A chara, – While Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter complains that Iran wants to “wipe the state of Israel off the map”, the map published in your edition of January 30th tells a different story about the cartography of the Middle East.
This map, copyright of the Irish Timesstudio, shows "Israel" marked in large black capital letters, surrounded by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, marked in smaller, grey capitals. The Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza Strip are also shown, as are Tel Aviv, Sderot and Gaza.
Nowhere does the word “Palestine” appear.
Palestine has in fact been “wiped off the map”. So why is Alan Shatter not shouting for the Palestinians?
– Is mise,
COILÍN ÓHAISEADHA, Bóthar Inse Chór, Cill Mhaighneann, Baile Átha Cliath 8.
Madam, – I see the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee is to write, albeit belatedly, to Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh “to draw his attention to the inappropriateness of his comments” at its last meeting. Ó Snodaigh compared the methods of Israeli ambassador Dr Zion Evrony and Jewish TD Alan Shatter to those of the notorious Nazi Joseph Goebbels.
Apart from the delay in writing to Mr Ó Snodaigh, not one of the committee members present on the day made any attempt to ask for the withdrawal of Ó Snodaigh’s obscene remarks. Senior TDs at the meeting included Labour’s Michael D. Higgins and Fine Gael’s Billy Timmins. Neither of these two men is slow when it comes to defending the rights of Travellers or non-Jewish immigrants.
This whole episode leaves a very sour taste and should be further investigated. The integrity of our political system and our reputation abroad has suffered enough already.
– Yours, etc,