Dead Palestinian civilians deserve remembrance too

To the editor:

Re: Sept 5, 2024, article, “Slain hostages remembered in Bell Tower ceremony:” The killing of six Israeli hostages — some of whom were also Americans — by Hamas was a horrific act of violence and against international law. My admiration and appreciation goes to the mourners who gathered at the Bell Tower to honor them last week.

Last week, another American, Aysenur Ezgi Egyi, 26, was “shot dead by Israeli forces” (according to the BBC) in the town of Beita in the West Bank. The New York Times wrote “the Israeli military said that it was ‘highly likely that she was ‘unintentionally’ struck by Israeli fire…and expressed regret over her killing.”

Also last week, Israel bombs dropped on Gaza left three craters in al-Mawasi, an area designated by the Israeli government as a humanitarian zone, that reportedly buried more than 20 tents, and killed and injured scores of Palestinians.

From rabbis4ceasefire: “My heart breaks each time I see the faces and names of the six dead Israeli hostages. And then it breaks again for what I’m not seeing. Over these past bloody 11 months, not a single Palestinian obituary has adorned headlines like this…And yet, it is Judaism itself that taught me that every single life is an entire world.”

Can we not forget this? Can all the wonderful, caring people from Run for Their Lives, all those who came to the monument recently, Assemblyman Dinowitz, and all those who mourn the deaths of all people in war, come back to mourn these lives too?  

Gay Rosenblum-Kumar