Here is first-person reporting that we might not get if the Trump administration and most of the Republicans in Congress succeed in defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Its source is a Gazan NPR reporter.
Please listen to and/or read it:
The perilous journey for Palestinians to get food in Gaza : NPR
It’s easy for our hearts to be hardened with so much bad news in the modem world, but consider that these are ordinary people like us - students, engineers, blue collar workers, shop keepers, mothers, fathers, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents - and their homes, schools, universities, offices, hospitals, factories, shops, and all means of livelihood have been destroyed. Deaths in Gaza are easily 50 or more times the number of deaths caused by the Hamas raid almost two years ago, and every day more people are starving or facing a violent death to get a little food.
The GHF, with which Israel and the US replaced the previous UN food distribution system, is obviously inadequate for so many desperately hungry people.
I believe that the blame for this resides partially with Biden for not restraining Netanyahu and continuing to arm him even after Gaza’s civilians and infrastructure had already been bombed completely out of proportion to the damage that Hamas inflicted, Trump for his transactional mindset, love of “strong” leaders, and complete lack of empathy, but mostly Netanyahu and his apparent scheme of slow ethnic cleansing.
“Faith without works is dead” - but what can we do?
Whether we’re American or in another country, we can contact our governments and urge them to do whatever they can to restore a safe, reliable aid channel for the people of Gaza - preferably restoring the UN program with their long standing expertise in providing food to needy populations.
If we’re in the US we can also contact our members of Congress and urge them to continue to support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides us with in-depth, truthful, factual reporting like this. (Unfortunately the Senate voted this morning to take away the funding from CPB/PBS and NPR, despite some Republican senators’ “concerns over cuts to public broadcasting, warning the move could cripple vital emergency communication networks in rural areas.”) Senate Approves Cuts to Foreign Aid and NPR, PBS, Handing Trump Victory - Newsweek.
I’ve frankly grown discouraged about contacting my (Republican) state’s members of Congress and believe that they’re following the dictates of an idol named “Small Government” without considering the humanitarian and economic consequences of the budget cuts they’re voting for. Despite my discouragement I’ll probably contact him anyway - and we can always pray that their hard hearts will be softened and their decisions will become in harmony with Biblical teachings about loving our neighbor.