
We should find a way to talk about Gaza
Published 12:42 pm, Monday, May 21, 2018
I have read the cogent, informative essays on the Gaza issue by Mr. Gulamhusein Abba and subsequent responses with a growing sense of dismay. We see a variant of Godwin’s Law in operation, wherein discussions quickly revert to charges of Nazism toward an opponent. But here, the reversion is to charges of anti-Semitism.
Once that point is reached, dialogue ceases and only name-calling is left.
For more information on this painful, contentious issue, I encourage interested parties to read works by Professor Noam Chomsky, a linguist who spent 50 years teaching at MIT. His 2010 book “Gaza in Crisis” (with Ilan Pappé) examines what had transpired in Gaza up to that time.
There must be a better way of carrying on this discussion. Perhaps some readers might suggest a third way.
James S. Mellett
New Fairfield