Sir, – Israel has advised 1.1 million people to leave their homes (News, October 13th).
State terrorism?
Congratulations on your condemnation, Taoiseach. – Yours, etc,
PADDY JOHNSON,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – The evil acts of Hamas do not justify the mass killing of Palestinian civilians. Ireland, the EU and the US must put pressure on the Israeli government to stop its campaign immediately. Humanitarian aid to the besieged people in Gaza is urgently required now. – Yours, etc,
COLM O’DOHERTY,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
Sir, – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar observes that there is “a lot of solidarity internationally for Israel at the moment”, which he fears will “evaporate very quickly, if the Israeli response in Gaza and elsewhere is disproportionate” (“Targeting civilian infrastructure as unacceptable in Gaza as in Ukraine, says Varadkar”, News, October 11th).
It is difficult to know whether the Taoiseach sees the tendency of Western governments to align themselves to the Israeli state in a positive light, or if he merely believes that he must avoid alienating Israeli authorities in his statements at all costs. Either way, I believe that he is mistaken.
The underlying context of violence in the region has been thoroughly documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli organisation B’Tselem, the Harvard Law School, and a host of other experts; the Israeli state has been imposing an apartheid regime on the Palestinian people. This was the case before last weekend’s shocking events, and it remains the case now.
It has been sickening to read recent declarations of unconditional support for the Israeli government, and thus effectively for the continuation of apartheid policies, by US, Hungarian, and German political leaders, among others.
It is high time that the Irish government abandoned the view – however well-meaning – that they can best support human rights in the region by teetering on the tight-rope of equivocation. They must admit that the Israeli state is committing the crime of apartheid.
Much like planting a tree, the best time to do it was years ago; the second best time is now. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN Ó ÉIGEARTAIGH,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – There is no context that justifies what Hamas does. But there are those with an agenda all over the world, and plenty of gullible people, who, for complex reasons in their life and culture, want to believe a false history. In fact, they need to believe it in order to justify their own denial that the problems in their lives and community are caused by an external enemy; in the cause of Palestinians, they need to blame Israel. Otherwise, if not Israel or the big bad West, then who else is to blame for the mess of their lives of the last 70-plus years? It can’t be their own fault or their lying leaders and the fake history they are fed.
And believing the fake history, that Israel is to blame for everything, serves a double purpose, as a convenient cover for some to never face up to the fact that it’s not the politics of Israel they hate so much as the Jewishness of Israel.
The strongest human emotion is not love or hate; it is denial. Try telling someone they need to leave an abusive relationship and we see it with our eyes: the person will cling to any self-delusion to justify never facing the truth, that they are responsible for choosing a bad partner and remaining in an abusive dysfunctional relationship that can only stop when they end it. Sadly for Palestinians, they have been in an abusive relationship with Hamas and lying corrupt leaders for decades. It’s understandable they cling to that denial, as to do otherwise they would have to face a very painful truth.
If they really did want peace, then they would ask for it and they would choose better leaders, but maybe there are no better leaders to pick from within the Palestinians. Are Hamas and Fatah really the best Palestinians can find from within? – Yours, etc,
DESMOND FitzGERALD,
The Hague,
The Netherlands.