1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

I’m following up with you on your response to my email urging you to speak out against Israel on behalf of Palestine. First of all, thank you for having a system in place to receive and respond topically to correspondences as you seek to represent the people of Colorado well. Secondly, your response brought to my attention that we are operating on different premises, so worth a follow-up clarifying my perspective. Before launching into that clarification, it’s worthwhile to start off by explicitly saying that I absolutely see how fraught this conflict is, that it is nuanced and complex, and any action will most certainly have an equal and opposite reaction (thanks Newton). Your response described your support of Israel to defend itself after Hamas’ attack and kidnapping of hostages. Certainly that’s easy to understand. Where I find we differ is in what qualifies as defense. I take from your response that you support Israel’s continued bombardment; sure, you say it’s a shame that civilians are included. But those civilians are the very people being continuously targeted and killed. From where I’m sitting, Israel’s actions long ago achieved defense, and have passed into egregiously offensive territory. You are in support of a pause for humanitarian aid to bring food, water, and care to Palestinian civilians. But what good will that do them once the pause is lifted and they are killed by another bombing? Please take a more active stance to protect Palestine. A pause is insufficient. A ceasefire is a bandaid that helps momentarily but ultimately prolongs the suffering. I urge you to use your influence to support the US to condemn and put a stop to Israel’s attack on Palestine. Thank you for your time.