Israel in the limelight for the wrong reasons

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Shortly before he died, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (F.D.R.) met King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud on board USS Quincy in the Suez Canal on February 14, 1945. With the Second World War drawing to a close, they discussed how Saudi oil could fuel the post-war recovery.

The influx of European Jews into Palestine was also discussed, and the king warned F.D.R. that Arabs and European Jews would never peacefully cohabit in Palestine nor in any other country. He advised that those responsible for the holocaust and suffering of European Jews should pay reparations, and house them in German territory. The king’s advice went unheeded when the State of Israel was created in May 1948. Intervening years have proven the king’s assessment was correct, with wars and conflicts a constant presence between the Israeli government and Arab populations of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The US has been Israel’s staunchest ally supplying weaponry and monetary aid, which today is about $4 billion annually. United Nations sanctions against Israel have often been overlooked, and many have turned a blind eye as successive Israeli governments have ruled Arab populations with an iron fist. The present government is the most far-right of any since 1948, and recent events should cause consternation in Washington and other world capitals. Plans to restrict the judiciary and give the government more power have angered the Jewish population to demonstrate in very large numbers in major cities.

According to the Times of Israel, the government responded with mounted police, water cannons, stun grenades and tear gas, with several injuries and arrests. On March 1, the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, was unable to leave a Tel Aviv hair salon for several hours when surrounded by chanting Jewish protesters, and the PM warned that this type of anarchy has to stop before Jewish lives are lost. With the Jerusalem Post recently warning that Israel is heading in the direction of a theocracy, we are reminded of Karl Marx who declared 180 years ago that “religion is the opium of the people”. The global klieg lights could soon be focused on Mr Netanyahu for all the wrong reasons.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada