Sir, – On reading Raymond Deane’s letter (March 7th), I came to the conclusion that the writer obviously hopes and believes that if you continuously throw muck at a subject, at least some of it will stick.
Facts are conspicuously absent.
Israel is not an apartheid state. Muslim Arabs make up a fifth of Israel’s population and in a recent confidential poll, 80 per cent stated that they did not want to live in an Arab state. Israeli Arabs are to be found in all aspects of Israeli society – supreme court judges, ambassadors and, not least, 14 are members of the Knesset. Hospital and medical care is not separate, as it was in apartheid South Africa.
Palestinians are among the 7,000 slaughtered in Syria over the past year, but there is not a mention of this in Mr Deane’s letter.
As one who visits Israel on a regular basis, I can state categorically that all its citizens are treated equally.
At long last persecuted Jews have a safe haven in Israel. I lived through the 1930s and vividly remember German Jews begging unsuccessfully for life-saving visas.
Almost half of Israel’s present Jewish population originated from Arab countries. It would be unthinkable that anyone should suggest that these Jews be transported back to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Egypt, etc.
As the Chinese say, “be careful what you wish for”. – Yours, etc,