Letter: US Munitions Produce Horrific Death and Destruction in Palestine
American 2000 pound joint direct attack munitions. Photo: PICRYL / Public Domain
Bombs. The US sells thousands of tons of bombs to Israel, bought with the financial aid we send to them. These bombs range from 250 to 2,000 pounds.
A New York Times investigation in December found that American 2,000-pound bombs were responsible for some of the worst attacks on Palestinian civilians since the war in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The military aid to Israel is funded under a 2016 agreement known as a memorandum of understanding that committed the United States to giving Israel $38 billion in weapons over 10 years. Additionally, President Biden last month signed an aid package that will send about $15 billion in additional military aid. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. military aid to Israel has amounted to $216 billion since Israel’s founding in 1948.
When detonated, the bomb’s smooth skin shatters into razor-sharp fragments that can shred human bodies and unarmored vehicles alike. If one of the 2000 pound bombs struck the Cook Building in Amherst (northeast corner of Main Street and North Pleasant Street), it would completely disintegrate that building and everything in a 52 foot radius leaving an 11 foot deep crater, immediately killing everyone in that radius.
The “lethal area” would have a radius of 1214 feet; think of a circle encompassing north on North Pleasant Steeet just short of Hallock Street, west on Amity almost to Lincoln Avenue, and down Route 9 down to South Prospect Street; south on South Pleasant Street to the Amherst College Loeb Center; and east on both sides of Main Street down to Webster Street. Everyone in this area would be killed. There is more: damages would extend another 1430 feet, destroying Amherst High School, most of Amherst College and the residential area west of downtown as far as Cosby Street. Everyone in those buildings would be killed or severely injured.
This is what is occurring in Gaza every day, with our tax dollars and the blessing of the Biden administration, most, if not all Republicans in Congress, and many Democrats, including Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Jim McGovern voted against this additional lethal aid.
It is outrageous that anyone is accused of antisemitism who opposes this brutality; and Jews like myself of being self-hating.
Gerry Weiss
Gerry Weiss, a psychotherapist, was a member of the Amherst Select Board from 2004 to 2010 and a member of Town Meeting for 19 years.
PS. The Gazette has so far refused to print this letter, nor will the editor speak to me about it.
brave, factual, detailed.. This letter brings the reality of U. S. support for the war on Palestinians before the conscience of every Amherst reader. The use of these bombs by Israel in Gaza and their provision to Israel by the U. S. cannot be justified by any international law or treaty. In fact, their use in civilian areas, given the nature and destructiveness of these bombs, clearly violates specific parts of the international criminal code and prohibitions re the conduct of any war or military operation.
Contrary to what Gerry Weiss believes, not every 2,000 pound bomb has the same blast radius. The damage inflicted by these 2,000 pound bombs depends on a number of variables, including whether the bomb detonates above or below ground, inside a building, and the angle and velocity of the bomb’s delivery. Commentary magazine recently featured a lengthy article about the media’s focus on the maximum possible damage from such 2,000 pound bombs, instead of reporting on ways they can also be used more narrowly. The article can be found at https://www.commentary.org/articles/david-adesnik/media-lies-about-israeli-bombs/
While civilian deaths in Gaza are a tragedy, the responsibility for such deaths belongs to Hamas, which is deliberately hiding among the civilian population of Gaza, which is a war crime. The Israel Defense Forces have gone to considerable lengths to avoid civilian casualties, including making many thousands of phone calls and dropping leaflets.
While using civilians as shields is a war crime, so is bombing civilians who are being used as shields.
Images and reporting from CNN last December:
https://www.cnn.com/gaza-israel-big-bombs/index.html
Thank you Laura. Mr. Starr, imagine that people are hiding known terrorists in the Cook building. People perhaps that are sympathetic to their cause. The gov’t then drops leaflets on downtown Amherst and nearby, like all over Amherst College, that they are going to bomb the Cook building. You seem to be saying too bad (“a tragedy”) for all the people that will die (primarily people not hiding terrorists such as everyone at Amherst High School) as well as the incredible property damage that will ensue. Nitpicking my figures does not eliminate the brutality of Israeli/US war on Gaza. International law does not differentiate between deliberate targeting of civilians and indiscriminate bombing of civilians. Nor does morality make that differentiation. It is deliberate indiscrimination because it is quicker and safer for IDF troops to drop massive bombs rather than engage in ground forces going into that building.
When will it stop? When will the people alleging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza finally accept that, while the situation is certainly tragic, it is not genocide by any stretch. Why continue this nonsense? Genocide is defined as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” Genocide is what Putin is trying to do in Ukraine. Genocide is the Holocaust, Armenia, Darfur, Bosnia, the Uyghurs, native Americans. The civilian deaths in Gaza are part of a war that was started in a vicious attack on October 7 by the government of Gaza against a mostly civilian population in Israel. While terribly sad and avoidable, it is not genocide. The only genocidal action in this conflict is the effort by Hamas to indiscriminately kill as many Israelis as possible. The often-heard chant of “from the river to the sea” involves eliminating the Jewish population of the area. That qualifies as genocide, not the collateral casualties in a war started by the government of Gaza and prolonged by the refusal to return the hostages. It could all end tomorrow except that Hamas wants it to continue, even at the expense of their own people.
The continuing use of the word “genocide” to describe the tragedy in Gaza only serves to further inflame passions and impede any useful discussion.
David Sloviter
Mr. Sloviter says,
The often-heard chant of “from the river to the sea” involves eliminating the Jewish population of the area. That qualifies as genocide, not the collateral casualties in a war started by the government of Gaza,
A Chant does not qualify as genocide — it is words.
A powerful country receiving money and weapons from the USA and killing tens of thousands of people and destroying their infrastructure sounds much more like a genocide even if you want to call it “collateral casualties”
Let us all have the moral clarity to not try to justify wrongful acts with a “but he started it” or “but they are just as bad”.
Killing a child — or an adult civilian! — is a moral atrocity, whether the act is done by a friend, an ally, or by the government of a people who were themselves gravely wronged yesterday, or decades ago.
If you support Israel, if you love Israeli people, or democracies, or peace — then you must condemn wrongful actions and atrocities committed in the names of Israel, the Israeli people, democracies, or peace.
Why is there such silence? Where is the outrage? When kids in Gaza die in an airstrike, the charges of genocide and murder fill the editorial page. When Hezbollah targets a soccer field and kills 12 children and teens there is nothing. Can the usual local hypocrisy be demonstrated more clearly? Hezbollah and its Lebanese hosts have no current territory disputes with Israel. There is no war between the antagonists on the northern border of Israel. There is no military value in a soccer field. What possible justification can there be for such an attack on civilians other than cruelty and the desire to kill Jews. Further irony is that the attack killed Druse. Maybe that will get the local hypocrites to be more sympathetic once they discover that sympathy, in this case, does not have to be for Jews. Let’s get some objectivity, people.
We not only need a peace movement, we need a free speech movement as well. Who better to lead the way in our town than Gerry Weiss?
David, your question deserves an answer. I will try to do so as I see it. First some background. I am a Jew. My paternal grandmother left Poland before WWII (by a wonderful twist of fate). The rest of her family – parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins were not so fortunate. By all known accounts, they were all murdered by the Nazis. Growing up, I was taught the Zionist gospel and believed in it. I was taught that Arabs were wild animals who wanted all Jews dead. I didn’t know there was an alternate view of the history of Israel, until I became an adult. Not much different than the US history I was taught in school right through High School that the valiant, heroic and mistreated “settlers” had to destroy, in every way possible the “savage natives” who wanted to kill, without reason, the white man.
I still believe that Jews need a safe haven. I no longer believe that the chosen path leads to that safe haven. Palestinians have paid the price for the horrors of the nazi regime since 1948 and are still paying for it. Israel’s policies for 76 years have led to where we are today. Palestinians have been exiled, degraded, murdered and imprisoned by a mighty power aided by the US in an apartheid state. Today, the US supplies the gargantuan bombs killing Palestinians and now Lebanese by the thousands. The death toll in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, just since Oct is over 43,000, with over 10,000 of those being children; over 100,000 injured; and the country, including schools and hospitals in ruins. Meanwhile the death toll in Israel is a little over a 1100, with 500+ being children; 9000 injured and very little infrastructure destroyed. Gazans are trapped, with nowhere safe to go. Where is your outrage? We do not supply those weapons to Hamas or Hezbollah. In comparison, they have slingshots. I don’t want the US to supply those weapons to Israel or Hamas or Hezbollah. I’m saddened by all the deaths and I believe in my heart and soul that Israel has brought killing to its home by their actions over the past 76 years. That doesn’t excuse it; it explains it. Many will say, perhaps you, that Israel must do what it is doing to protect themselves from a people intent on destroying Israel (with their slingshots) purely out of ancient hate, rather than desperate people who feel they have nothing to lose . I’m reminded of the fable of the wind and the sun. Brute force will not make Israel safer. It is making them less safe and increasing anti-semitism around the world.
PS. John N, not sure what you are saying. Please say more!
Gerry, I would normally not feel a need to respond but since you personalized your comment I suppose it is appropriate. First, I’m sorry you were taught a view of Zionism that included such terrible views. I was also exposed to the validity of a Jewish state in Israel and its right to survive and thrive but never was taught that Arabs were “wild animals” or lesser humans. I was taught to judge people by their actions rather than their identities.
I was also made aware of the history of the Middle East and that in 1947 the Arab nations neighboring the soon-to-be-established Israel all turned down the United Nations proposal to divide the British Mandate. If they had simply accepted a Jewish presence in a reduced area, there would have been an independent Palestinian state in 1948. The Palestinians repeatedly turned down other proposals as recently as 2000 when President Clinton tried to broker a deal between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. The Israelis agreed and the Palestinian Authority said “no” again.
I find it disingenuous that, while running through your scorecard of the conflict, you never feel the need to acknowledge that all of this was precipitated by the attack on October 7 and the seizing of hostages. What could Sinwar and Hamas have possibly expected as an Israeli response other than what they got? Could they have possibly thought that Israel would not pursue the hostages? Not retaliate? The fact is that Sinwar is much smarter and much more strategic that Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister is an abomination as is his government. Sinwar saved him by completely changing the narrative around Netanyahu. Before October 7 there were 300,000 Israelis demonstrating every Saturday evening against Netanyahu’s efforts to change the judiciary. (I can only hope that Americans are equally committed if Trump wins and tries the same type of things.) After October 7 the priority changed completely. And Sinwar knew what he was doing when he took hostages and bodies and still refuses to release them. The death and destruction that dominates your one-sided view of this conflict would have ended immediately upon the release of the hostages. Sinwar knew that he had pierced the soul of Israel. He wants to keep the conflict going.
Yes, your scorecard accurately describes more death in Gaza than in Israel, although I don’t accept the 43,000 number as it comes from Hamas and includes their soldiers. Nevertheless, the number of dead and injured is appalling. Would you be happier if the Israeli numbers were higher to balance it more? Would you be more comfortable if Hamas had been able to kill, rape, burn, and kidnap many more people on October 7? Would you feel a little sympathy for the dead and displaced Israelis if Hezballah had been more successful with their barrage of rockets and missiles, not slingshots, almost every day for the past year? I have friends who live 1.5 miles from the Lebanese border and were evacuated for seven months, living in hotels, until they decided to risk a return because they were so terribly depressed. Now they live in an underground shelter at home. Does this make you feel a little better knowing that Israelis are suffering?
I do, in fact, believe that Israel must and has a right to protect itself from people intent on destroying it, probably using missiles and rockets but very few slingshots. The chant of “From the river to the sea” which is a constant presence at all of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations is not an expression of correcting wrongs done to Palestinians nor of seeking a better life. It is meant to describe an area where Israel no longer exists and there are no Jews. That is the stated goal of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Perhaps that is acceptable to you, but it is not acceptable to me.
Your scorecard reflects only misery but nothing about responsibility, history, or an acknowledgment of the shared humanity of both Palestinians and Israelis. Your insistence on using words like apartheid and genocide don’t help foster a productive dialogue. Nor does laying all the blame for Palestinian misery and desperation on 76 years of the existence of Israel. Palestinian leadership and corruption bear enormous responsibility, as does the rest of the Arab world, especially Iran, which finds the plight of the Palestinians such a useful tool. Operating at the extreme is no more productive in the Middle East context than it is in Trump-world and we all see where that is leading.
Okay… Israel has the right to exist, Israel has the right to defend itself. And MAYBE Israel has the right to kill lots of innocent men, women and children to root out Hamas and Hezbollah. (Obviously, I don’t think so) But the US does not have to provide the weapons and foot the bill. My tax dollars don’t have to go to enrich “defense” contractors and aid the killing and destruction of thousands of people and their homes and buildings.
I am not Israeli or Palestinian. I am an American. I do not support the US arming and funding this war.
If you feel similarly you can go to the website below to send emails or do a phone call to Warren, Markey, and McGovern with the latest information on proposed legislation for them to sign onto, or to strongly encourage them to propose legislation to stop military funding and arming of Israel NOW.
https://uscpr.org/
Before I say any more, I want to be sure I understand your point David. I think you are saying that because of Oct 7, Israel’s response is appropriate. Is that accurate?
The response to critics of U.S. supported Israeli genocide as been a frightening amount of cracking down on free speech. All of the many campus protests from last spring have been declared unlawful and many other people’s voices have been silenced in various ways that are clearly an infringement on the first amendment right to freedom of speech. Aside from the Umass student protests our town has failed to respond adequately to the pressing need to oppose both U.S. supported Israeli aggression and the suppression of free speech that helps to sustain it. As a long standing peace advocate in our town, who better than Gerry Weiss to provide the leadership we desperately need to address this most pressing issue of our our day.
I appreciate your faith in my abilities Jon. Would that I could live up to your optimistic praise! Meanwhile, let us make our voices heard in Town Hall about the APD’s cooperation and aid to campus police when students and townspeople were zip tied and arrested for peacefully protesting Israeli bombing of Gaza. Townsfolk arrested have been banned from the UMass campus that their tax dollars support.
As for my numbers, they are UN numbers. Here is a UN report from 8/15. You can add 4800 deaths since then and that doesn’t account for Lebanon.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153216
A little more on numbers: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-war-palestinians-statistics-40000-7ebec13101f6d08fe10cedbf5e172dde
Figures are sourced from the most recent updates from the Israeli military and prime minister’s office, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Associated Press reporting.
Note: No evidence of inflated mortality reporting from the Gaza Ministry of Health
Huynh, Benjamin Q et al.
The Lancet, Volume 403, Issue 10421, 23 – 24
The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible. (The Lancet)
Thank you Gerry, for your voice. Mr. Sloviter, you seem to be a thoughtful man, but you seem blind to Israel’s actions both before and after October 7th. I encourage you to read Apeirogon by Colum McCann. Or A Day in the LIfe of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall. Israel has treated Palestinians very poorly for a very long time, and in the process Israel has dehumanized them, justifying the killing of children, the taking of land, the removal of basic rights, the gradual death of Gaza and probably of the West Bank by a thousand cuts over many years. For someone like me – a non-Jew who grew up learning of the horror of the holocaust – I have been appalled at what Israel has become. Netanyahu may be the leader of Israel, but the people of Israel have not stopped the killing.
Yes, October 7th is a day I will never forget for the barbarity that Hamas visited upon Israel, and yes Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran would like to destroy Israel if they could. And yes, Yahya Sinwar was a bad man, but he is dead. It is clearly Israel that has the power to do whatever it wants, especially with American support. I have no problem with Israel defending itself when attacked. But for much of the last year, Israel has appeared willing to kill anyone, especially if they lived in Gaza and even if any real threat to Israel was long gone. And now, as the fighting subsides, I have read that Israel is already building settlements on the ruins. I don’t really understand the difference between October 7th and what Israel has done to Gaza in the last year. Murder is murder any way you look at it.