Letters to the editor Dec. 12

Israel-Hamas war

Recently, a friend shared the news that 42 family members had been killed in Gaza. This news coming from someone I love left me gasping for breath.  

Families in Gaza are forced to make one of three decisions:

• Shelter together, knowing this choice might mean they die together.

• Split up, hoping if one refuge is destroyed, perhaps the family sheltering elsewhere will be spared.  

• Run. In whichever direction the latest Israeli directive suggests.

Hala’s family chose to shelter together.

The 1982 movie “Sophie’s Choice” tells the story of a Jewish mother forced to choose which of her two children she will send to the gas chamber. Ironically, 78 years post World War II, Israeli actions in Gaza are forcing thousands of Palestinian parents to make similarly impossible choices: stay together, shelter apart or run.  

Official Gaza casualties stand at 17,700, with 48,000 injured. Rights groups fear the current numbers are much higher.

Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines, and Rep. Ryan Zinke, it is time to stop forcing families into these impossible choices. It is time for a ceasefire. It is time to end yearly funding ($3.8 billion) of Israel.

— Natalie Billingsley, Polson