countries that oppress other people or their own people. We need to decide against war, no matter what reasons are conjured up by the politicians or the media . . . because war is terrorism, magnified hundreds of times.”

No other land

At the Oscars, delighted cheers went up for the film “No Other Land,” a documentary about an Israeli and a Palestinian sharing friendship and resistance in the West Bank. The Israeli director, Yuvla Abraham, told the crowd, “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives.” Co-director Basel Adra has not been free his entire life. The entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom were forced out of their homes generations ago, is not free — not even to flee 2,000 pound bombs. Gazans are not free to go back to their homes. They are not free to go for hospital care. They are not free to sell and buy goods from the rest of the world. Director Abraham continued, “Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe only if Basel’s people are truly free and safe?” It is not possible for Israel to enjoy peace while actively denying freedom to occupied Palestine. Abraham knows that Israel has the power and could choose the path to peace for all. As we approach a vote in our senate to send billions more in bombs to blow the people in Gaza and the West Bank to pieces, we can call our senators. Use your voice to show Basel and Yuval that you support safety and peace.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia. Laconia Daily Sun 3/18/25

MY TURN by Scott Dickman

Israel and Palestine: A way forward

Scott Dickman is a board member of New Hampshire Peace Action and belongs to the Compassionate Listening Project.

On February 20, I co-authored a My Turn advocating for protests against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank by halting U.S. shipments of armaments to Israel.

A friend questioned the argument as ‘one-sided,’ and, yes, the tone and emphasis were deliberate, given the far-reaching consequences of Israeli policy. My reasoning at the time was based on the potential consequences of an Israeli de facto annexation of the Occupied West Bank. An annexation would effectively negate the possibility of an independent Palestinian state, and one could easily foresee the likely escalation of violence and further erosion of any path toward a just and lasting peace.

Responsibility for conflict should not be measured by “body count” but by choices at the highest levels of government either to perpetuate violence or seek peace. Hence, each side is accountable for its actions and its role in either inciting violence or disrupting the cycle of harm. If we seek a path to peace after decades of failed diplomacy and violence, we must acknowledge that leadership on both sides has failed.

A broader narrative is needed, along with a new paradigm, one that recognizes each side’s fears and prioritizes reconciliation over perpetual warfare.

First, however, we must acknowledge that the violence of Oct. 7 and the devastation in Gaza have shattered trust on both sides, leaving trauma so deep that reconciliation may seem impossible. Yet hope must prevail. Painfully, we know the alternative all too well. History offers recent examples, such as South Africa and Northern Ireland, where peace did not emerge from trust but from the recognition that perpetual violence was unsustainable. It also shows how fear, vulnerability and the absence of self-determination fuel conflict.

In the case of Israel and Palestine, Jewish vulnerability arises from centuries of persecution, diaspora, genocide, persistent antisemitism, regional hostilities and existential threats. These experiences have fostered a deep-seated need for security, resilience, and self-determination.

Palestinian vulnerability arises from forced displacement, occupation, statelessness, economic hardship and the denial of self-determination. These conditions have fueled a persistent struggle for rights, identity, dignity and sovereignty amid ongoing conflict and geopolitical instability.

Unsurprisingly, both narratives are shaped by deep intergenerational trauma, and both sides have resorted to violence in the pursuit of safety.

In South Africa and Northern Ireland, when political and military solutions repeatedly failed, a “third way” emerged, one that prioritized understanding and acknowledging the pain and aspirations of the other. The success of reconciliation efforts in these countries affirms that when each side humanizes the other, lasting peace becomes possible.

For example, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 1996 sought to uncover human rights violations, emphasizing forgiveness over retribution. Similarly, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 ensured all parties in Northern Ireland had a voice, fostering reconciliation. Both efforts relied on compassionate listening, acknowledgment of suffering and structured reconciliation.

A fundamental obstacle to peace is the narrative each side holds of the other. Israelis and Palestinians are taught early on the stories of historical grievances and violence, shaping their identities, reinforcing divisions and justifying continued mistrust. Compassion challenges these narratives by encouraging individuals to listen to the personal experiences of those on the opposing side.

Programs like Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle- Families Forum bring together Israelis and Palestinians who have directly experienced the consequences of violence.

Through dialogue, former soldiers and grieving families recognize their pain mirrored in the other’s experience, grieving and healing together. Compassion allows individuals to meet not as enemies, but as fellow human beings who, like each other, love, suffer and long for peace, hoping for safety, health, access to education, meaningful work and the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

Advocating for compassion and respectful dialogue in this context is challenging. Anger runs deep, and ongoing violence only deepens wounds and fuels cycles of retaliation. Many Israelis fear that showing compassion toward Palestinians threatens their security, while many Palestinians worry that recognizing Israeli suffering undermines their struggle for self-determination. Yet, compassion is essential in shaping political dialogue. When negotiators approach discussions with a genuine understanding of the other’s experience, perspective, and aspirations, policies are more likely to reflect these critical considerations.

Nelson Mandela’s leadership in post-apartheid South Africa is a powerful example of how compassion, rather than vengeance, can heal divisions.

If Israeli and Palestinian leaders adopted a similar approach — acknowledging each other’s suffering and seeking solutions that ensure dignity and security for all — a breakthrough in peace efforts could be achievable.

“Kumbaya”? Perhaps.

But regardless of religious affiliation, fundamental moral principles should guide our policies and how we treat each other: with respect, fairness, justice, and compassion. May it be so.

Janet Simmon: Call on senators to vote against billions more in bombs, ammunition to blow Gaza, West Bank to pieces

Mar 7, 2025

To The Daily Sun,

At the Oscars Sunday, delighted cheers went up for the film “No Other Land,” a documentary about an Israeli and a Palestinian sharing friendship and resistance in the West Bank. I was amazed to hear the Israeli director, Yuval Abraham, tell the crowd, “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives, that he cannot control.”

Co-director Basel Adra has not been free his entire life.

The entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom were forced out of their homes generations ago, is not free — not even to flee 2,000-pound bombs being dropped on them. Gazans are not free to go back to their homes. They are not free to go for hospital care. They are not free to sell and buy goods from the rest of the world.

Director Abraham continued, “Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe only if Basel’s people are truly free and safe?”

It is not possible for Israel to enjoy peace while actively denying freedom to Occupied Palestine. Abraham knows there is a path without ethnic supremacy. He knows that Israel has the power and could choose that path.

As we approach a vote in our Senate to send billions more in bombs and ammunition to blow the people in Gaza and the West Bank to pieces, we can call our senators. We can help stop the killing. Readers should use their voices to show Basel and Yuval that they support safety and peace.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Peace Coalition Asks Shaheen to Oppose New Arms Transfers to Israel

By Arnie Alpert, Active with the Activists

Arnie Alpert spent decades as a community organizer/educator in NH movements for social justice and peace. Officially retired since 2020, he keeps his hands (and feet) in the activist world while writing about past and present social movements.

DOVER—Six members of the New Hampshire Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East met Wednesday with a staffer for U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, calling on the Senator to oppose a new round of arms transfers to Israel.

Amy Antonucci, a Barrington resident and chair of New Hampshire Peace Action, said the group met for about an hour with Chris Scott, the Senator’s Deputy State Director. Antonucci said Scott heard their concerns about human rights violations and the impact of U.S. weapons.

During the meeting, a group of 18 others held a vigil on a busy street-corner near the Senator’s office, holding a banner reading, “Ceasefire Now. A Just Peace for All,” as well as other signs.

“Violence creates violence and is making all of us less safe,” Antonucci said after the meeting with Scott. Palestinians are the most obvious victims, she said, “but also Israelis and people in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, and here. Everywhere. All of us are less safe when there is more violence.”

The group’s specific request was for Shaheen to support four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval introduced earlier this week by Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in opposition to new arms transfers proposed by the Trump administration. According to a Sanders statement, these include:

$6.75 billion for 2,166 Small Diameter Bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs and tens of thousands of fuzes and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for use on bombs;
$688 million for 15,500 additional JDAM guidance kits for use on bombs and an additional 615 Small Diameter Bombs;
$660 million for 3,000 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles; and
$312.5 million for 10,000 155 mm High Explosive artillery shells.

Sanders said the export of these weapons would violate the terms of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

“Israel had the right to defend itself against Hamas and respond to the barbaric October 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took over 240 hostages,” the Vermont senator said. “But Netanyahu’s extremist government has instead waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people, killing more than 48,000 and injuring more than 111,000 – the vast majority of whom are women and children.”

In response to the peace group’s request, a spokesperson for Senator Shaheen said, “As Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Shaheen has a particular responsibility to ensure that all U.S. arms sales adhere to strict standards. While the committee upholds Israel’s right to self-defense on a bipartisan basis, the arms sales that Senator Sanders plans to object to continue to undergo a review. We are in direct conversations with Senator Sanders’ office on this matter.”

Sanders introduced a similar resolution last year, which won the support of Senator Shaheen. Although it didn’t pass, the peace activists believe it still sent a message that the White House does not have unilateral control over foreign and military policy.

Jessica Bolker, a Dover resident who was part of the group meeting with Scott, said they talked about Shaheen’s role and the group’s hope that Shaheen would take a stand against “the horrific stuff that is being done in our name and with our tax dollars in Gaza.” Bolker, a member of Not In My Name, a group of Jewish New Hampshire residents who have been critical of Israel’s devastating response to the October 7 atrocities, decried “the way that American-financed and provided weapons are being used on civilians.”

Others in the meeting included representatives of 911 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the Community Church of Durham, Veterans for Peace, and Dover Friends Meeting. The group praised the senator for signing onto Sanders’ previous resolution.

Since the fall of 2023, the Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East has held regular vigils outside Shaheen’s Dover office, alternating weekly with U.S. Representative Chris Pappas’ office a mile up the road. While the group praised Shaheen Wednesday for favoring some restrictions on U.S. aid to Israel, they criticized Pappas and noted he is a favorite of AIPAC, the powerful lobbying group which consistently has backed policies carried out by Israel’s government.

Amy Antonucci and the Rev. David Grishaw-Jones, who was also part of the meeting with Scott, were among the five people arrested at a Pappas office sit-in last May. They were found guilty of criminal trespass, but used their court appearances to voice objections to human rights abuses committed by Israel with the support of the United States.

After the Wednesday vigil, another group of five peace activists delivered a letter to a Shaheen staffer stating, “We were proud and appreciative when you voted for the JRDs back in November 2023. We appeal to you to support, cosponsor and vote for the JRDs this time.”

Another delegation, with some overlap of participants, met with a member of Senator Maggie Hassan’s staff Thursday. Organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker group, this meeting focused on the importance of delivering humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

Patricia Saenger: Iran is home to Middle East’s largest Jewish population outside Israel

Feb 25, 2025 Laconia Daily Sun

A recent letter to the editor (Sheila Kufert Feb. 11) asserted that “certainly” no Jews live in Iran. This is incorrect but the misunderstanding is understandable. Americans are fed a steady stream of disinformation meant to demonize Iran. While Jews are a small minority in Iran (12,000 to 15,000), it is home to the Middle East’s largest Jewish population outside Israel.

“We have all the facilities we need for our rituals, and we can say our prayers very freely. We never have any problems. I can even tell you that, in many cases, we are more respected than Muslims,” said Nejat Golshirazi, 60, rabbi of a synagogue in Iran visited by USA TODAY in 2018.

The Tehran Jewish Committee even rejected an offer by Israel’s government to pay each family of remaining Jews in Iran up to $60,000 to help them leave the country back in 2007.

Jewish surgeon and member of Iran’s parliament, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, says simply that Iranian Jews are Iranians. They stay because it’s their country. And Moreh Sedgh says he supports his country’s foreign policy, even when it comes to the Jewish state. He says Judaism is not the same as Zionism, the project of building Israel. “There is a great difference between being a Jew and being Zionist,” he says.

It is challenging to be well-informed during times of international tension, yet that is when it is most important.

Patricia Saenger, Temple

OP-ED – Union Leader, 2/21/25

Jesse Gillis: “Be the good you wish to see”

WHEN WE have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle. These are words of Rafael Eitan, former Israeli Army chief of staff, speaking in 1983. Today is no different.

Over the last 14 months, the Palestinians in Gaza have been treated as subhuman. Bombed here, told to go there, bombed there, told to go here. Those that didn’t die from bombs were being starved, were dying of thirst, minor illnesses, being shot at, captured, and tortured. They are unworthy victims, devoid of human dignity.

And we humanitarians? We provide the munitions, financing, and political cover to perpetuate the slaughter.

About 47% of the population of Gaza prior to October 7th, 2023, were children. More than 48,000 people have been identified as dead. Women and children make up more than half of that figure. Under the recent ceasefire, the death toll has skyrocketed as Palestinians are finding bodies in the rubble. The estimates of secondary and tertiary deaths are by some estimates more than 180,000.

Have you seen the images coming out? Cities leveled. Have you listened to then-President Joe Biden’s exit interview? He talked about his conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu over the indiscriminate slaughter of Gaza. These are war crimes and they are war criminals. Now a new administration has stepped in to perpetuate the nightmare and even extend it into the West Bank.

Today, the ceasefire seems to be on the verge of crumbling. I believe that was always the intent. Multiple members of the Israel Defense Forces and Knesset tell us that Netanyahu’s administration is violating the terms and blaming Hamas. President Donald Trump is adamant about blaming Hamas and killing more Palestinians. Don’t worry, White house officials assure us that U.S. soldiers won’t be used to ethnically cleanse Gaza.

What officials are purposefully leaving out is that U.S. contractors are already working the checkpoints. Technically they are not U.S. military, so we are technically not involved on the ground. With such tension, a crisis may emerge. A Hamas operative, or a Palestinian boy, may injure or kill a U.S. contractor. Such an attack on an American could justify carpet bombing, shelling, launching a ground invasion, occupation, and subsequent ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Even if our U.S. military doesn’t get involved, the U.S. will do what it can to provide Israel the means to erase what remains of Palestine.

This ceasefire framework was the same from last May, which means the previous administration has been sitting on it, unable or unwilling to enforce it on Israel. This is the moral rot of our institutions.

Our legislature is filled with corrupt, sociopathic, and cowardly individuals who do not deserve our votes nor our respect. They must be held accountable. It is our job as citizens to do so.

I believe there are many of us who believe in the good, who see a common humanity, and want peace. May you feel the courage to speak up, engage with your neighbors, and build common ground. We are in this together. Be the good you wish to see in our society.

Air National Guard veteran Jesse Gillis lives in Pembroke.

MY TURN – Concord Monitor 2/20/25
Stop occupation of West Bank
By WILLIAM MADDOCKS and SCOTT DICKMAN

William Maddocks and Scott Dickman are both board members of New Hampshire Peace Action.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that approximately 48,000 individuals — mostly civilians, 70% of them women and children — in Gaza have died due to Israeli military operations.
The Israeli military, largely funded by American tax dollars, has reduced 80% of Gaza to uninhabitable rubble using the brutal attack by Hamas as justification. While the Gaza campaign has been temporarily halted by the recent ceasefire, Israeli settlement activity and violence towards Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank has increased.

Now, why the West Bank? Historically, the Jewish people enjoyed independent rule on the same land during intermittent periods between 1,020 BCE and 135 CE, totaling approximately 500 years. And for thousands of years, a considerably diminished Jewish presence in the land persisted continuously until a large scale Jewish immigration began in the 20th century. Fast forward to 1967, this same area was seized by Israel during the Six-Day War and continues to retain special significance for Israeli religious extremists. These extremists include Cabinet ministers and officials in senior government positions, who believe settlement expansion in the West Bank is required to fulfill the biblical aspiration of re-inhabiting this ancient land.

Since 1967, long before Netanyahu, Israel has obscured its long-term objectives regarding the West Bank by framing settlement approvals as a response to security concerns, rather than deliberate territorial expansion in concert with religious extremist ambitions. Specifically, Israel has used bureaucratic and legal measures to restrict Palestinian development and deny Palestinians self-determination while expanding Israeli settlements.

For instance, despite international condemnation, settlement construction continues with over 13,000 new housing units approved in 2023 alone. In response, The International Court of Justice, the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council and many nations have condemned Israel’s occupation as illegal under international law. Even Israel’s own Supreme Court has ruled that Israel holds the West Bank under “belligerent occupation” and that international law does apply to Israel’s presence in the West Bank.

Since Oct. 7, over 50 rural Palestinian communities in the West Bank have been abandoned amid intensifying attacks and harassment by Israeli settlers almost always carried out with the support of the army and police.

According to Amnesty International, “Israel’s launch of a major coordinated military assault on cities and towns across the occupied West Bank follows an escalation in unlawful killings by Israeli forces in recent months and will put more Palestinians at risk.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that “there has been a horrifying spike in lethal force by Israeli forces and violent statebacked settler attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with Israeli forces and settlers killing at least 622 Palestinians, including at least 142 children.”

During this escalation, Israelis also killed Americans, including teens Tawfiq Ajaq and Mohammad Khdour, who planned to return to the U.S. to study law, and 26-year-old Aysenur Eyzi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting in The West Bank. With this and the death of prominent Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022 at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces, we question why our tax dollars are being used to arm another country who has faced no consequences for murdering Americans.

The re-election of President Donald Trump has emboldened the Israeli government’s rhetoric when addressing the illegally occupied West Bank. According to a CNN report, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich recently told members of his party that “the only way to remove the threat of a Palestinian state is to apply Israeli sovereignty to [the West Bank].” This radical agenda is not restricted to a fringe constituency. Rather, it reflects official government policy.

This annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank will undoubtedly be supported by the Trump administration, as evidenced by the appointments of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Elise Stefanik as UN Ambassador and Mike Huckabee — who has said “Palestinians don’t exist”— as Ambassador to Israel.

Expanding settlements, subjecting the West Bank to military occupation and denying Palestinians their right to self-determination are largely responsible for the violence we see. Arguing that these draconian measures are required for security reasons is the height of irony. Unless the U.S. demands an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people, whose majority presence on the land extends back millennia with deep historical and cultural roots, a lasting peace and security is not possible for anyone in the region.

If you agree with New Hampshire Peace Action’s goal to decrease violence in the world and to value all human lives equally, please contact Congress to voice your concerns and to demand an end to the Israeli government’s annexation of the West Bank and the delivery of lethal weapons too often utilized to kill innocent civilians.

“Palestinian lives matter, too” Concord Monitor 2/19/25

The denial of food and basic medical care to the hostages held by Hamas is outrageous and inhumane, and it should not be done to anyone, including the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza who are also denied food and medical care. Israel has limited humanitarian aid in Gaza for over a year and has just banned help to Palestinian refugees from a major aid distributor, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
People are starving to death in Gaza and dying because of a lack of medical supplies. Indeed, the release of more hostages was delayed because Israel delayed supplying tents for those made homeless by bombs paid for by our tax dollars, a fact confirmed by Israeli sources to the New York Times.
The focus on the suffering of those hostages and the lack of focus on the suffering of the whole population of Gaza only shows the distorted perception in the U.S. and in Israel. To the west, Israel lives matter. So should the lives of Palestinians.

BOB SANDERS. Concord

Feb. 17 — To the Editor: (Seacoast Online)

Congressman Chris Pappas continues to disappoint New Hampshire peace advocates with his Gaza policies. Recently, he declined to co-sign a congressional letter endorsed by dozens of representatives, demanding that President Trump retract his statement that Palestinians in Gaza must be forced to relocate so that the U.S. can take over and develop
the Gaza strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” This is neither legal nor moral. It is a war crime. Virtually every country in the world has condemned the president’s statement putting the United States to shame. That the congressman chose not to sign this letter is also shameful.

Since being forced off of their land in 1948 and becoming internally displaced and stateless people, the Palestinians of Gaza have been denied their basic freedoms and equal rights, all of which are the root cause of this decades old issue. Facts that Congressman Pappas continues to evade. The Palestinians have made it clear that they would rather die than be forced off of their land — again, as recently shared by prominent Palestinian politician, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. This makes the Palestinians the very embodiment of our state motto: “Live Free or Die.” It is time that Congressman Pappas understood and upheld these truths.

The only path to peace and stability in the region is ensuring that the Palestinians live with freedom, dignity, and equal rights. As a representative of the “Live Free or Die” state, Congressman Pappas must uphold our values as well as U.S. and international law and take policy positions accordingly. It’s in everyone’s best interest — ours, the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Karina Quintans, Portsmouth

Is Ahed Tamimi the “Joan of Arc” of Palestine?
William Thomas, PR for People 2/15/24

Would you be appalled if the police broke into your home in the middle of the night, and handcuffed, blindfolded and arrested your minor child and threw her into jail? Of course, you would! According to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), each year some 700 Palestinian children are arrested, detained, interrogated, and prosecuted by a military court system that allows physical abuse of these young people. Currently, there are about 300 Palestinian children (ages 12 to 17) being held in Israeli jails and prisons. One of them is Ahed Tamimi. On December 19, 2017, she was arrested at 3am in her parents’ house in the small West Bank Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. Why?

Four days earlier, on December 15, Ahed learned that her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammed Tamimi, had been shot in the face by an Israeli soldier at close range. The rubber-coated steel bullet lodged in his skull and eventually he was taken to a hospital after passing through several Israeli “checkpoints.” His surgery took six hours and while the bullet was removed, and his jaw reconstructed, some of his skull bones had to be removed, which surgeons hope to return in six months.

When he was well enough to walk, the military arrested him and detained him. There was no lawyer, no parent present during the interrogation. Later that day, he signed a confession that his skull injury was due to his “falling off his bicycle.” Sadly, this reveals the perfidy of the Israeli authorities. And, some call this Israeli “justice.” Moreover, the arrest and often brutal beatings of Palestinian children while in jail occurs all too often. Israel is the only “democratic” government in the world to prosecute children (only Palestinians) in so-called “juvenile” military courts whereas Israeli juveniles are tried in Israeli civilian courts.

Initially, Ahed thought that Mohammed had been killed, so, when heavily-armed Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) came into her family’s yard, she was angry. Earlier, the town, including the Tamimi family’s home, had been tear-gassed. On seeing the soldiers approach her house, Ahed (16 years old) and another cousin, Nour (19 years old), told the soldiers to leave. Her rage at seeing the Occupation Forces was tangible. Ahed’s anger resulted in her kicking, punching, slapping and screaming at one of the soldiers, an officer.

Every Friday after prayers, villagers gather to walk to the spring whose waters and pool once were used by the Muslim families in the village. The nearby illegal settlement (certified as such under international law and by UN resolutions) of Halamish has taken possession of the spring which is on Palestinian-owned land. These nonviolent Nabi Saleh protests have been going on since 2009. At times, some of the extremist settlers verbally and physically attack the villagers while Israeli soldiers stand by.

In February of last year, a Veterans for Peace (VFP) delegation accompanied the villagers during their protest. They, too, were attacked, both verbally and physically by several settlers some of whom were armed. One VFP member recalled one settler saying to Ahed, “The next time I see you here, I will kill you.” Another youthful “settler” in Palestinian Hebron, said to a US citizen who was Jewish, “I am 10, but when I grow up, I will kill you.” Certainly, not all settlers feel this way but a substantial number do. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) protect the “settlers” (colonists) who often act with impunity when they physically attack the residents of Nabi Saleh. There are other Palestinian villages who have done popular resistance marches such as Bil’in, Budrus, and Nil’in, whose inhabitants have also been attacked by both the military and settlers. A fact to remember is that massive US aid to Israel subsidizes such illegal settlements – almost $4 billion a year, about $10 million a day.

Ahed’s story is one that deserves to be told. So, as noted, on December 19, 2017, she was taken at gunpoint from her home. Nour, Ahed’s cousin and Ahed’s mother, Nariman, were also arrested and taken to jail. This occurred after the video that Nariman took of the “slap” was posted on Facebook and later was shown on Israeli TV. There was an outrage among most Israelis at seeing the film. Some praised the soldiers for showing restraint as they merely walked away after the “assault.” Others said very negative things. Here are three examples:

At the entrance to Nabi Saleh, several messages were spray painted on buildings: “Death to Ahed Tamimi” and another said, “There is no room in the Land of Israel for the Tamimi family.”

Naftali Bennett, the Israeli Education Minister said Ahed should “end her life in jail.”

A well-known Israeli commentator, Ben Caspit, stated that Ahed’s kicking and slapping the IOF soldier ought to perhaps result in Ahed’s sexual assault in jail, “in the dark without witnesses and cameras.” He is still at his job in Israel.

Ahed’s story is important but so are the hundreds, if not thousands of other nameless Palestinian minors who have been denied due process in these military courts. Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children in a sham “juvenile military court’ with a judge in a military uniform and with the children shackled in hand and leg chains. Ahed, her parents and her lawyer asked for a public jury trial but the military court denied that and said it must be a closed trial. Knowing that she would be convicted, the family and Ahed and her lawyer agreed to the plea bargain: Ahed was given 8 months in prison and credited with time served and fined $1400. Her mother got the same sentence and a fine of $1,725 while Nour got time already served (4 months) plus 16 more days in prison and a $575 fine.

It ought to shock the conscience of all of the members of the US Congress and any president that children as young as 13 and 14 are being incarcerated. The UN’s Special Rapporteur, Michael Lynk, recently commented that “the deprivation of liberty of Palestinian children by Israel is institutionalized, systemic, and widely spread.” If this does not stir the moral principles of nearly all Congresspersons, we must ask why. Much of the world understands that under international law, an occupied population has the right to resist occupation even in armed struggle. (see UN Resolutions 3314 and 37/43). “These resolutions reaffirmed the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” (From Stanley Cohen, a lawyer and human rights activist – Reuters, 20 July, 2017.) Yet, the Palestinian people of today largely eschew violence, including “suicide bombings,” as they realize its failure after the First Intifada (uprising) of 1987 and the Second, in 2000.

Israeli officials knew what the backlash would be if Ahed had been sentenced to as many as 10 years in prison. Nevertheless, arrested at 16, still a minor child, she never should have been given any prison sentence (the same for her mother and her cousin Nour). Some observers state that the unraveling of the Israeli government is happening. As hard as they try to win more and more support and influence with the help of outside financial support beyond what our Congress provides, Israel’s propaganda campaign against the nonviolent Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions program (BDS) is not working. Reports indicate that the BDS campaign is growing stronger and stronger despite the various Congressional and state-sponsored anti-BDS bills that have been introduced and some that have already been passed in 22 states. In the 1980s and 90s, the racist apartheid South African government, in part, was brought down by an earlier BDS campaign which eventually led to the election of Nelson Mandela as president.

Would most American citizens agree that human rights “trump” immoral, illegal, and unjust actions by Israel’s military and the extremist settlers? One would hope so. Many of the Palestinians believe, as Frederick Douglass did, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Or, one might add, without civil resistance, there is no justice, no equality or freedom. A single word best describes the attitude of a majority of Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, concerning their struggle – it is SUMUD – remaining steadfast in spite of adversity, including the past 51 years of an ugly and brutal Israeli military occupation.

In reference to the title of this opinion piece, is Ahed Tamimi, a “Joan of Arc?… Is she, as a young girl, woman, doing what the actual Saint Joan tried to do – lead her people to freedom? Ahed’s father, Bassem, says of his daughter, “She has done nothing wrong and is fighting for freedom and justice.” He adds, “My daughter is a freedom fighter who will lead the resistance to Israeli rule.” Moreover, there are segments of Israeli Jews who advocate for human rights for Palestinians and who work to dismantle Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. In Israel, lending their support are organizations such as B’Tselm, Breaking the Silence, and New Profile. US organizations seeking avenues to advance a just peace in Palestine/Israel are J-Street and Jewish Voice for Peace. Interestingly, the comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted on February 16, 2018, her support of Ahed, saying: “Jews have to stand up EVEN when – ESPECIALLY when – the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government.”

Currently, this young Palestinian teenager who has become globally known as the face of the Palestinian resistance campaign, remains in prison, another victim of Israeli injustice and oppression. Is Ahed Tamimi the “Joan of Arc” of Palestine? You Decide.

Editor’s Note: William Thomas was in Washington D.C. on March 4, 2018 with other members of Veterans for Peace to attend a protest against the meeting of AIPAC – the Israel lobby – American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Here in the Connector, he shares his insight into the growing turmoil in Palestine and a young woman Ahed Tamini who is being touted as a modern day Joan of Arc.

Post Note: in the Jerusalem Post on April 6, it was reported that Ahed Tamimi was sexually harassed during her interrogation. “Gaby Lasky, Tamimi’s attorney, said in a formal complaint to the attorney general that Tamimi experienced “inappropriate conduct” during questioning, including being told she had “eyes like an angel.” Lasky further added that, “Tamimi’s interrogator threatened to arrest other members of her family should she not cooperate.”

Will Thomas lives in New Hampshire, where he had a lifelong career as a educator, teaching US History and American Government. Since 1989, he has been an active member of Veterans for Peace and creates awareness for this organization. Will is a vocal and productive activist for many causes related to human rights, fairness and justice.
Tags: PalestineAhed TaminiAmerican Friends Service Committee (AFSC)Palestinian ChildrenVeterans for Peace (VFP)Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)

‘Clean out’ Trump’s administration!’

President Trump says he wants to “clean out” Gaza.

Plus, he is ordering the U.S. military to resume sending President Biden’s 2,000 pound bombs to Israel. Happy Valentine’s Day to Gazans!

What America needs immediately is to “clean out” this rogue administration, nonviolently, of course. We who believe in the Constitution and the rule of law must persuade our Congressional representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against this rogue president and his sycophants.

Remember Lord Acton’s quote: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

WILL THOMAS, Manchester

Concord Monitor 2/10/25

Grateful to Sen. Shaheen for voting no on HR 23

Thank you to Senator Jeanne Shaheen who used her skills and her influence to shepherd other democrats to successfully vote “no” on a bill that would sanction the International Criminal Court.

Senator Shaheen stood for upholding the ICC amid strong forces seeking to weaken international law. Thank you to Senator Hassan for stepping up to the plate and also voting against HR 23.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

https://print.laconiadailysun.com/app/LAC662

Who is destroying whom?

In a Jan. 16 letter titled “Same old, same old,” Gary Seidner accuses Hamas of trying to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. I could laugh out loud at the absurdity of the claim except for the immense human suffering involved.

First, it’s horrifying to imagine my loved ones kidnapped or killed. Oct. 7th was horrifying and unacceptable.

But let’s consider just who is actually being destroyed, Israel or Palestine. Which is being bombed into oblivion? Which has tanks, and helicopter gunships and 2000 lb. bombs to drop on the other? To whom have we rushed billions in aid to continue bombing the other? Which one is blocking food from reaching the other and starving the other while destroying their homes, hospitals, cultural treasures and schools, leaving behind uninhabitable ruins?

Which one are we shielding from international law? Which one is actually taking over the territory of the other? Which one is building settlements outside its internationally recognized boundaries and expanding into neighboring countries, including Lebanon and Syria? In the service of which one — Israel or Palestine — are U.S. politicians taking away our first amendment rights?

Just who is destroying whom, Mr. Seidner? Let’s just start there.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Concord Monitor, 1/26/2025

MY TURN. Gaza lament
By ROBERT AZZI
Robert Azzi is a photographer and writer who lives in Exeter. He can be followed at robertazzitheother. substack. com.

Barcelona, Jan. 6 — I am having a wonderful visit with family, so thankful to all who helped make this visit possible, and, as I read weather reports about powerful winter storms being visited upon America this week, I must admit some reluctance about my willingness to exchange dipping my toes in the Mediterranean (which I did yesterday) for shuffling through freezing temps in Exeter.
Yet, I miss home; miss loved ones, friends, neighbors, books, moments of solitude.

I miss writing and, I must admit, occasionally feel guilty that so many of us are as blessed as we are while there is so much injustice being visited upon the earth.

Especially being visited upon the Holy Land. On days I don’t write, which have been several this trip, I often feel I am abandoning a call; a call to stand in solidarity with the sojourner, the weak and vulnerable, the oppressed and occupied. The wailing and lamentation persists. Just hours ago the Al Jazeera news service, amidst updating reports that Israel has killed nearly 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, dozens daily, since Oct. 7, 2023, reported that the Gaza health ministry recorded that an “eighth infant dies of severe cold in Gaza … An eighth Palestinian baby has died of hypother mia…” Eighth! At this moment my privilege demands of me to stand in solidarity with the eighth newborn who froze to death in Gaza as its mother tried to nourish and protect the infant child.

The newborn, lacking even the comfort of a manger, never had a chance.
The barbarians are having their way. Today, as I am about to post this reflection, I must admit that I never thought — never could have imagined — that the sun would rise on a day when I too would consider, in one thought, of the calumnies once visited upon the Warsaw Ghetto today being inflicted on Gaza; twin calumnies committed by one people, barbarians, who speak in one language: their accents may differ but their language is known as genocide.

A language of inhumanity, erasure, forced starvation, infanticide.
Today, from a room not far from Barcelona’s shores, from a place where Spanish waters mingle with waters on Lebanon’s and Palestine’s shores, I’m not interested in impressing your minds with the depths of my insights, the cleverness of my creations; I’m interested only in trying to challenge the landscape of your mind.

How do you bear witness? Today, I believe, we’re all Syrophoenicians, all begging to be free — free of the demons of injustice and inequity that afflict us all. Free from being reliant on oppressors’ crumbs that fall from the table, free to raise and nurture children distant from the afflictions of hunger, pain and fear.

Free from barbarians. Last month Christians celebrated, from within the warmth of a manger, the birth of Jesus, whom they believe to be the Son of God and savior of humankind, and whom Muslims venerate as the most revered prophet after the Prophet Muhammad.

Born of an unwed mother, a virgin, in Palestine, a Jew named Jesus challenged privilege and hypocrisy and led through love a life of humility, inclusiveness and goodness.

That all seems not to have carried us very far. Just days ago, the Biden administration, complicit with the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, announced an $8 billion arms sale to Israel. The planned deal includes medium-range air-to-air missiles, 155-mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs and other weaponry.

That’s $1,000,000,000 per frozen Palestinian infant. It’s a price I refuse to pay. I refuse to be complicit with barbarians, war-mongers, criminals.

Today, as I prepare to post after Epiphany, what is being offered is not gold, frankincense, and myrrh but missiles and 500-pound bombs.
Today, as I prepare to post during these winter days of January, days following Epiphany in the Christian calendar, celebrated as Three Kings Day (honoring the visit of the Magi) here in Barcelona, many share the story of the “Holy Family” fleeing to Egypt for safety.
There is no Egypt to flee to. That path is today closed.

The Rafah Crossing is closed. Closed to all but the barbarians, and their agents.
Hospitals are closed: shelter, food, water, electricity, sanctuary are non-existent.
There is no straw in the manger.

Today, as of old, wailing and loud lamentation are heard throughout Gaza, mothers, as Rachel wept, weeping for their children; they refuse to be consoled, because they are no more.

Understand, my loved ones, that if they are no more then we have ceased to be.

OpEd, Concord Monitor, 1/11/25

“Exploring U. S. complicity with Israeli genocide”

John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@ gmail.com

I have witnessed and read many reports of the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the war in Gaza. Even so, I have been reluctant to describe Israel’s military actions against Palestinians as genocide. It is a term that easily creates controversy over the strict definition and results in a defensive posture by Israel.

But then, in November, The United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices released a report declaring that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with “the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians.”

The report supported its findings explaining, “Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel.”

Furthermore, I have now read an article in the New York Review by Arueh Heier. He writes, “I thought then, and continue to believe, that Israel had a right to retaliate against Hamas for the murderous rampage it carried out on October 7… It is not genocide for Israel to defend itself.”

However, toward the end of the article he reveals, “I am now persuaded that Israel is engaged in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. What has changed my mind is its sustained policy of obstructing the movement of humanitarian assistance into the territory.”

Finally, in the New York Times we read, “To many people … the war flashes by … headlines and casualty tolls and photos of screaming children, the bloody shreds of somebody else’s anguish. But the true scale of death and destruction (in Gaza) is impossible to grasp, the details hazy and shrouded by internet and cellphone blackouts that obstruct communication, restrictions barring international journalists and the extreme, often life-threatening challenges of reporting as a local journalist from Gaza.”

It now has become obvious to me that Israeli violations of humanitarian law and rules of warfare warrant the claim of genocide, even as it is acknowledged to be a very serious charge that invokes anger and accusations of antisemitism.

Palestinians have been stripped of the very necessities required to sustain life: food, water, and fuel. On Dec. 19, a report from Doctors Without Borders described repeated Israeli military attacks on Gaza’s civilians and medical infrastructure, along with the “systematic denial of humanitarian assistance.”

Dignity and justice have been taken from the Palestinians.

Israel’s practice of genocide has more implications than just a judgment on the Israeli administration of the Palestinian occupied territory and the war in Gaza.

The United States has continued military aid to Israel, some of which is used to enforce the policy of genocide.

Giving this aid makes the U.S. complicit with Israel’s policy.

A spokesperson for the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations said, “the United States veto in the Security Council on 20 November of a text demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza demonstrates its complicity with Israel’s actions in Gaza…” The last thing we should want is to have our country complicit in any way with actions of genocide. It violates the commitment to equal justice for all people. And every day that it continues, real people are killed and injured. As citizens of the United States, it is an embarrassment. There is no time to be cavalier about a few more daily deaths while debates over definitions and just war continue. The United States has the leverage and the moral mandate to withhold any more military aid to Israel until Israel agrees to honor international humanitarian law and end the actions of genocide.

It is said that the United States and Israel are bound together by common values.

It’s time to insist that our friendship with Israel includes sharing the value of human dignity for all people.

Letter to the Editor, Concord Monitor, January 10, 2024

Nakba Day, a missed opportunity

Regarding the article on January 6, titled “City Removes [Nakba] Day from Diversity and Inclusion Calendar,” I would like to share my thoughts. Firstly, the article cites an unsigned statement by the City of Concord that asserts, “The City of Concord does not support antisemitism or racism.” This statement is an unfortunate conflation of opposition to Israeli policy with antisemitism. It fails to acknowledge that a significant portion of American Jewry opposes certain Israeli policies while continuing to embrace their Jewish faith and identity.

Secondly, Concord’s decision to remove Nakba Day from the DEI calendar rather than revising its description to present a balanced perspective is unfortunate. The result? A missed opportunity to educate our community about the complexities of interpreting history, especially when it is well understood that implicit and explicit biases influence each side’s perspective on historical events.

Nakba Day commemorates the displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, a profound human tragedy for those who lost their land, homes, communities, and livelihoods, irrespective of the historical causes. At the same time, after centuries of antisemitism, pogroms and persecution culminating in the Holocaust, it is impossible to uncouple Israel’s existence from the long-held yearning of the Jewish people for a safe haven. It is also worth noting that Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day is not included in the city’s DEI calendar.

Hence, recognizing both events would amplify the opportunity to educate and demonstrate a commitment to acknowledging all narratives and advancing the broader goal of fostering respect and empathy in our increasingly diverse community.

SCOTT DICKMAN, Concord

MY TURN (OpEd)
No war with Iran
By JESSE GILLIS. Jesse Gillis is from Pembroke and an active member of NH Veterans for Peace.

I was 15 years old when the warmongers in Washington finally got their war on the citizens of Iraq in 2003. At this point in the 2020s, I thought it was a common understanding the Bush administration lied to all of us: Iraq had no WMDs, no nuclear program, no threats of violence, and no role in 9/11. Yet, disturbingly, few remember the lies.

Invading Iraq was criminal. Every person in that administration, media, thinktanks, and experts that lied to us is complicit in over 180,000 Iraqi civilian deaths and the wholesale destruction of their society.

I was naïve, trusting our administration. I was in a perfect ideological position to harbor ill will against another nation and personally carry out legalized state violence against that nation if called to do so. They will thank you for your service so long as you uphold their vision. Look at how they treat any of us, especially veterans who question why we’re sent to war.

In 2002, President Bush designated Iran as a member of the Axis of Evil, along with Iraq and North Korea. This dribble shaped my ignorant understanding of our foreign policy. Our media pushed this agenda of a war on terror, needing to topple multiple regimes for the good. They were all willing to kill, displace, and dehumanize the men, women, and children of that country so you don’t question the violence.

The war hawks in our institutions have been calling to attack Iran. Some gleefully wait for the right crisis to obtain our moral support for war. The Iranians distrust our government for good reason. They harbor animosity toward the U.S. foreign policy establishment. I’m afraid we’ve forgotten what our government, regardless of the administration, has been doing in recent history.

Our CIA finally, publicly disclosed their involvement in a coup to remove Iran’s democratically elected president in 1953 and install the Shah. He was a dictator, a U.S.-backed tyrant. We interfered with their democracy for oil. He was a despised leader, eventually deposed in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, headed by the Ayatollah.

This is not good for Iran, but our foreign policy establishment preferred this. They even aided in it, helping the fundamentalist, theocratic state take over. Otherwise, the powerful communist and socialist parties in Iran could take power — better for a repressive regime than give the Soviet’s a chance to expand into the Middle East.

Our government began almost immediately to punish the people of Iran for this and continues to this day. We economically sanction them, place oil embargoes, and bar trade from global markets. This has one purpose: to make the daily lives of the citizens so difficult chaos erupts, destabilizing their society, and potentially leading to a violent overthrow of their government. It ruins the citizens’ lives for geopolitical gain. It’s sociopathic. Look at Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, or North Korea.

Our government supported Saddam Hussein for eight years during the Iran-Iraq war. We provided finances, military equipment, components for chemical weapons, and intelligence to wage war. We even gave Saddam political cover while he used those chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds. In 1988 during the war, one of our ships shot down Iranian civilian airliner Flight 655, killing all 290 passengers. Reagan refused to apologize and nobody since then has.

Any understanding of contemporary history in the Middle East could see U.S. foreign policy as antagonistic at best. For over two decades, the war hawks in Washington call for war and regime change in Iran. How are the citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or Syria doing? Are they better off now with American intervention? Where did the lip service of concern for the people go? The death toll alone is in the millions. Tens of millions are displaced. It’s an atrocity.

These professed Christians look for enemies to conquer, enriching themselves financially, and politically.
They worship power. They serve their donors. No love for their neighbor. No concern for human dignity. No care for the destruction of other nations, for the violence brought to them. They will sacrifice us all for their cause. They will bless the bloodshed in Christian language.

In this, we have the same worth as the men, women, and children of those decimated countries. We are all dehumanized. We have more in common with the people of Iran than we do with our leadership. It is our citizens’ duty to hold our legislature accountable. This is our patriotic duty. They act with impunity as they violate the Constitution. Democracy requires your involvement in the electoral process for it is the only way to hold authoritarians in check.

Be the light of hope you wish to see.

OpEd: Fighting words aren’t kindling for peace
Union Leader Jan 6, 2025

OVER THE last few months the letters pages and op-ed pages have been full of heated rhetoric on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which often get emotions flowing but muddle clear thought. Facts are thrown like hand grenades, taken out of context or sometimes just made up.

The main problem with both partisans of Palestine and Israel is they excuse the war crimes of one side by pointing out the war crimes of the other. The pro-Israel war hawks claim that Hamas started the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when in fact the war goes back to at least 1948. While detailing the brutalities of that day resulting in a thousand deaths and over 200 hostages, they often ignore the more than 45,000 killed in Gaza and the countless homeless, sick and famished, dying or dead, because of Israel’s deliberate destruction of infrastructure and prevention of humanitarian aid from entering.

Or they minimize the death toll by saying that the numbers given by health authorities are exaggerated, even when by any estimate they would still be multiple times the number killed on 10/7. Or they contend a large portion of the fatalities are terrorists even though most are women and children. Or they blame the victim, saying that Hamas fighters — who actually live among the population — are “embedded” there and are using civilians as shields.

On the other hand, militant pro-Palestine activists sometimes won’t even mention October 7, or they’ll gloss over the horror of that day. They’ll claim it is a legitimate response to the occupation or previous Israel bombings and killings of civilians. In the worse case, a few even advocate for more such actions.

There is never a legitimate reason to target civilians for any cause. Hamas either committed mass murder or a war crime. Israel knows that in their hunt for terrorists they will kill a massive number of civilians, but it does it anyway. That is an even greater war crime.

The response to war crimes should not be to commit larger ones or more of them. The response should be to bring those who commit them to justice, including the leaders of both Hamas and Israel. That’s why I support the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and others. (Most of the accused Hamas perpetrators are dead.)

I do not flinch at using the phrase war crimes. Many nations commit them, including our own, such as during Vietnam. But I do flinch at the word genocide, which might be applicable in Gaza, according to the United Nation’s definition.

Still, it is such an emotionally loaded charge when hurled at Jews, who suffered the largest genocide of all. While the atrocities inflicted on Palestinians by Israel do have some similarities to what the Nazi did to us Jews, there are also vast differences in terms of planning, method and scale.

Israel supporters should avoid conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism, or flinging such terms of “Jew haters” for those who criticize Israeli policies, especially when so many of those critics are Jewish, such as myself. In my experience, most of the non-Jews in the Mideast peace movement have no issue with Jews, just the horrible things that the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian people. They, like many Israel supporters, yearn for peace.

In the New Year, let’s try not to use fighting words when talking to the other side. Try talking to each other, not at each other. Here is hope for peace — shalom — in 2025. As-salaam alaikum in the coming year.

Bob Sanders, a former reporter, is a founder of Not in My Name, NH, and Ride Against War on Gaza. The views expressed are his own. Sanders lives in Concord.

“Professor is wrong on the genocide in Gaza”

To the Editor: In his recent op-ed “Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics,” retired UNH Professor Richard England disputes the “mortality data” that is coming out of Gaza and reported in the mainstream media.

I find the whole number game and name game (how many killed? is it genocide? etc.) to be deflection and denial. I think it is clear to anyone paying attention that the Israeli government has, for decades, occupied and oppressed the Palestinians in cruel, inhumane ways, that they have destroyed Gaza and killed thousands and thousands of people in plain sight over the past 14-plus months. This idea of Professor England calling the innocent civilians “non-combatants” suggesting that many are Hamas supporters who celebrated barbarism is ludicrous in light of what barbarism we’ve seen within the IDF as they celebrate killing Palestinians, blowing up their schools, homes, hospitals, mosques and more.

When people argue about how many have been killed or what to call the death and destruction — it is a manipulative, intellectual ploy to steer the narrative away from the truth. It is scary that we humans are capable of such delusion.

People believe what they want in order to comfort and protect themselves from brutal realities.

Let’s hope for the strength of compassion and humanity it takes to see the truth in the New Year.

ANNE ROMNEY, Portsmouth

Union Leader, 1/4/25

“Sen. Shaheen respects the law”

At a time when leaders around our state, country and world act as though they and their families are above the law, Sen. Shaheen’s vote to try to hold our ally, Israel, accountable for its actions was refreshing and courageous. She voted for Sen. Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) despite being pressured by lobbyists, the Biden administration and a powerful foreign country. She stood up to those forces and took a step that many of her constituents have been imploring her to take. She upheld U.S. law, in particular the “Leahy Law” barring the U.S. from assisting foreign militaries that have committed human rights violations such as torture and rape. These JRDs would not affect defensive systems, only offensive weapons linked to violations of human rights according to credible human rights organizations, as U.S. law demands.

Some invoke the U.S. friendship with Israel to say what she did was wrong. They think that having an ally means that we never disagree with them, even when they might be doing something wrong, ignoring our concerns, and acting in an ultimately self-destructive manner. None of that sounds like friendship to me. I look to my friends to tell me the truth and help steer me in healthy directions and away from dangerous choices. Sen. Shaheen’s willingness to question Israel’s violence and call for deescalation and a just peace that would bring more security for everyone, including Israelis, should be applauded.

AMY ANTONUCCI, Barrington

Concord Monitor, 12/23/24

Situation in Gaza

The total situation in Gaza, especially the 60,000 plus that have died and will continue to die of starvation, is extremely concerning to me as a Christian. This number comes from IPC, a reputable source. I believe most people are familiar with the phrase from the Old Testament, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” which means retaliation should not exceed the injury. In Romans 12:20-21, it says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. By doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”

Would the situation in Gaza be what it is now if, after appropriate retaliation, humanitarian aid had been allowed in? We will never know since that is not what happened. There will continue to be more and more children and adults dying of starvation, shaming the leaders of Israel and the world.

JEANNINE AUCOIN. Concord

Concord Monitor 12/20/24

During this holiday season, and every day, we must remember that ‘the children are always ours’

This holiday season the world witnessed a surprising scene. Pope Francis is seated at the Vatican viewing the Bethlehem Nativity display in which the Christ child is enfolded in a keffiyeh. Johny Andonia, an artist from Bethlehem who led the project, said it represented the “existence” of the Palestinian people, especially, I might add, their children.

In contrast, our own U.S. governmental institutions have for centuries paid lip service to children, falling far short of recognizing their full humanity.

In New Hampshire, day care workers are grossly underpaid. Centers are scarce and suffer from severe staff shortages. We are one of few states lacking free early education for 3- and 4-year-olds, essential to their healthy development.

We struggle to this day to define what constitutes “adequate” funding for our children’s schools. Chronic underfunding and high caseloads continue to plague child protection agencies and our foster care system. Children in low-income housing suffer from from lead exposure due to inadequate funding for its mitigation.

Most unfortunately, we continue to fall short in our investment in children.

Federal policies continue long-standing programs causing lasting damage to children’s physical and mental well being. Consider the heartless history of laws prescribing family separation. Slaves were “sold down the river,” separating loved ones forever. Native American boarding schools captured children from reservations to indoctrinate them in ways of white people, separating them from their language, culture, and, most importantly, their families.

The incoming administration threatens to reinstitute the cruel policy of family separation to deter “illegal” immigration. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are now in danger of deportation, foreshadowing a devastating and irreparable loss to children and parents. Recently, New Hampshire joined 18 other states in petitioning the administration to deny health care to DACA children.

On an international scale, the United States, in its continued military funding to the Middle East war in Gaza, deepens its draconian harm to Palestinian children. Palestinian activist Susan Abulhawa condemns U.S. complicity in the violent colonization of Palestine and the annihilation of its people, quoting Chaim Weizmann, who stated to the World Zionist Congress in 1921 that Palestinians were akin to “the rocks of Judea, obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path” and David Ben Gurion, who stated “we must expel Arabs and take their places.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) states that the Biden administration is responsible for the increase in child amputees. According to its national director, Nihad Awad, Biden has remained “unmoved by Israel’s systemic campaign of slaughter, ethnic cleansing, forced starvation, and mass destruction that he unfortunately supported and excused.” The U.N. Human Rights Office claims there are 19,000 dead children.

Tragically, we continue to look away; at the Vatican the keffiyeh enfolding the baby Jesus was inexplicably removed after four days, symbolizing that the chance for an immediate cease fire is becoming even more remote.

In 1995, Louis Farrakhan organized the Million Man March to convey to the world a vastly different image of Black manhood. In 2017, prompted by misogynist rhetoric and a threat to women’s rights, women staged the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. What we desperately need now is a worldwide peace march for children in Gaza, who continue to live in the line of fire.

James Baldwin famously said: “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”

During this holiday season, let’s take Baldwin’s words to heart. As the pope engages in contemplative prayer, let’s “pray with our feet.” If there’s a cease-fire vigil, attend it; if there’s a march against funding military weapons for Gaza, join it and come together for a children’s march for peace in the name of every child’s right to exist.

Ann Podlipny, Chester

NH Bulletin, 12/17/24

“Sen. Shaheen, leadership, integrity, courage”

I thank Sen. Shaheen, for voting on Nov. 20 in support of Sen. Sanders’ resolutions to stop our government from sending specific weapons of mass killing to Israel. She chose rightly, voting also to ensure that our government does not break our laws. For decades, American politicians and others with power and influence led us to believe that our foreign policies were in our nation’s best interest. They did not tell us that many of these policies would also result in the sacrifice of brown and Black people’s lives in faraway lands and foster ever more war profiteering. As a 78-year-old engaged New Hampshire citizen, I support a moral, ethical path for the restoration of Palestinians’ right to live in freedom and dignity, without interference or attempts at control by others, just as we enjoy and cherish these same human rights.

I am grateful to be allied with hundreds of Americans who are Jews, Christians, Muslims, and of other faiths working to persuade people that we must stop bombing and killing other humans. Supporting the innate dignity and worth of every person by seeking in dialogue that place where we listen to each other, learn from each other, journey toward mutual respect and acceptance of the other’s lived experience, this is how we best reconcile differences, between individuals and within communities of all sizes and kinds. However, at the macro level, first, we must stop the bombing, the killing.

LOIS ANN COTE. Manchester

Union Leader 12/17/24

“Genocide studies don’t work”

To the Editor: A very well-documented genocide is happening right now in Gaza. Many writers to this paper have shared the horrific details. The International Court of Justice has collected voluminous evidence of Israeli war crimes. More than 150 nations in the United Nations have demanded Israel stop bombing Gaza. Doctors Without Borders have shared absolutely appalling eyewitness testimony to civilian suffering and trauma. Little food, no clean water, no safe shelter, no medical care. No one can claim they “didn’t know” — only that they refuse to see.

Yet, despite the promise of genocide studies (“never again”), the U.S. is overwhelmingly supporting Israel’s annihilation of the people of Gaza. Genocide education hasn’t opened eyes, hasn’t taught empathy for the “other” and hasn’t taught people how to see through the propaganda that governments always use to “justify” their murderous plan. Even Keene State College’s dedicated Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has been rather quiet.

Let’s acknowledge that genocide studies have failed. They self-righteously focus on the failure of others in smug, empty finger-pointing. They have never been about challenging entrenched powers run amok or the heavy price of being a truth-teller. It takes work. It takes courage. It can mean being ostracized by your community. Genocide studies are apparently about melodramatic moralizing and nothing more. The billions we’re sending to obliterate Gaza is proof. I’m sickened.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Union Leader 12/16/24 and Concord Monitor 12/20/24

Won’t be helping Israel

To the Editor: On November 6th, I shopped at our Peterborough Ocean State Job Lot. As I checked out I waited for the usual request for a donation — homeless veterans, hurricane victims, food pantries, etc. I was taken aback when asked if I wanted to donate to Israel.

Israel is Goliath to the Palestinian David. Goliath Israel is denying food, fuel, and water to desperate Palestinians in Gaza who have no recourse. Goliath Israel has blockaded Al Shifa hospital and on Saturday the hospital’s final generator ran out of fuel, causing the deaths of critically ill patients including babies. Doctors are operating with flashlights while supplies of everything run out. The same catastrophe is occurring at al-Quds hospital, too. This is goliath Israel’s choice.

Gaza is densely packed (less than a fifth the size of Hillsborough County) and impoverished because Israel has blockaded it for years. Palestinian David has no organized military to resist.

Ocean State asks me to donate to Israel while American taxpayers send them $3.8 billion a year and legislators want to send another $14 billion despite the carnage goliath Israel’s inflicting on impoverished Gaza. I’m asked to donate to goliath Israel, which provides excellent nationalized health care to its citizens while we Americans are told we can’t afford it. Frankly, I was dumbfounded.

TRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Union Leader 12/15/24

Opinion: The way of peace

By John Buttrick

John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing.

Christmas this year reminds me of an uneasy congruency between the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory and the Roman occupation of Palestine over two thousand years ago.

Jesus’s birth was burdened by the oppression of the Roman occupation. There was a Roman decree demanding that everyone must travel to the place of their birth and register for taxation by the empire. Jesus’s parents had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

Soon after, the story goes, the family must evacuate and escape to Egypt to avoid being a victim of the Roman purge of baby boys under the age of two. The king feared that one of those boys would grow up to lead a terrorist attempt to overthrow his reign and Rome’s presence in Palestine.

Over two thousand years later, Israel, occupier of Gaza and the Palestinian territory, is consumed by a similar fear of those identified as Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory. The resulting war has impacted the births of children even more severely than Jesus’s birth in a stable.

They are born in the war-torn rubble of occupation. We are touched daily by the accounts of the war in our newspapers, on TV, and discussed on favorite social media sources. We are updated daily on the numbers of children killed and injured in the Israeli Gazan war, as well as the buildings and infrastructures destroyed, the hospitals attacked, and Israeli military orders to thousands upon thousands of civilian Gazans to evacuate from an area of a planned attack to go to another area just as dangerous. It is a tragic account of brutality and abusive political ideology of an occupying power.

We read less about the conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “According to new datagathered by the left-wing Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which monitors Israel’s dispossession of Palestinian land in the West Bank, at least 57 Palestinian communities have been forced to flee their homes since October 7 as a result of Israeli settler attacks.”

The World Health Organization has reported more than 600 Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in the occupied West Bank since the Israeli war on Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023.

According to OCHA, between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 21, 2024, 732 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Between Oct. 14 and 20, eight Palestinians were reported killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. During this period, there were at least 147 Israeli Forces operations recorded inside the West Bank, including inside refugee camps. Israel’s justification for these actions is “security.” It is similar to the Pax Romana, 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. Very little has changed.

This brings us back to one of the oft-quoted lines at Christmas, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all people.” In contrast, the One whose birthday we celebrate, after going through the trauma of living under occupation, stood on a hill overlooking Jerusalem and said, “If only you knew the way of peace.”

Yet all of the music, glitter, “Merry Christmases,” purchasing and giving gifts, the lights on the tree, the special food and drink, Santa and reindeer, and Christmas Eve worship all cry out, “We know the way of peace!” Could this be the year we put our knowledge to the test?

Where is the way of peace in the Gaza war and West Bank oppression? Where is the way of peace in United States military aid to Israel? Where is the U.S. president-elect’s way of peace in his vengeful pronouncements, immigrant policies, and income protection for the wealthy?

The way of peace was not then, it is not now. However, perhaps Christmas this year may break away from the injustice of Pax Romana and Israeli apartheid. Perhaps the way of peace is the path into the future: a vision, an aspiration, a hope to be fulfilled. Perhaps the way of peace will become congruent with life in the future.

John Buttrick, Concord

Concord Monitor, 12/15/24

Right side of history

To the Editor: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was on the right side of history with her votes on Nov. 20 in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval.

Shaheen voted against shipment of 120-mm tank rounds, high-explosive mortar rounds, and joint direct attack munitions because these weapons are being used to kill more infants, more children, mothers, fathers, the sick, the injured, and the elderly.

Shaheen voted to stop our government from breaking our nation’s laws.

President Joe Biden, many members of his administration, and other elected officials have lied to us over and over about the death and destruction in Gaza. We should say shame on President Biden and other members of Congress who are lying.

If anyone needs more evidence of the war crimes, they can find hundreds of videos on the internet of how entire families have been blown to pieces, burned alive, or crushed under rubble.

As a mother, I cry when I see the photos and videos of dead and injured children. How can we be made to believe that these war crimes are justified?

Granite Staters should be proud that Senator Shaheen is standing up for the children of Gaza.

DOREEN DESMARAIS, Northwood

Union Leader, 12/14/24

Shaheen steps up on Israel, Gaza

Sen. Shaheen recently voted in support of Sen. Sanders’s Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, prohibiting the shipment of U.S. offensive weapons to Israel in violation of U.S. and international law. These weapons — and the tax dollars which pay for them — have killed many thousands of civilians.

U.S. law prohibits providing weapons to foreign militaries committing gross violations of human rights. Sen. Shaheen stood for the rule of law and for protecting innocent human life. I commend her for her courage.

At the same time, Reps. Kuster and Pappas voted against H.R. 9495, a bill that punishes nonprofits (by removing their charitable status) that are deemed “terrorist supporting.” If the Senate approves this bill, nonprofits can now be threatened for exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech on behalf of Palestinians. They are free to support the victims of Hamas but not the civilians in Gaza.

Will my writing this letter one day be called “terrorist supporting”? Will organizations that support immigrants (whom the incoming president has equated with terrorists) be deprived of their nonprofit status? I thank our representatives for having the courage to stand for free speech and against arbitrary government power.

Sincerely,

DAVID BLAIR, Harrisville NH

Keene Sentinel, 12/3/24

The Children of Gaza

Oh, “say can you see . . . the rockets red glare, and the bombs bursting in air,” upon the children of Gaza. The UN Human Rights Office estimates there are 19,000 dead children, while Save the Children reveals that “more than 10 children on average have lost one or both of their legs every day in Gaza since October 7.” What horror, fear, and trauma these families and their children have faced from unbelievable violence which the U.S. has supported with its shipments to Israel of weaponry and ammunition. UNICEF “says all 1.1 million children in Gaza are in desperate need of mental health assistance.” Can Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, and Jake Sullivan, imagine the terror these children face on almost a daily basis?

The world will not soon forget what the “home of the free and the brave” have done in supporting a full scale genocide in Gaza. CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations), stated that the Biden administration must take responsibility for the horrific increase in amputees in children. CAIR’s national director, Nihad Awad said: “For more than a year, Biden has remained unmoved by the far-right Israeli government’s systemic campaign of slaughter, ethnic cleansing, forced starvation, and mass destruction that he unfortunately supported and excused.” Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity will not be ignored by historians and young voters. What America has done in Gaza, especially to children, is unspeakable.

William Thomas, Manchester

Concord Monitor, 12/11/24

“Thank you, Sen. Shaheen”

I want to thank Sen. Shaheen for voting on Nov. 20 to support Sen. Sanders’ joint resolutions of disapproval. A lot of rich people are becoming even more rich from the billions of dollars of weapons transfers to Israel. Our hard-earned taxes are being used to kill thousands and thousands of people and destroy families day after day in Gaza for over 13 months. How can we protect our homes, our families, and our towns, but not care when our taxes are being used to destroy other people’s homes, families, and towns?

Sen. Shaheen voted to stop the deliberate killing, maiming, and starving of the people in Gaza. It is wrong to call her antisemitic. We should remember that advocating for human rights can never be antisemitic. We should all work together to stop the suffering of other humans. And we should thank leaders like Sen. Shaheen who put people over money and politics. Thank you, Sen. Shaheen.

DOREEN DESMARAIS, Northwood

Concord Monitor, 12/11/24

Thank you, Sen. Shaheen

I am writing to thank Sen. Jeanne Shaheen for voting on Nov. 20 to support Sen. Bernie Sanders’ joint resolutions of disapproval, which would have reduced U.S. arms shipments to the Israeli army. Unfortunately the resolutions did not pass. Israel’s continued murderous attacks on Gaza, which have killed 43,000 people, are unconscionable. Most of the victims have been women and children.

We make ourselves complicit in this crime against humanity when our government supplies weapons and money to support the war on Gaza.

JUDITH ANNE ELLIOTT, Canterbury

Concord Monitor, 12/5/23

To the Editor:

I wish I could agree with Richard England that Israel is not guilty of genocide in Gaza (Guest Column, Nov. 26). I could then take comfort in the support of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire, of President Biden and a majority of both houses of Congress, and of a number of my Jewish friends.

Unfortunately, I can’t get over the facts. From the beginning of the current conflict, top Israeli officials have declared a clear intention to eradicate the people of Gaza. This is so obvious that most Israeli apologists ignore it rather than trying to refute it.

A flagrant example occurred on Oct. 9, 2023, only two days after the atrocities of Hamas’s attack. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared “a complete siege” of the Gaza Strip.

“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel,” he said. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

Scores of genocidal utterances like this were documented by late December of 2023 when South Africa petitioned the International Court of Justice to declare that Israel was in breach of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Although the court has not ruled, a special committee of the United Nations declared on Nov. 14, 2024, that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with genocide, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

According to its own statistics, Israel has limited the flow of food, water, medicine, and fuel to Gaza far below the volume needed to sustain life. The United States demanded that at least 350 aid trucks a day be allowed to enter Gaza; the number of trucks entering in October and November averaged less than 60 a day.

The Genocide Convention forbids killing in an attempt to wipe out an ethnic group in whole or in part. It also forbids “[d]eliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”

To that end, the Israeli military has damaged or destroyed 70 percent of the housing. It has all but destroyed the health care system, the water supply, farming, sewerage and sanitation. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, it has shelled hospitals and ambulances. Ninety physicians reported to The New York Times that they had seen children as young as toddlers killed by sniper fire to the head or chest. These are indefensible crimes.

However, I would like to go beyond the argument over genocide. I am appalled by the suffering in Gaza, and also by the suffering in Israel. I am ashamed that the United States is promoting this horrible war by supplying billions of dollars in weapons. To achieve the peace that Richard England and I would both like to see, the United States must cut off the flow of weapons to Israel. Only then can those of good intentions achieve a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas.

William R. Castle, Portsmouth

Seacoast Online 12/3/24

Shaheen is a leader

Some people are saying that Sen. Shaheen sided with Hamas and Hezbollah for approving some, but not all of the joint resolutions of disapproval. This is ludicrous. Considering that she is such a strong supporter of Israel, it is amazing to me that she actually took this step. Her position should tell us that she did so because the U.S. is aiding and abetting genocide. I am also hearing the worn out narrative that “Israel is fighting an existential war of survival. To this I would say it is not a war of survival (clearly not now) but an aggressively fought colonization which Zionists had begun contemplating at the turn of the 19th century.

We are complicit in helping them to complete their decades long theft of land and the elimination of the people who have been there. Almost everyone speaks about Israel’s ongoing war against terrorists and regimes on all fronts. This is the war of their own making and it may soon be ours. When we are naming the terrorists, we should be honest to include the settlers within Israel and the other extremists here in the U.S. Senator Shaheen’s vote was not an abandonment of Israel, it was based on a clear headed and realistic view of what is happening. She has shown true leadership where the rest of Congress has failed.

SHARON RACUSIN, Hanover

Concord Monitor, 12-3-24

OP-ED
Bob Sanders: Democrats would be wise to follow when Shaheen leads

THIS HOLIDAY season, I am thankful that Sen Jeanne Sheehan and 17 of her peers joined Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., in voting against transferring more weapons to kill civilians in Gaza and now Lebanon.

Those 19 votes don’t seem like much when compared against the whole Senate, but the fact that nearly 40 of the Democratic Senators took a belated stand against their party, gives me hope in this time of darkness for the future.

Remember, only two senators voted against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which would lead us into the Vietnam War. That war grew and grew, even as mass pressure against it blossomed.

Critics contend that the anti-war movement assured President Lyndon Johnson’s fall and led to the dark days of Richard Nixon. Today, as then, some blame protests against Israel’s slaughter of tens of thousands of women and children for the reelection of Donald Trump.

I don’t dispute that the anger of young people and minorities damped Democratic turnout; the party embraced an unpopular war.

I don’t blame the protest. I blame the war.

We can not shut our eyes in the face of atrocity, especially those who have faced persecution, discrimination and murder in the past. That includes, of course, my people, the Jews.

When I bicycled down to Washington, D.C. in late August, with my Ride Against War on Gaza sign on my back (RAW GAZA), I experienced a groundswell of enthusiasm. People stopped me on the street to donate.

In a primarily Black neighborhood of Philadelphia, four people collected 40 pages of signatures against the war in an hour.

Later, when I knocked on doors for a week in late October in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Carolina, I noticed a lack of enthusiasm. Although we are targeting Harris supporters, I heard too often, “I haven’t made up my mind” or “I don’t think I’m going to vote this time around.”

I wasn’t surprised by the outcome. Democrats seemingly treated this as a normal election, where you have to win over the narrow middle to win. Republicans treated it like a turn out election, where you have to excite your base to win.

The Democrats were timid and urged preservation of the status quo, while Republicans were bold and wanted to shake things up.

I think it’s time for Democrats to be bold and shake things up, too. And the war on Gaza is one place to start.

According to U.S. law, it is illegal for the United States to supply weapons for those engaged in war crimes. Despite this, the U.S. continues to transfer arms to Israel, which continues to bomb hospitals and schools, target aid workers and journalists. Some 44,000 people have been killed, and countless others are starving or dying of disease.

Democratic politicians continue to defend Israel’s action, wringing their hands and calling it a “tragic situation,” as if Gaza has been hit by some massive earthquake or a meteorite, instead of the weapons of mass destruction we provide.

Democrats say they support a cease-fire, yet continue to fund a war. They assure us we’ve flooded the area with humanitarian aid, yet neglect to mention that aid is being held up by Israel, resulting in a backup of critical supplies.

They call Israel the only democracy in the Mideast but that’s a platitude. The truth is that Israel is an apartheid state. It’s a democracy like South Africa was a democracy, or like U.S. slave states down south were democracies.

It’s not a democracy when a substantial part of the population have no say and few rights.

Stalwart supporters blame Hamas for Israel’s reign of terror and it is true that Hamas is responsible for brutally targeting civilians and should be brought to justice, like any common criminal. But police don’t shoot up a neighborhood to round up criminals holding hostages.

Has Israel’s all-out assault on Hamas worked? If it did, the war and the killing would have stop and the hostages released. The only time a substantial number of hostages have been released so far was during a cease fire.

If Hamas actions are criminal, then Israel is 40 times as guilty based on body count. The International Criminal court got it right, issuing an arrest warrant for the leaders of both Hamas and Israel.

Hamas leaders are dead or in hiding, while the leaders of Israel continue to perpetuate their war crimes in Gaza, and now in Beirut.

That’s why I’m grateful a group of politicians put their foot down. Sen. Sheehan — a known moderate and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — took a stand!

It’s time for Sen. Maggie Hassan, Reps. Chris Pappas and Ann Kuster (and soon Maggie Goodlander) to join Shaheen for the good of their party, the nation and world.

Bob Sanders, a former journalist, is a founder of Not In My Name, NH and Ride Against War on Gaza (RAW Gaza). He lives in Concord.

Union Leader 12/3/24

Letter: We can’t break our laws to back Israel

Betraying our values

To the Editor: Senator Jeanne Shaheen scored a big vote for justice and the rule of law on Wednesday night.

In presenting the resolution to prevent the illegal sale of arms, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “The Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear: the United States cannot provide weapons to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights or block U.S. humanitarian aid.”

It has been clearly seen that the people of Gaza are starving and dying of thirst. It is estimated that over 60,000 Palestinian people have perished in the last few months from forced starvation, which is a war crime. It is also against our laws to use starvation as a weapon. Doctors are reporting treating hundreds of patients a day without electricity, anesthesia, or clean water while trucks are waiting at the border.

We can support Israel without breaking our own laws. Sen. Shaheen is on the right side of history.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

Union Leader 11/29/24

ON THE 11th of this month, we celebrated Veterans Day. A day to pay tribute to those who served and are currently serving. A day to “… honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”

This day used to be known by the name Armistice Day. When passed in Congress in 1926, it was a day to recognize the end of the Great War, the resumption of peaceful relations with other nations, and the hope peace would never be severed again. It was an exercise in remembering the desire for perpetual peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations. We have forgotten this call.

That language of Armistice Day changed in 1954, striking Armistice and replacing it with the word Veterans. It became a day to honor veterans and remember why we fight. Where is the desire for peace? You only find it on the faces of the victims of war.

We have forgotten what it means to be plunged into war. We see it on their faces, hundreds of thousands of faces across war torn countries suffering at the hands of such impersonal violence on a scale that is hard to comprehend unless you are a victim to it. The smell of burning flesh, the corpses, the injured, the destruction of your towns, the destruction of who you are. Who here knows this pain, this suffering?

Today, more war looms and most of us are unmoved. War is being waged, ravaging nations, communities, individuals, children, all with our government’s backing. Our arms manufacturers are doing their humble duty of aiding one or both sides to the bitter end. These war profiteers pay tribute to Veterans Day as a day to glorify those who wage war.

We are cheated by our legislature, lobbied by those who feel no allegiance to our nation, to us, or to the common good. To this, we will remain indifferent until they drag us into a real war. So, we cheer on our elected and unelected officials with a treacherous policy: wage war to make peace.

Today as I write this it marks 409 days since October 7th, 2023, for which Israel began an assault on every man, woman, and child in Gaza and carried it forward to Lebanon. How did this work for us in Iraq? In Afghanistan? In Vietnam? We were lied into those conflicts and countless more. We were lied into supporting this current evil. They took our empathy and weaponized it.

Today, we do not have peace. We can only celebrate the possibility of peace. We must reignite this desire, bring back the meaning of Armistice Day. By the time most feel this necessity — the ceaseless call for peace — it will be too late for them and us.

Air National Guard veteran Jesse Gillis lives in Pembroke.

Union Leader 11/26/24

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is on the right side of history

Sen. Shaheen scored a big vote for justice and the rule of law on Wednesday night. In presenting the resolution to prevent the illegal sale of arms, Sen. Sanders said, “The Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear: the United States cannot provide weapons to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights or block U.S. humanitarian aid.”

It is also against our U.S. law to use starvation as a weapon. Doctors are reporting treating hundreds of patients a day without electricity, anesthesia, or clean water while trucks are waiting at the border. We can support Israel without breaking our own laws. The honorable Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is on the right side of history.

JANET SIMMON, Laconia

Concord Monitor 11/25/24

Letter: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk

“Friends don’t let friends drive armed and loaded”

To the Editor: The recent letter from Joe Hubisz of Bradford about the bike ride to D.C. undertaken by Bob Sanders to protest Israel’s tragic pursuit of revenge and deterrence against Palestinians, shows admirable loyalty. However, it seems to show a very pinched view of friendship.

I hope Joe wouldn’t let a friend drive drunk, hand him the keys and buy him a full tank of gas. Yet the U.S., claiming friendship, keeps supplying Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel with the fuel and justification it needs to increasingly besmirch its reputation as a “humanitarian democracy” by murdering civilians and devastating their prospects of recovering.

Israelis mount ever larger protests about hostages un-rescued and murdered while Bibi quibbles about a ceasefire agreement. A crash feels inevitable, with Israel creating enemies and losing friends. We friends could become casualties too, in a wider war with Iran.

I hope Joe Hubisz, and Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, plus Reps. Ann Kuster and Chris Pappas, will remember: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.

M. CHRIS HANSEN, Alstead

https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-friends-don-t-let-friends-drive-drunk/article_7cbaa3e4-704d-11ef-9335-f767daa8a4d3.html

Concord Monitor LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

“Be true to humanity”

I am a retired 81-year-old history teacher and a U.S. Navy veteran. Regarding the horrific killing and maiming of 40,000+ Palestinians in Gaza, I stand with GEN-Z in condemning the Israeli genocide, aided by Biden, Blinken, and Harris. As historian Howard Zinn once said, “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” At the “Democratic” Convention, the delegates were yelling “USA, USA, USA.” The “USA” chant is a prime example of jingoism, of chauvinism, which saddens me immensely. It reminded me of Stephen Decateur’s quote: “Our country, right or wrong, may she always be in the right, but right or wrong, our country!”

If one is honest and informed, one would know that Israel is an undemocratic apartheid state. It violates international law on a daily basis. Some say that AIPAC controls our Congress which should alarm our citizenry. Why does Israel act as a rogue state? It does so because its biggest supporter, the U.S., sanctions it. Thus, Israel’s military, including the Occupation Forces, act with impunity as no one holds them accountable for their myriad human rights violations.

Should Palestinian violence be condemned? Yes, certainly, but Israeli oppression breeds more violence. The dehumanization and demonization of Palestinians creates more violence. When there is no hope for a better future, then some strike back, unfortunately. As a Veteran for Peace, I say, USA, be true to humanity.

WILL THOMAS
Auburn

https://www.concordmonitor.com/Thomas-cmlett_-56709216

Concord Monitor – August 20, 2024

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

“How genocide happens”

Gazans are being brutalized by continual shelling, living an endless nightmare of death and destruction.

It is absolutely horrific and yet it continues as you read this. President Biden talks tough but in actions, he’s ensuring Israeli barbarity can continue unabated. Congress acts as willing executioners as well, speeding bombs and missiles with unrestrained enthusiasm while passing laws that punish Americans who criticize the Israeli government. Meanwhile, Israel assassinates Gaza’s chief peace negotiator (Ismail Haniyeh) and seems intent on instigating a wider, hot war in the region by launching missile strikes into neighboring countries with impunity.

This is how genocide happens, by governments (always by governments) far away, conducted against a people propagandized into the “other,” stripped of their humanity so we don’t feel their suffering.

We know this. We study this. Yet, it’s happening anyway. America has embraced Holocaust and genocide studies but apparently to little effect. We can tune in to the daily horror if we wish. We can read the wrenching testimony of aid workers in Gaza, heroically working to ease the extreme suffering there while Israel ruthlessly blocks food and critical medical supplies. No one can claim they don’t know, only that they refuse to look. It’s an election year. Act.

Refuse to support politicians that defend Israel’s well-documented war crimes and crimes against humanity. Don’t look away. Our “American values” are at stake.

PATRICIA SAENGER
Temple

Concord Monitor – May 6, 2024

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Why Israel?

Gary Seidner wonders why students protesting Israel’s destruction of Gaza aren’t protesting the war in Syria, claiming its “blatant antisemitism.” There is a very simple explanation, and it’s not antisemitism. Our government is sending bombs and weapons to the government of Israel, but not Syria. Our government is sending billions of our tax dollars to the Israeli government, not to Syria. Our government is using all its influence to defend Israel’s actions in the UN, it’s not defending Syria.

Like it or not, U.S. policy absolutely makes Americans complicit in Israel’s disproportionate use of force in Gaza and its violations of international law. We are complicit in the starvation, the destruction of hospitals and churches and mosques and schools and homes and infrastructure. We are complicit in the almost complete dislocation of 2 million people and the deaths of over 34,000 Gazans and counting. If you perceive calls for human rights and international law as a threat, you are defending the wrong side. I’m with the students.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Union Leader – May 6, 2024

Letter: How would Perlman like for it to be done to Jews?

To the Editor: In a recent letter to the editor, Alan Perlman savages pro-Palestinian protesters. To him, the anguish the protesters feel and their outrage is “mindless” and “arbitrary.” He is obviously unmoved by the deaths of entire families, of children buried alive in rubble, of the damage done by 2,000-pound dumb bombs, of imposed starvation.

Perlman incredibly dismisses 34,000 dead Gazans as “civilian casualties of war.” There. Done. Nothing here to see. The only thing that upsets Mr. Perlman is, incredulously, terminology.

I would like to challenge Mr. Perlman to put the shoe on the other foot. Would he feel any different if this same level of violence and destruction was being inflicted on Jews?

Peace for Jews, for non-Jews, for Palestinians, for Americans, and for the world will only occur when people like Mr. Perlman are able to look beyond their own narrowly-defined tribe to accept the universality of human suffering. To resist the temptation to dehumanize anyone who looks different or believes differently or sings different songs or wears different clothes. To truly embrace the substance of “Never again.” To understand that when any community is denied basic human rights, denied the ability to live in safety and raise a family, there will be no peace.

I applaud those who are protesting for their idealism. Empathy is the only path to making a better world.

PATRICIA SAENGER, Temple

Laconia Daily Sun – April 27, 2024

On Earth Day Remember One of Our Biggest Polluters Is War

Our earth is at risk.

    One of the biggest polluters is war.
The cloud that ascends after each bomb hits is full of dust and trash.  When buildings are blown up concrete, insulation, and other materials are pulverized into toxic dust.     According to the Scientific American a toxic mix of dust, ash and other material from 15 million tons of rubble now blankets Gaza. That toxic air does not stay over Gaza.
In just the first month, Israel dropped more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip, the equivalent of two nuclear bombs. Israel has dropped highly toxic white phosphorus bombs on Gaza and south Lebanon that can seep deep into the soil and water systems, remaining there for many years.
Almost all of the olive trees, lemon trees, pomegranate trees of Gaza are dead. There are no longer any sewage treatment plants. Farms and trees in Ukraine are no longer.   In Ukraine the vast leveling of urban and industrial infrastructure has left pollution of earth and air. All the buildings which are now rubble are spilling chemicals.
Just look at the clouds of smoke and debris that arise after just one bombing.
What do you suppose will be done with all the rubble? What if it is dumped into the sea?
If you work for a company that contributes to pollution in this way give it some thought. If you vote for war, give the earth some thought.

Janet Simmon

Laconia

Laconia Daily Sun – April 6, 2024

Since the horror of October 7 the entire Gaza Strip has been devastated: hospitals, schools and food sources wiped out. After massive killing of innocents we have heard the Israeli administration say, “it was an accident,” “we had evidence,” “just an unavoidable mistake.” We have heard six months of “excuses” with little or no evidence.

Now Israel’s hand is exposed. Since bombing a consulate in Damascus, making undocumented accusations against UNRWA employees, and bombing three World Central Kitchen vehicles the world can see that much of this destruction was planned and vastly beyond a “response” to the October attack.

The Israeli administration has been working up to taking over the Gaza Strip. Remember Truman’s words, “bit by bit” and see how the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank have been deprived of their land, their homes, their dignity, their cultural institutions.

The United States is complicit. Our senators and representatives have continued to support money and weapons for Israel despite words of concern over their use in opposition to international law. The people of NH can see that our entire delegation is out of step with common sense and humanity.

We must stop sending billions of dollars and tons of bombs and hundreds of planes which enable this plan to eliminate the Palestinians from their land.

Janet Simmon, Laconia

Seacoast Online – March 18, 2024

US must do more to broker peace between Israel and Palestinians

To the Editor:

This Saint Patrick’s Day was a solemn one for me. Being Irish on my Mother’s side, it is supposed to be a day of celebration. But I found myself thinking about how my Irish ancestors were driven to this country by famine. A famine that was actually rooted in the politics of occupation. Ireland was a food exporting country during the years of the potato blight, forced to send what they produced to England, often at gunpoint. About 1 million people starved to death.

Watching another famine devastate a population of mostly women and children who are starving with food just out of reach breaks my heart.

It is illegal under US law (the Foreign Assistance Act) for our government to send military aid to a country that is restricting transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance. Numerous senators have signed a letter reminding President Biden of this. Senators Shaheen and Hassan did not sign. I urge them to support this initiative, to end the blockade of Gaza, which had already lasted 16 years before Israel’s defense minister ordered a “complete siege” starting last October.

Only a permanent ceasefire and internationally supported diplomacy will create the conditions for security for Palestinians and Israelis, and make the world safer for us all. Fifty-six years of Israeli occupation of Palestine and billions of US tax dollars in military aid has shown how a cycle of violence can go on and on, with so much suffering for civilians on all sides of a conflict.

The Irish and English have made great progress towards a more peaceful and just relationship. In that case, the US helped end the bloodshed rather than sending weapons. I hope we can learn from our history.

Amy Antonucci, Barrington

Concord Monitor – March 4, 2024

Letter: Conscience of America

The stories of the horror and suffering coming out of Gaza are gut-wrenching. Ordinary people, civilians, wounded and dying, entire families killed, children orphaned, denied food and water, starving. The old and infirm herded into tents lacking beds, heat and toilets. Surgeons facing innumerable casualties without electricity or basic supplies, facing death themselves. Israel, in control of Gaza’s borders, refuses to let in medical aid or food for the entire population leading to plausible charges of genocide. The Associated Press reports that “The Israeli military campaign in Gaza…now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history.” The Red Cross says, “No words adequately capture the depth of human suffering in Gaza.”

Yet, our government can’t send replacement munitions to Israel fast enough. Why? They’re slashing funding for aid workers in Gaza and blocking world-wide calls for a cease-fire. Why? Do they lust for more death and destruction? Is Palestinian suffering, Palestinian humanity, of no consequence to them? Or is this just an excuse to funnel more money to our military-industrial complex? Regardless of the reason, our elected officials are clearly demonstrating that they have absolutely no conscience. As citizens, we have to be the conscience of America. We have to speak out, loudly, for what is right and moral and do it now or we are just as guilty.

Patricia Saenger

Concord Monitor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (1-25-24)

Letter: Compromise is possible

The Jan. 17 Monitor carried two letters that spoke to each other. Scott Lounsbury offered the necessity of “both/and” thinking regarding our national dialogue verses the prevailing “either/or.” He writes, “the misshapen truths from “us vs them” are “driven by … one-sidedness, tribalism, and our need for easy answers.” The letter by Matt Leahy offers examples of one-sided tribalism in the Israel war on Hamas. Mr. Leahy (and others) declares that unless Israel gets unlimited support for its Jewish nation-state and condemnation of Hamas, peace will never come. Either support Israel and damn Hamas or forfeit peace. There is a “both/and” option.

Hamas proposed one in its 2017 update and revision of its 1988 charter. It rejects the Zionist state in Palestine and considers “the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 1967 (borders) with the return of refugees and the displaced to their homes.” Hamas is willing to turn a blind eye to the existence of Israel while having its own sovereign state in the West Bank. It’s a “both/and” solution, having two opposing thoughts at once, something most can manage. An exception is Netanyahu. For him and his party it’s all or nothing, certainly not co-existence and peace. Mr. Leahy quotes part of Article 13 in the Hamas charter, the rest of which explains Hamas’ rejection of international conferences, namely that the usual participants have shown no respect for Palestinian demands, restoring their rights or doing justice for the oppressed. I recommend reading Hamas’ charter and the 2017 update.

Gail Page, Concord

Concord Monitor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (1-25-24)

Letter: To President Biden and the NH Congressional delegation

I read this morning that Israeli PM Netanyahu rejected establishment of a Palestinian state. Is this news to you? You may have been led to believe that only Arab terrorists are trying to have all the land in Israel/Palestine for themselves exclusively. In fact, the rejection of any Palestinian claim to any of the land ‘from the river to the sea’ has been policy of Likud, Netanyahu’s party, and its predecessors (like the Irgun), since before Israel established itself. The Irgun used terrorism to take Palestinian homes and expel as many Arabs from Israel as possible. That activity continues with ongoing Israeli violence growing illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories after the 1967 war.

That land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River was never exclusively Jewish nor exclusively Arab Palestinian. Netanyahu’s government has exploited the obscene Hamas terrorism to further the Israeli settler goal of annexing more Palestinian territory. The focus on helping Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) destroy Hamas at the expense of the lives of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children is wrong. And the media has failed to bring attention to how this is allowing the increased settler attacks in the West Bank with IDF support. To achieve a peaceful future, the U.S. must stop supporting unrestrained Israeli killing and displacement of Palestinians. Support instead permanent ceasefire, release of all Israeli hostages and of all Palestinians held without charges in Israeli administrative detention by the IDF.

Jennifer Smith, Pembroke

Concord Monitor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (1-24-24)

Letter: Oppose SB 439, the anti-BDS bill

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, the NH Senate’s Executive and Departments Committee will hold a hearing on SB 439 that would prohibit NH state investments from going to businesses participating in a boycott of Israel. All 14 Republican state senators and four Democratic state senators support this bill. I oppose SB 439 and support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) as do organizations in NH such as the American Friends Service Committee, NH Veterans for Peace, and the NH Palestine Education Network. BDS targets Israeli institutions complicit in their oppressive policies towards Palestinians. BDS leaders have stated they would stop the campaign if Israel began to comply with international law and promised to end the occupation and stop further colonization of Palestinian land. (The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation)

Most people in NH probably do not know that the BDS campaign is centered on nonviolence as it reflects other similar movements in history such as the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, led by such people as Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I ask the 18 legislators to consider that by endorsing this bill, they may inadvertently be supporting a government that practices apartheid, allows illegal settlements that violate international law, and maintains a brutal military occupation where basic freedoms are denied Palestinians, and military and “settler” violence directed at Palestinians is tolerated by Israel’s government that may well be found guilty of genocide by the International Court of Justice.

William Eugene Thomas, Auburn

Concord Monitor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (1-9-24)

A different view

For all Israel’s efforts at peace, why do Palestinians keep attacking them? A different view: In 1947 Britain was ending its control of Palestine. According to the UN Charter, Palestinians should have been allowed to form their own state. Instead, powerful U.N. members acceded to the Zionist movement and designated half of Palestine for Jewish control (a minority population, many recently immigrated from Europe). This decision ripped apart the bonds of Palestinian society as Jewish identity was privileged over Palestinian identity.

The new state, Israel, quickly expelled 700,000 Palestinians to establish a Jewish majority. (Reference Plan Dalet, Benny Morris, and Deir Yassin). This is the foundational dispossession that fuels the Palestine/Israel conflict. Many of the expelled Palestinians were herded into Gaza and never allowed to return. Within Israel, discriminatory laws relegate Palestinian-Israelis to secondclass status. See Israel’s Adalah Project and the 2018 Nation-State law.

Israel’s ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank belie claims of desiring peace. They dispossess ever more Palestinians and are illegal under international law. Israel even announces its intent to erase Palestine (which receives little coverage). PM Netanyahu promised his administration wouldn’t allow a Palestinian state. His party’s founding platform states “…between the Sea and the Jordan [River] there will only be Israeli sovereignty.” Sound familiar? As Israel slaughters over 21,000 Palestinians, buries their children in rubble, destroys Gaza’s infrastructure while obliterating churches, mosques and schools, just who is erasing whom? I condemn Hamas’ atrocities but Israel has much to answer for.

TRICIA SAENGER. Temple

Laconia Daily Sun – January 4, 2024

Letter: Media shapes view of enemies

To the editor:

I am a retired professor of history of psychology. Among the courses I taught was Psychology and Race. I assigned a workbook, short films, and articles, e.g., find an enemy image online, as preparation for a weekly essay quiz. Why was Hitler was the most frequent enemy image chosen by my students? Perhaps due to the Holocaust Industry (Finkelstein, 2000). Few mentioned North Sudan (vs South Sudan), or China (vs. Uyghur Muslims)? Or Saudi Arabia (vs. Houthis)? Israel and the U.S. never came up as enemy images. Yet much of the world views us as such, witness the recent vote for a ceasefire to Israel’s 3-month bombing of Gaza: 180 countries against Israel and U.S.

The point is to read multiple perspectives. Enemy image according to whom, and what for? Our media shape our views. In the case of Palestine, for instance, if we focus on Oct. 7 without knowing the history of 75-year occupation, as the mainstream media does, we are less likely to be sympathetic to the goals of Hamas, which is cessation of apartheid and bombing and the beginning of sovereignty and freedom. If we cite the Hamas Charter of 1985 and ignore the revised charter of 2017, we won’t know that Hamas actually agreed to the 1967 borders and Israel never supported negotiations. By the way, the Likud position (and political reality) seems to support apartheid from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

I have yet to find this balance in the mainstream media.

William Woodward, Ipswich

The Salem News – January 3, 2024

Letter: Writer overlooks important facts in Gaza conflict

To the editor:

Brian Watson wrote of Israel granting long overdue autonomy to Palestine (Salem News, Oct. 26). I would add that this hope is echoed by over 180 nations who voted at the U.N. for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement. Against that vote stood Israel, the U.S., and a few client states. Yet Sylvia Belkin responded that “Columnist should rethink position on real causes of tragedy of Palestine” (Salem News, Dec. 28). She claims Hamas attacked to stop the so-called peace accord with Saudi Arabia. But she does not acknowledge that this agreement would have cost Palestine its allies in the Arab world. She asserts that after Israel pulled out of Gaza 18 years ago, Hamas could have created a Singapore!

Is she unaware that access into and out of Gaza is strictly controlled by Israel, blocking materials for reconstruction, and that Israel has attacked Gaza every few years since moving its citizens out? See the Goldstone Report on the brutal Operation Cast Lead, or the subsequent Operation Protective Edge responding to a nonviolent protest with live bullets aimed to paralyze. Democracy indeed!

How I wish that critics of Hamas would read history of occupation. Hamas in its revised 2017 charter acknowledged the 1967 boundaries. It is Likud’s charter that claims the land from Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Beyond the charter is the reality of the land that Israel controls with an iron fist, depriving West Bank and Gaza of freedom to move and thrive, now destroying Gazans’ homes, schools, hospitals, water systems, and families.

William Woodward, Ipswich

Laconia Daily Sun – November 17, 2023

Janet Simmon: Palestinians are fighting for the right to exist, live freely

To The Daily Sun,

Seven million Palestinians live in Israel proper, the occupied West Bank and Gaza. They want the same rights you and I want. Palestinians desire to live in their homeland as free and equal citizens, neither dominated by others nor dominating them.

Members of Jewish Voice for Peace who rallied in Boston last Sunday chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” stated clearly that their goal was that Palestinians live with basic human rights. Stating this is not antisemitic. They were not in any way calling for death, destruction or the end of the state of Israel.

In contrast, consider the founding charter of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which states, “Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”

Janet Simmon, Laconia