To the editor:

The people of Gaza know about consequences. They know what constant bombing by their Israeli jailers has done to the quality of their lives, and to their very existence. A mother recently brought her child into a Gaza hospital hoping to get some food but found none. Her 1-year-old weighs 6-and-a-half pounds. The U.S. could stop and reverse this horror, but instead it supports the genocide.

Meanwhile, here at home, a landmark law was passed that will enrich the already rich and deny medical care to the least of our brothers and sisters. On the one hand, the genocide is ignored, but on the other, the wealth transfer is applauded. The people of Gaza know all too well the consequences of genocide, but our own citizens don’t feel a thing. We go on with our lives.

How can anyone dismiss what is happening in Gaza? How can anyone simply keep staring at their screen but not speak up? The grief that is inflicted in our name and with our tax dollars is not our grief. Our debts will be the responsibility of others. We have our home comforts to distract us.

Children in Gaza are starving, not because the world can’t help but because the world won’t help.

John Rucki

Amsterdam