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To the editor:
A Times/Siena survey found that only 26 percent of voters were satisfied with the Democratic Party, while 33 percent were satisfied with the Republican Party. Approximately 85 percent of dissatisfied voters opposed military and economic aid to Israel.
In follow-up conversations, the subject of Israel repeatedly came up.
The Biden administration and Kamala Harris’ unconditional support for Israel contributed to her 2024 defeat. You would never know that, however, if you read the Democratic Party's autopsy, the long-delayed report of what went wrong in that election, finally released by the DNC. In its 192 pages, Israel and Gaza are never mentioned.
The Trump administration support for Israel has been even more encompassing.
After Hamas’ genocidal attack on October 7, 2023, Israel’s military response in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria and Iran has made it a pariah in the Middle East and Europe. It’s a far cry from Jerry Herman’s description of Israel in his Broadway musical as “a land of milk and honey."
It’s not enough that there’s credible evidence that Israel has committed genocide, ethnic cleansing and gross violations of ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, none of which can be justified because of hostile actions by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
There have also been reports of Israel’s systematic torture of prisoners and detainees: men, women and children. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, concluded in her March 2026 report, that "the Israeli prison system has degenerated into a laboratory of calculated cruelty… a regime of organized humiliation, pain, and degradation, sanctioned at the highest political levels.”
Since October 2023, over 18,500 Palestinians have been detained across occupied Palestinian territory, including at least 1,500 children. Thousands have yet to be charged or have a trial.
In May 2026 the UN in its annual report documenting sexual violence around the world, included Hamas and Israel. It found prisons in Israel carried out systematic rape, sexual humiliation, torture and degrading treatment of detained Palestinians.
Howard Elterman
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Valete
Mr. Elterman, I have two- questions for you.
1) If you were Netanyahu, what would be your strategic plan to resolve the Israel-Iran conflict?
2) If you were Netanyahu, how would you initiate negotiations for a lasting peace with Muslim leaders who perceive Israel as a malignant growth that must be eradicated?
( Keep in mind, Iran and Israel have not maintained diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. )
Wednesday, June 3 Report this
reenjoe
Howard, it seems even Trump has grown tired of Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.
On a Monday phone call, Trump told Netanyahu that "You're f***ing crazy. What the f**** are you doing. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I'm saving your a**. Everybody hates you now."
Trump confirmed the above to a NY Post reporter.
Friday, June 5 Report this
Valete
You have not answered my two questions. When you answer my questions, I will comment on your post.
Saturday, June 6 Report this
Alexdov
Elterman's letter, purporting to blame Harris's defeat on her support for Israel, which, he says, is guilty of crimes of horrific proportion -- "genocide, ethnic cleansing and gross violations of ceasefires" -- is in fact an astonishing study in jaundice against the Jewish state and people. The genocide blood libel hurled at Israel, at once inverting and sullying the horrors and scope of the real Holocaust, relies on ignorance of law, history and current events so as to win over true believers and useful idiots to the new antisemitism: https://www.scholarsfortruthaboutgenocide.com/
In parallel fashion, Elterman's letter ignores polling that paints an entirely different picture of what most Americans think vis-a-vis Israel's war of self-defense against terrorist militaries on its borders. For example, the most recent Harvard CAPS Harris poll (conducted May 29 - 31 among like US voters) shows that the majority, in both parties, backs Israel against its terrorist enemies, and while not necessarily agreeing on how the U.S. is carrying out the Iran war, backs strongly both keeping Iran from pursuing nukes and a de-fanged Iran vis-a-vis its other predations upon the U.S., its allies, and the region: https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/HHP_May2026_KeyResults.pdf
Vis-a-vis Elterman characterizing of the Jewish state as a systematic sexual torturer, he relies, for his primary sources [sic], as did Nicholas Kristoff in the NY Times, on sources closely linked to the Islamist terrorist organization HAMAS -- for example Francesca Albanese, who has been thoroughly discredited as essentially an Islamist terrorist partisan and inveterate antisemite on the take.
https://usun.usmission.gov/u-s-mission-to-the-united-nations-statement-opposing-francesca-albaneses-mandate-as-un-special-rapporteur-2/
https://unwatch.org/report-un-orchestrated-cover-up-of-francesca-albaneses-financial-misconduct/
Intelligent union members know or intuitively sense that Elterman and his ilk are effecting an antisemitic agenda via written diatribes like his letter to The Chief.
Friday, June 12 Report this