The pause in fighting in Gaza by the Israeli army is a joke. Yesterday you barely had time to burp before the Israeli bombing resumed. Now we know that a pause is a different species than a ceasefire. It strikes me more as a ruse to deflect international criticism of the brutality of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

I honor my cousin Johnny today – Veterans Day – who after being sent to a staging base in Alabama in 1969 decided that fighting in Vietnam wasn’t his cup of tea and promptly went AWOL. He eventually landed in Canada where he spent much of his life. If he were alive today, he would be outraged by the slaughter of Israelis by Hamas as well as the quick to follow Israeli aerial bombing and invasion of Gaza.

It’s not surprising the current conflict between Israel and Palestinians – Gaza is ground zero of this conflict for now – is generating antisemitism and Islamophobia across the world, including here in the U.S. Both should be challenged.

We lost 60,000 plus Americans in Vietnam over nearly a 10 year period; in Gaza 10,000 plus have died in less than a month. The pause, announced yesterday, will give the people of Gaza a little breathing space, but not much. What they desire is a permanent ceasefire that holds and a Palestinian state that is viable.

Yesterday I wrote on fb that the “pause” was a fig leaf at best. I’m afraid I was right. Last night the Washington Post in a harrowing story reported that another hospital was bombed in Gaza. According to the Post, Israeli spokespeople claim that Hamas has a tunnel beneath it. Thus it’s fair game, notwithstanding unavoidable collateral damage. This horrific episode reminds me of the US general in Vietnam who said to justify the bombing of a village there, “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”