Readers Write: Israel and Lebanon, homelessness, an ode to U.S. Bank Stadium

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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The writer of the letter to the editor “Watching the escalation in horror” (Readers Write, Oct. 2) claims the invasion of Lebanon never should have happened. Yet he ignores the fact that over 60,000 Israelis have been unable to return to their homes in northern Israel for over nine months because of the daily barrage of Hezbollah missiles fired from southern Lebanon since Oct. 8. And in that invasion, Israeli troops have discovered numerous tunnels there filled with weapons and arms of all types, ready, apparently, for an invasion by Hezbollah into Israel. He asks for a new vision, a new strategic plan. Well, there is a clear one that has been rejected by Hamas, Hezbollah and their puppet master, Iran: Recognize Israel’s right to exist and give up plans to eliminate Israel and to kill all the Jews. Then we can move to a true two-state solution. In the meantime Israel is proving than an old football adage might be true — the best defense is a good offense.

Ken Cutler, Edina

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A news flash is in order for those who choose to remain ill-informed or purposely promote falsehoods with respect to the events unfolding in the Middle East. None of the three Iranian terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthis, wants a cease-fire. Rather, it is President Joe Biden and his State Department that is alone in the wilderness of foreign policy.

The president continues to embarrass with his mixed messaging. On one hand he says Israel has a right to defend itself, yet on the other, he insists on a cease-fire at all costs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing peace and security by killing the enemy on at least two fronts. While this sounds counterintuitive, Western culture continues to ignore the reality of the Middle East. Biden is playing into the hands of the terrorists. In the latest development, Israel cleverly got pagers and walkie-talkies into the hands of its enemies and injured hundreds and killed some. This has become the prelude to an invasion into Lebanon. Undoubtedly this is to push Hezbollah to an area north of the Litani River as per United Nations Resolution 1701, written in 2006, and which some 10,000 U.N. troops occupy to this day. Where is Biden’s leadership on this?

These realities shock the conscience of those who have never lived the mentality of Middle East antisemitism. We live thousands of miles away in safety and comfort, our lives devoid of air-raid sirens and bunkers. We can thank President Ronald Reagan for his “Star Wars” initiative back in the 1980s, recalling that Sen. Joe Biden called it “reckless and irresponsible.”

Houthis continue to shut off access to the Suez Canal with the likely aid of Iranian spy ships in the southern Red Sea — directing missile attacks on the U.S. Navy and the shipping industry. Where is Biden’s leadership on this?

The recent “bunker buster” bombing that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was a much-needed act of justice for his decades of terrorist activities, including the killing of 241 military personnel and 17 Americans in separate events back in 1983.

Biden is again on the wrong side of history as he plays politics at the potential cost of Israeli success. Let’s not forget that Iran is at the final stages of reaching its nuclear capability. Israel will likely have to take on that ominous development, too. Biden should support Israel, full stop, and head to the beach where he can contemplate visions of a grand political career. The world would benefit greatly.

Joe Polunc, Waconia

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In the Sept. 24 Star Tribune article titled “Israeli airstrikes pound Lebanon,” two small sentences were buried near the end: “In response to the escalating conflict, the United States will send a ‘small number’ or additional personnel to the region to augment existing forces, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Monday. He declines to specify their exact number or mission.”

In my opinion, this announcement deserves a headline on the front page. It reminds me of the announcement that was given in papers in 1961 when the U.S. first sent “advisers” to the conflict in Vietnam. Do we really want to begin the process toward supplying boots on the ground to the conflict in Israel? This marks a huge policy change, and both the government and newspapers should not hide it.

Sandra Lea Adelmund, Coon Rapids

Rather than pontificating about unsheltered people around the city, listen to the experts (”We don’t need a think tank. We need Housing First,” Strib Voices, Sept. 30).

I have dedicated years of my life toward being a small part of ending homelessness. For me and many of my colleagues it has been frightening to feel the gaze of the American zeitgeist fall upon the world of housing and homelessness. We too often have seen quasi-experts rush into our fields, equipped with their intellectually profound and morally appealing “solutions.” Too often we have seen people with only a small part of the picture in mind making big-picture decisions. Luckily, the city has already created a committee of experts to prevent just that!

I co-chair the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Housing with my incredible colleague Sherri Boone. The committee is made up of some of the foremost experts on housing and homelessness in Minneapolis. Our role is to advise the City Council, mayor and city departments on many issues related to housing and homelessness in the city. We would love to be engaged more by City Council members as they address housing and homelessness. It has been confusing for me as co-chair to see so many big decisions being made without anyone from the council coming to ask for feedback. The committee has proven itself excellent in providing concise and targeted feedback for improvements, and many recent council decisions would have benefited from that feedback.

So, to the City Council, I ask: Please, just come talk to us. We promise it’s all love over here. Maybe we can help the mayor’s office and City Council get on the same page. Everybody wants the same thing here: for every person in Minneapolis to have a safe and dignified place to call home.

P.S. I want to give kudos to Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, the city departments and the mayor’s office, all of whom have actively been seeking out our feedback and expertise.

Michael Giovanis, Minneapolis

The greatest of world cathedrals,

The Notre-Dames of Chartres, Paris,

Towering Ulm Minster, Cologne, Roen,

Rome’s St. Peter’s, grandest of all,

Our St. Paul’s, New York’s St. Patrick’s,

Sacred spaces to humble us before God …

All shrink before this new basilica,

Pews stacked four tiers into crystal sky!

We faithful stand as our new gods sprint

Onto the field, a tapestry, a battleground,

Names boomed from the heights like thunder,

Cheered by our version of vestal virgins.

Then comes the contest, we’re urged

To “GET LOUD,” and “MAKE NOISE,”

And so we do as fortunes rise and fall,

Standing up, sitting, the genuflect missing,

Until comes time to take communion:

A hotdog, nachos and light beer.

Michael O’Donnell, Northfield