Dear Editor: More than 30 people participated in a vigil on Thursday to express their outrage at the killing, maiming, and starving of children in Gaza, and the Trump administration’s ban on medical visas to provide Gaza children with lifesaving treatment.
Standing silently and wearing black, we held signs telling a heartbreaking story: Gaza: 50,000 children killed or maimed/Gaza: An average of 28 children die every day/Reinstate medical visas for injured Gaza children/Feed Gaza’s children/Stop starving Gaza civilians/20% of children suffer severe malnutrition/Stop arming Israel/The light of democracy is flickering.
The vigil, which was organized by Marian Allen of Sitkans for Peace and Democracy, received significant support from passersby in the form of waves and honking, as well as occasional signs of disapproval.
Standing silently for an hour, I wondered how to interpret the disapproval. Did thumbs down (or worse) mean that people don’t believe that 50,000 children have been killed or maimed or that 20% of Gaza’s children are severely malnourished due to the Israeli food blockade? Or does it mean that they approve of the death, maiming, and starving of Gaza’s children, or of the U.S. sending $18 billion in weapons to Israel to use for that purpose?
And what about our supporters? How many of those who honked and waved have contacted their elected officials to express their disapproval of spending $18 billion in taxpayers’ money for Israel’s bombing and starvation of civilians?
And what of those who believe that criticizing Israel or advocating for a free Palestine is a distraction from more pressing domestic concerns?
Even if we are willing to dismiss the immorality of bombing homes, schools, churches, and hospitals, starving an entire population, and shooting starving people seeking food, ending U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza is certainly a matter of enlightened self interest. Imagine if the government funded healthcare, education, and housing instead of Israeli genocide.
In Alaska alone, the $33,459,645 in taxpayer money spent on killing and maiming children in Gaza could have provided 20,977 households with a month’s free rent, 70,404 families with a month’s free groceries, 11,642 children with free or low-cost healthcare for a year, 365 elementary school teachers’ salaries for a year, or 885 college students with their loan debt canceled.
We need to ask ourselves whether our money—and our moral capital—are better spent on destroying lives in Gaza, or on making the world and our own community a better place.
Cindy Litman, Sitka
