Just when you think the mind-numbing misery in the Middle East could get no worse, it does.
Children rushing toward food air-dropped into Gaza, only to be crushed to death by the packages, is one of the horrific chapters in the war that is morphing into a humanitarian crisis of truly biblical proportions.
Most recently, the Israeli military attacked clearly marked vehicles delivering food to starving civilians in Gaza, killing seven relief workers. And yes, it gets even worse. Relief agency officials (and who can blame them?) say the agency won’t be returning to the war zone.
As an added bonus, Iran is now threatening to retaliate against Israel after Israel waged a strike on Tehran’s consulate in Syria.
As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu might say, a la Porky Pig: “Th-th-th-that’s war, folks!”
And it’s shaping into one that could very well be the last.
— Vin Morabito, Scranton, Pennsylvania
US should stop aid to Israel
So long as the United States continues to provide military aid to Israel, the president and the secretary of state are only saying “tsk, tsk” when they urge Israel not to invade Rafah.
As an American Jew whose grandfather died in the Holocaust, I want an end to the carnage in Gaza and a return of the hostages to Israel. But any hope of a cease-fire and a lasting peace requires that the United States stop military assistance to Israel.
— Dan Kaplan, Wilmette
Trouble with waging war
The trouble with waging war, especially a retaliatory one, is that too often the country that throws the second
punch is often seen as the greater aggressor. So it would seem with the state of Israel and its ruthless attack on the people in Gaza.
As the atrocities continue and the bodies of women and children pile up in the streets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being thought of by many as a bloodthirsty villain every bit the equal of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His campaign of revenge has gone well past the point of swift justice for the events of Oct. 7 and is now
entering a new phase of vengeful retaliation.
With a cease-fire hardly in the cards for the Netanyahu administration, what is required is not only a change in leadership but also a plan for the future of Palestine.
Nothing less than peace in the Middle East is at stake and the legitimacy of Israel as a world-class peacemaker.
— Bob Ory, Elgin
Humanitarian aid is needed
The recent deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza from the World Central Kitchen charity show the horror of war. These humanitarians were trying to feed the hungry victims of the Israel-Hamas war.
The war in Gaza is causing immense human suffering and leading to famine. Peace cannot be founded upon starvation. That is the tragedy of the war in Gaza and other conflicts around the world.
We must keep up the pressure for a cease-fire in Gaza, which is the only way to ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered safely. More war is not going to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It’s vital, too, that we support humanitarian aid through adequate funding. In Sudan, funding is so low that the United Nations World Food Program and other relief agencies cannot reach everyone in need. Famine is on the horizon in Sudan, and there is nowhere near enough funding to prevent it.
The war in Sudan is also causing displacement into neighboring countries, Chad and South Sudan, which are also facing severe hunger.
Sudan needs a cease-fire and also much more humanitarian aid funding. Other nations need more hunger relief, too, including Haiti, Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan.
We must continue to advocate for cease-fire efforts and provide funding for hunger relief.
— William Lambers, Cincinnati
AI’s applications for policing
Recently, I watched a one-hour special on artificial intelligence on NOVA. Simply put, AI crunches a multitude of data in order to generate probable outcomes and solutions for problems. The NOVA program focused on the medical field, then some of the potential problems with AI’s misuse. I looked at the program from a perspective of policing and crime prevention.
I’m a retired Chicago police officer, and I know the formula and method for distributing police officers. However, AI would be able to fine-tune this. The final distribution just would have to be reviewed and modified by humans because low-crime police districts must maintain a minimum number of officers for officer safety reasons.
Information crunching and analysis have long been done by the Chicago Police Department. For decades, detectives have analyzed data from thousands of previous crimes in order to identify probable offenders and solve crimes. Officers, from before the time I began my CPD career in 1972, have analyzed case reports to find crime patterns. AI has the potential to do this better and even predict future patterns.
AI would follow established science and what has worked well in the past to come to workable solutions. AI would noticeably reduce crime, especially violent crimes.
Bring on AI to reduce violence and save lives!
— Michael C. Flynn, retired Chicago police officer, Chicago
Better use of flag for protest
No matter how much it may anger some Americans, burning our flag is a legal form of protest and a reminder of the freedoms that we enjoy (and too often take for granted) in our democracy.
Still, a more acceptable and appropriate way to protest would be to raise the flag high but upside down, an internationally understood signal of distress.
— Dan McGuire, Bensenville
Meeting the needs of migrants
When people think of America, they think of it as a land of opportunity where people can get jobs and support themselves. They do not think of it as an impoverished nation with people standing on street corners begging for food. Yet, that is the impression that is given when we witness the number of families with small children out begging.
There is something seriously wrong with our governmental system if the physical needs of migrants are not being met despite the thousands of dollars being allocated to feed and shelter them. Migrants will be with us for a long time, so now is the time to put aside our politics and work together to find the solution.
— Mary Ann Kehl, Wilmette
Support Chicago’s cultural life
Thanks to the Chicago Tribune (“Klaus Mäkelä tapped as next CSO director”) for making the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s appointment of Klaus Mäkelä as music director the big front-page article in Wednesday’s edition, the biggest news of the day.
It’s an appropriate follow-up to Lou Raizin’s op-ed of March 6 (“To revive downtown Chicago, we need to view it as a ‘stadium’ for culture”) and Rich Moskal’s April 1 op-ed (“Sundance partnership validates Chicago’s thriving film community”).
Chicago’s cultural life needs all the support and celebration we can bring. Let’s acknowledge the power of our longtime treasures as well as the many new creative endeavors all over the city that will keep our Chicago alive and well.
Welcome, Maestro Mäkelä; welcome, Sundance; welcome, every small and large, new and old, cultural project and institution working to survive and thrive in Chicago!
— Barbra Goering, Chicago
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