Abuse, oppression are at root of 'Israell's 9/11'

Netanyahu calls this Israel's 9/11. On 9/11/2001, a group of terrorist militants crashed planes into the WTO in response to U.S. military involvement and interference in Arab countries. The Bush Administration ignored warnings of an impending attack, failing to protect us. They wrongly blamed Iraq and lied about weapons of mass destruction. The 9/11 attack resulted in around 3,000 U.S. deaths, while Bush's response left nearly 7,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, destroying Iraq and destabilizing the Middle East.

This Oct. 7 attack, which killed nearly 1,600 Israelis, was the result of ignored warnings and negligence by the Netanyahu government, coupled with 75 years of murderous abuse and oppression of Palestinians by the Israelis, as well as recent provocations such as invading and defiling the El Aqsa Mosque, beating worshippers and pogrom-like attacks by Israeli settlers against local Palestinians.

Similarly, Israeli leaders have wrongly blamed the Gazan people for this attack when it was carried out by a limited number of Hamas militants. Israel has now declared war on the entire population of Gaza, unleashing a genocidal onslaught that has killed over 3,000 civilians, depriving millions of water, food and electricity and preparing for the Gazans' forcible transfer, all of which are war crimes.

Like the U.S. 9/11, this Israeli 9/11 was caused by the systematic, long-term abuse of an Arab population, and incompetent leaders. These leaders then launch grossly disproportionate punitive responses that target the wrong people, thus inflicting great harm not only on the Arabs, but on Israelis and further destabilizing the entire Middle East. Behind each of these leaders' responses was a preexisting desire for a land grab.

We have the opportunity and responsibility to halt U.S. complicity in what threatens to be the kind of catastrophe Bush caused in Iraq. Call Congress now.

Dan Bailey

Wheaton