In Gaza, with over 1,000 trucks loaded with life-saving aid that the government of Israel will not allow in, 14,000 babies and infants risked starving to death.

Here in Waldo County, there are approximately 1,746 children who are under age 5. By comparison, it means that every child we know — our own children — would be starving to death in front of our eyes with nothing we could do about it. Now, multiply that times 15 for people who live in Gaza. And the U.S. government, the only power that seems able to influence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the world, our government, is doing nothing.

So, with other friends sharing days in a group, I have joined the Veterans for Peace in a 40-day Fast for Gaza. Our demands: 1. Resume immediate humanitarian aid under U.N. authority to the people of Gaza. 2. Stop U.S. arms to Israel now.

I urge everyone to call, email and write every representative we have. Do something. Please.

For 14,000 babies and their parents, if they are still alive, there is no time to talk about Gaza as a “deep-seated and complex conflict in the modern world.” There is nothing complex about genocide. Yet our representatives continue to try to rationalize what is happening. There is not one reason that can be given for the intentional starvation of children. I have asked our leaders how they can sleep at night. I can’t. We must act now.

Meredith Bruskin
Swanville