After the horrendous attack by Hamas and the brutal overkill by Israeli forces on Gaza City, I must once again use the lyric in the song “The Last Resort” by the musical group The Eagles — “We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds in the name of destiny and in the name of God.”

Lest anyone dare call me anti-Semetic, I proclaim no Jew should have to fear walking on any street or path anywhere on this planet, but in reality, that is not the case. With that said, after reading the Oct. 13 Times-Republican column “I am a Jew” by syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro, he declares “There are those who say that the Israeli-Arab conflict is a (cycle of violence). Only the morally blind and obtuse could ever say such a thing.” Well, Ben is being morally dishonest!

Contrary to Ben, there is a cycle of violence occurring by both sides. I declare to Ben I will not tolerate religious and secular authoritarianism anywhere that it occurs on the planet without reacting.

It befuddles my mind what drives a person’s hatred towards Jews or when hate engulfs a White Supremacist or the hatred that occurs within religious wars. However, it is a fact that religious fundamentalism, whether it’s Jewish, Christian or Muslim is dangerous and highly irrational! Religious fundamentalism is the world’s tinder box.

History’s crime was not allowing Jews to assimilate and live peacefully in every nation on Earth, and now Israel becomes a death trap for Jews and Palestinians.

It was interesting to read when Ben talked about confronting evil, especially when he said “For decades we’ve been told that to look evil in its face was somehow unsophisticated. That to pretend evil away was an act of intellectual virtue. That to cater to evil, to concede to evil, was a pathway toward a better world. It was all a damned lie.”

Now I do not know of anyone except Holocaust deniers and all those past and present religious and secular authoritarian figures who would look the other way at evil or pretend evil away and think their actions are a better pathway to a better world. After all, those authoritarian figures supposedly have had God’s ear throughout history, especially men like Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Isn’t that right Ben?

The great danger is religious and secular leaders proclaiming God is on their side.