Reading Elaine Braffman’s CT Viewpoint 09.03.2025, we are reminded of the saying, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” Silence is bad enough, but promoting the propaganda Braffman offers in asserting that “Pro-Palestinian supporters dilute the meaning of the term genocide is worse.Braffman attempts to cast doubt on the moral crisis of our time by ignoring the legal definition of Genocide and the horrendous death, destruction, and famine occurring in Gaza. A single historical example or a set number of victims does not define genocide. Instead, “Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent”-inferred or explicit- “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:1. Killing members of the group;2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” Braffman’s effort to minimize Israel’s crimes finds no support in fact or law. But don’t take our word for it, listen to world experts. Early on in Israel’s assault on Gaza, more than 800 scholars and practitioners of international law and genocide studies signed a public statement “to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” Such concern arose not only from Israel’s ruthless bombing of civilians but from the many statements of genocidal intent spewing from Israeli leaders. Raz Segal, an Israeli scholar of Holocaust and genocidal studies, called Israel’s assault on Gaza a textbook case of Genocide. Professor Omer Bartov, who had previously served in the Israeli Defense Force, reached the “inescapable conclusion” in July 2025 that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Amnesty International issued a report in December 2024 that “Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.” Likewise, Human Rights Watch stated in a lengthy report that “Israeli authorities” were “responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide.” The International Association of Genocide Scholars declared on August 31, 2025, that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” In the face of Israel’s criminal assault on the Palestinian people, the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling in January 2024 ordered Israel to prevent genocide, punish incitement to genocide, and enable provisions of basic services and humanitarian assistance to reach Gaza. In March 2024, the ICJ further ordered Israel to stop the invasion of Rafah and to reopen the Rafah crossing to humanitarian aid deliveries. But Israelignored these provisional measures. And just as Elaine Braffman obfuscates Israel’s crimes, Israeli forces continue to kill journalists seeking to educate the public through their reporting. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Gaza has the highest number of journalist deaths since the organization started gathering data in 1992, and in April, Brown University’s Watson Institute declared the war was “quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters”. While total figures are difficult to pinpoint, a report issued by Brown University’s Cost of War Project estimates that in the one year ending September 30, 2024, the U.S. government provided $22.76 billion in military-related aid to Israel. Under the Trump administration, Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign receives continued support. Just before leaving office, the Biden administration notified Congress of additional munitions sales totaling $8 billion that the Trump administration subsequently approved. In February 2025, the State Department approved $6.75 billion in munitions sales, including 500-pound bombs. A missile sales package, valued at $660 million, was also approved in February 2025. In July 2025, the State Department approved $510 million sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions. As of September 2025, the conservative death toll in Gaza passed 64,000, including more than 20,000 children and 1,000 babies under one year old. In contravention of the Leahy Law, Congress continues its unconditional support for Israel. Most recently, Senator Blumenthal joined with Republicans in opposing the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval supported by 27senators, including Senator Murphy, that would limit certain weapons to Israel. We guess that Elaine Braffman is quite happy with that result. But as for us, we do not want our tax dollars used in support of apartheid, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. Unless we, the people, force our government to change course, our nation will be held in disregard by the world for generations to come. Khaled Al Qaddumi, Chairman, WeWillReturn.org36 Grandview Terracd, South Windsor, CT 06074