Letters to the Editor | Nov. 12, 2023

Congratulations to Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker. I am not a political science major, however, I believe she won the race to become Philadelphia’s 100th mayor based on her determination to combat the daily violence that plagues the city. Selecting the new police commissioner will be her most difficult decision. Checking off political correctness boxes must be part of the choice. She must look for someone who brings a crime-fighting strategy to the table. Someone who can work with the Fraternal Order of Police. Someone who can connect with the men and women who actually do the job, the street cops. Probably most important of all, someone who can repair the damaged morale within the Police Department, including the top brass. Unlike her predecessor, Parker must choose someone who is capable and can meet these challenges. She owes it to the people who voted for her.

William D. Markert Jr., retired, Philadelphia police captain, Warminster

An Associated Press article published by The Inquirer notes that the Group of Seven called for the “unimpeded” delivery of food, water, medicine, and fuel to Gazans. Such calls are invariably directed at Israel. Somehow, nobody mentions the extensive stockpiles of those very items in the terror tunnels that Hamas likely built using previous humanitarian aid extended by the West. The G7 should demand the release of the hostages, as well as the hostage supplies that Hamas is keeping for itself. Hamas is responsible for all the suffering in Gaza. It must be held accountable by the West.

Kenneth Gorelick, Wayne

We all want the bombing of Gaza to stop, but it isn’t just Israel that is involved in this war. Hamas has responsibilities and choices, too. It has started a war that it cannot win. Here’s a solution: Hamas surrenders. Lays down all its arms. Turns over all its war criminals — all of them — to the International Criminal Court, rather than to Israel. The ICC doesn’t assign the death penalty, just some term of imprisonment in a European prison. The accused get taken to the Netherlands and are held while their cases are investigated and tried. There is heaps of video evidence of who did what.

The United Nations could propose this, and Hamas could accept out of humanitarian concern for the people of Gaza. Hamas isn’t like ISIS. It didn’t recruit from all over the Muslim world. The people in Gaza are, after all, the families, friends, and neighbors of the Hamas soldiers. Israel would stop bombing. What the U.N. and the European Union and U.S. media all refer to as “innocent civilians” would no longer suffer loss of life and limb, house and home. So both sides could demonstrate the depths of their humanity by ending the war.

John S. Hill, Easton, Pa.

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