I am writing this letter in response to two recent letters to the editor. I am a former Marine Corps officer who served in Afghanistan as an attack helicopter pilot fighting terrorism. I have witnessed firsthand the extremes terrorists are willing to go in order to control those who they rule.

To say that Israel is a colonization force is inaccurate. Colonizing is defined as the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area. The Jewish people have been in the region for thousands of years. The state of Israel was established in May 1948 and was admitted to the United Nations as a full member state in May 1949. Israeli forces are only in Gaza today because of the atrocities that Hamas committed when they invaded Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas now hides behind the hostages they abducted from Israel and behind the Palestinian civilians who they have forced to stay in place.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. They have been designated and recognized as a terrorist organization since their foundation in 1987. Hamas has been in control of Gaza since 2006. On Oct. 7, this terror group led a calculated attack from air, land and sea with a goal to terrorize and kill as many Jewish people as they possibly could. Hamas’ mission is to eradicate Jews from the face of the earth. 

Hamas’ mission by definition is genocide. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. Hamas themselves live by this decree. Israel’s actions since Oct. 7 have been in self-defense of their nation and most importantly the Jewish people. This self-defense is not genocide. War was unavoidable after the Oct. 7 attack and casualties are one of the many terrible aspects of war. Instead, we should be asking why Hamas is not allowing civilians the freedom to leave? Why are other countries in the region unwilling to take the refugees? To accuse Israel of genocide is far from the truth. This sentiment is fueling the rise of antisemitism in the United States.

I encourage everyone to educate themselves on the war and the dramatic rise of antisemitism throughout the world to avoid repeating history.

Matt McCullough
Steamboat Springs