This letter was sent in response to The Daily Beacon’s recent coverage of a rally for the Free Palestine Movement. Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

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Israel does not commit genocide.

You want to know what genocide is? Genocide is the murder of 6 million Jews on an industrial scale.

Israel has no stated purpose to eliminate the Palestinian people. In 1947, there were 700,000 Palestinians living in the area. Today there are almost 14 million worldwide. How is that genocide? Israel wants to live in peace and harmony with Palestinians. Hamas stated in their 1988 charter a jihad against the Jewish people. In 2017, they changed the language to Zionists. In my opinion, Zionism and the Jewish people are the same. Forty-seven percent of world Jewry lives in Israel. There are only 15.2 million Jews in the entire world. There are more than 400 million Arabs and almost 2 billion Muslims. You could argue that Zionism is complete. Its goal was to establish a Jewish Homeland. That Homeland is Israel. It is established, and it’s not going anywhere. It has to prevail, or there will be a second Holocaust. That cannot happen. No more walking naked into the gas chambers. Israel will defend itself.

Almost 48% of world Jewry lives in the United States. The United States is not going to accept 7 million Jews from Israel as immigrants. Jews in Israel have no other place to go.

Israel is not an apartheid state.

I am sorry Ms. Jubran lost her home. What about the 800,000 Jews who had been living in Arab lands for generations and were persecuted and forced to leave their homes to go to Israel? What about all the countries in world history that have kicked the Jews out of their homes only for us to find another country to go to? What about Jews living in Gaza giving up their homes so Israel could give Gaza back to the Palestinians?

There are 2 million Israeli Arabs living in Israel peacefully with full citizenship and equal rights. They vote. They are represented in all branches of government: the Knesset, the Cabinet, high level foreign ministries and the Supreme Court. In my opinion, they have a better life.

Admittedly, the situation of the Palestinians in the territories is different. There are restrictions due to security. Even so, thousands of Palestinians go to work in Israel from the West Bank and Gaza daily, working beside Israelis and earning more money and benefits than working for Palestinian businesses.

I favor a Palestinian state. There have been multiple opportunities for the Palestinians to have their own country with greater territory than they would have now. Their leadership refused to accept what was offered. Instead, their stated goal was the elimination of Israel.

There is nothing fair about this horrendous warfare. I have a great personal conflict with the siege. The Palestinian people must realize that Hamas is the enemy of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people and kick Hamas out. Palestinians have received more than $40 billion of aid from other Arab lands, the United Nations and other organizations. Hamas has spent these billions building tunnels and buying weapons when it should have been helping the people of Gaza by building power plants, water systems, schools, hospitals and factories.

Let there be peace. Let’s rebuild Gaza. Let the Gazans enjoy democracy and freedom. Beirut used to be called the “Paris of the Orient.” Gaza could become that.

Chip Rayman graduated from UT in 1971. He can be reached at [email protected]. Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

The Daily Beacon is committed to publishing a diversity of viewpoints in our opinions section. Want to send in a letter to the Beacon? Read through our editorial policies and submit a letter through this form.