Sir, – President Michael D Higgins’s comments that Ursula von der Leyen’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict was “thoughtless and reckless” is spot on, if lacking perhaps some diplomacy in its robust delivery (News, October 17th).
But the reality is Ms von der Leyen was only endorsing what US president Joe Biden said: that Israel has a right to defend itself and a duty to respond. This new construct “duty to respond” is at the core of the difficulty facing western powers, but that response should never put a defenceless civilian population in grave danger, as has happened since the barbaric attack on Israel by Hamas.
There has to be a better way to root out Hamas without inflicting death and destruction on innocent Palestinian people. There is also a paramount duty to respond to their humanitarian needs now. – Yours, etc,
AIDAN RODDY,
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Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – No matter the right or wrongs of what is happening in Israel or Gaza the worry for most people is that the theatre of war will spread, with Hizbullah in Lebanon and Iran entering the conflict, which seems inevitable.
The US is now acting as peacemaker, as well as flexing its muscle, making sure no other protagonists enter this conflict.
There is, due to Hamas’s blood-letting in Israel, a substantial and ever-increasing humanitarian crisis.
People who are trying to escape the bombardments are caught in an ever-increasing spiral of death, injury and starvation. Children, with other innocent bystanders, are caught between the extremists who are trying to use them as shields, and Israel, which is herding them like cattle into an even smaller strip of land with no exit to other safe areas.
With over 30 years of conflict and thousands dead and injured at the hands of terrorists and state actors, Ireland should be well aware that no one side will ever fully achieve their goals or aims.
A peaceful solution is and must be the only way forward while a de-escalation is now required.
In the end all sides must sit down and come to an agreement and a way forward.
Getting the right mediator will be the challenge, but how can this be achieved when two sides with utter hatred and disdain for each other want to wipe each other out?
How many of our fellow human being must die in order to satiate or exhaust their blood lust?
Extremists in the Israeli government and in the Palestinian enclaves have failed their people, and innocent people are paying with their lives. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTY GALLIGAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
A chara, – Kevin Kenny claims that, for “any reasonable person”, the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” means “the deaths of millions of innocent Israelis” (Letters, October 17th).
Mr Kenny’s “reasonable person” apparently assumes that the liberation of one people cannot occur without the genocide of another, and that the peaceful co-existence of both within the context of a just resolution of their conflict is impossible.
For Palestinians and their supporters, including increasing numbers of Jews worldwide, the slogan excludes any such bloodthirsty fatalism. Mr Kenny’s “reasonable person” should perhaps listen to other viewpoints than Israeli propaganda. – Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – After initially supporting Israel in the face of heinous Hamas attacks, including the murder of an Irish woman, it took the Taoiseach and Tánaiste just 48 hours to revert to the usual civil service-speak calling for “restraint” and “de-escalation”, warning about a “disproportionate” response, and renewing calls for a so-called “two-state solution”.
First, when responding to the rape and murder of women, the butchering of pensioners in their beds, and the murder of newborn babies, what would be a “proportionate” response? If such brutal violence was carried out against Irish citizens on Irish soil, would our Government react with equanimity and sit on its hands, as it apparently expects Israel to do?
Second, surely the only clear outcome of recent events is that the so-called “two-state solution” is now permanently dead and buried?
Israel withdrew fully from Gaza in 2005. As thanks for this, it got 15 years of rocket attacks launched by Hamas against Israeli civilians, eventually culminating in the recent massacre.
In the wake of the events of last week, why on earth would Israel now withdraw from the West Bank?
Handing this territory over to Palestinian control would risk opening up West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to incursions similar to those last week, and would amount to a massive dereliction of its duty to protect its own citizens. No other country would do this, so why do we expect Israel to do so?
Israel should categorically rule out a so-called two-state solution, and set this as its baseline position for any future negotiations.
And Ireland – a country which has had no shortage of terrorist atrocities – needs to reset its foreign policy on this issue, and cease giving comfort to terrorist attacks against other free democracies. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – What Israel is doing in Gaza now is retribution on a vast scale, without consideration of the consequences to civilians, despite Israel’s patently false claims not to target Palestinian civilians. Instructing the population of Northern Gaza to evacuate to the South, while continuing to shell both North and South Gaza is callous and cynical.
Yet Western leaders continue to ask for restraint and mitigation measures, such as the temporary and short-term opening of the Rafah crossing to Egypt, to allow trapped Westerners to get out and medical supplies to get in.
As of now, there are tens of trucks full of vital supplies queued up at Rafah, while Palestinians in desperate need of food, water and medical aid wait on the other side. Given that Israel is ignoring the mild entreaties of Western leaders and this is likely to get much worse in the next weeks, what will the response by the Western governments? Sadly, based on past history, more mild words but no action. – Yours, etc,
TIM HENNESSY,
Dublin 16.