Sir, - I agree with the views expressed by Vincent Browne (April 17th) as, I expect, would many people in this country, regarding the inadequacy of Mr Spring's expression of "grave concern" at the deteriorating situation in Lebanon. Have these two words not become meaningless in this context? I understand that Mr Spring, in government, is shackled by the requirements of diplomacy, but surely Mr Bertie Ahern's call for a forthright and vigorous condemnation would be in order in this case. Israel has shown once again that it has no regard whatsoever for diplomatic approaches, nor for the civil rights, liberties and even for the very lives of innocent people who happen to be between it and its objectives.
On the same day that Vincent Browne's column appeared in The Irish Times, the paper carried a photograph of Israeli troops taking a break from their task of reducing South Lebanon to rubble. This lull was to accommodate remembrance of those unfortunate Jews who were victims of the Nazis during the second World War. Having done their remembering, they continued their job of shelling, no doubt killing those unfortunate men, women, and children who happened to be in their way.
Faced with such barbarism, surely more is required than meaningless expressions of grave concern. - Yours, etc.
Woodbrook Park,
Templeogue,
Dublin 16.