Sir, – I am writing to condemn the ongoing outrage taking place in Israel, behind the fig-leaf of so called self-defence, by Binyamin Netanyahu and his government.
The planned invasion and ground attack of the Gaza Strip, by a military force of more than 300,000 highly trained and armed soldiers, on a population of 2.2 million men, women and children can never be called an act of self-defence.
In my opinion, it will be a brutal and premeditated act of genocide. The fact that these actions are being endorsed and supported by many leaders of the western world, should be seen for what it is.
These leaders should instead be focused on securing an immediate ceasefire and a peaceful resolution, brokered by the international community. Otherwise we are, as I write, on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN PATRICK O’NEILL,
Kilmore Quay,
Co Wexford.
Sir, – Recent events illustrates the fact that truth is the first casualty of war. The attendant fog cannot obscure the fault of the heinous attack by Hamas on October 7th, motivated by their perverse ideology.
But the enraged response by Israelis and Jews around the world against Hamas, does not confer on Israel the right to dismiss civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
In a just exercise of military force against Hamas, it behoves Israel and its supporters to remember the shameful role of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in the Sabra Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982. The deputy assistant to the UN general secretary, Sean McBride, found Israel to be culpable. Even the Israeli report on the massacre found the IDF were “indirectly” responsible and that defence minister Ariel Sharon was culpable.
Mr Netanyahu has continued in Mr Sharon’s tradition, with illegal seizures of Palestinian lands in the West Bank. As the IDF enters Gaza, Israelis need to face the fact that they are not blameless in the tragedy that is unfolding and that their horrific experience in the Holocaust and the recent attack by Hamas does not confer impunity on Israeli forces. – Yours, etc,
CIARAN BYRNE
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.