Letter of the Day | Hatred between religions that may never subside

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Five weeks after the horrendous incursion by Hamas terrorists who killed about 1,200 innocent people in southern Israel, and took over 220 prisoners back into Gaza as hostages, the war rages on from air, land and sea as Israeli forces mercilessly pummel Gaza’s infrastructure into huge mounds of rubble. The human toll is tremendous, with about 11,000 innocent Palestinians killed to date, almost half of them children, and many more unaccounted for under the rubble. Gaza’s population is about 2.3 million, half of whom are under the age of 18.

Over a million Gazans are now rendered homeless. All around the globe, many political and media leaders vehemently condemn their own citizens for holding pro-Palestinian rallies calling for peace. While most Western leaders have backed Israel’s right to defend themselves, there are a few who have recently softened their approach. For example, President Emmanuel Macron of France now calls for a ceasefire, a complete turnaround from his original stance of banning any pro-Palestinian rallies on French soil. Other world leaders are calling for humanitarian pauses of the Israeli bombardments, and Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab-Islamic Summit of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states which called for a ceasefire. Amazingly, many leaders who met in Riyadh have been at loggerheads with each other for years, but are in total agreement in calling for peace in Gaza.

The term ‘anti-Semitic’ has been bandied about ad nauseam by the powers that be, frequently aimed at those who protest for peace in Gaza. ‘Anti-Zionist’ may be a tad confusing at the best of times, but when used to mean an opposition to Israeli political leadership, the term becomes more clearly defined. The vast majority of global pro-Palestinian supporters are certainly not in opposition to Jewish people nor to Judaism – so should not be referred to as anti-Semitic.

Huge numbers of ordinary citizens around the world are protesting against deadly bombardments by the Israeli government, while calling for peace in Gaza, having already figured out the difference, hence they are anti-Zionist. Coincidentally, they are supporting the Palestinian people, and definitely not the Hamas leadership. The hoity-toity political leadership and media experts may hopefully catch up to the common-sense values of the hoi-polloi sooner rather than later. Sadly, even when current hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis eventually abate, although it will be later rather than sooner, there will be a lingering hatred between their religions that may never subside.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada