To the Editor:
In a recent interview, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza, claiming, “If Israel wanted to commit a genocide against Palestinians, they could do it in a minute.”
That assertion contradicts the findings of numerous Holocaust and genocide scholars, including Israeli historian Raz Segal, who cites explicit statements of genocidal intent, mass killing of civilians, deliberately destroying life-sustaining conditions, and the systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure.
On June 23, a United Nations Commission reported that the Israeli military continues to commit genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting children, causing “unprecedented death, injury and trauma.” The report details attacks on hospitals, schools, and orphanages, as well as torture and sexual violence against children in custody, concluding that “the essence of childhood has been destroyed.”
Yet there remains a striking lack of urgency among members of Congress when it comes to protecting Palestinian lives. As Jewish American scholar Judith Butler has observed: “The Palestinians have been labeled as ungrievable. That is to say, they are not a group of people whose lives are being considered as worthy of value, of persisting, of flourishing in this world. If they are lost, it is not considered to be a true loss.”
Congress must confront this moral failure and comply with U.S. law. The Leahy Law states: “No assistance shall be furnished to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has introduced an amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion in military aid for Israel from the federal budget, showing that Congress does have the power to condition assistance.
Anything less is a choice to accept the ongoing destruction of Palestinian life.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisconsin