Letters: Balance military aid with peacemaking; Leaders should take questions from public; Get vaccine, get access to sporting events

Balance military aid with peacemaking

Marc Thiessen’s weekly column is always disturbing because his thinking and politics are diametrically opposed to my personal moral principles. However, his Sept. 24 column (“Pelosi, needing votes, tolerates antisemitism in the ‘Squad’,” Star-Advertiser) was terribly misguided, hitting a new low.

He regards opposition to military funding for Israel’s defense program as an example of anti-Semitism whereas, from my perspective, it is anti-killing.

I raised the ire of Jewish Zionists and conservative Christians several years ago when I publicly disagreed with America’s military aid to Israel. I’m against all military funding to other countries unless it is balanced with other efforts toward international diplomacy and peacemaking.

While defense of oneself or a nation is sometimes necessary, it should be a last resort. All life is sacred and killing is morally wrong. Might is not always right and any act of killing should be carefully discerned.

Moral principles are foundational for a civilized world and must be carefully chosen.

John Heidel

Kailua

Leaders should take questions from public

I think it should be mandated that the president, vice president and speaker of the House be required to take questions from taxpayers on live television. They shouldn’t get to cherry-pick questions and it should be public record, with absolutely no editorial interference.

When are our elected officials going to be accountable?

John Berry

Punahou

Get vaccine, get access to sporting events

Instead of threatening to fire workers who don’t get the the vaccine, let’s reward them instead by allowing those who got the vaccine to attend University of Hawaii or high school sporting events. I’m pretty sure a few thousand more people would get the vaccine if it would mean being able to attend a UH football game or their kid’s volleyball match.

For some people, getting the vaccine doesn’t change anything because they cannot go to any sporting events and rarely eat at a restaurant anyway.

Lee Kaneshiro

Palolo

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