Like the Prime Minister, I support Israel’s right to exist and detest the extremist religious group Hamas who advocate ‘pushing the Jews into the sea’. But, like many people I’m not surprised by the current escalation of the conflict.
Since the assassination of peacemaker Labor PM of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and subsequent death of the other peacemaker, Yasser Arafat, Israel has lurched to the hard right and the current Israeli government even contains the racist Arab-hating extremist, Ben-Gvir. The Jewish radical who assassinated Rabin succeeded in derailing the peace talks for an entire generation.
It’s a sign of how far Israel has gone down the rabbit hole, that its behaviour since 1995 has lost it the support of countless supporters all over the world. In the meantime the moderate Palestinians who support Israel’s right to exist, have received no rewards for their stance such as the promised Palestinian state or an end to the Israeli occupation of their lands seized since 1967.
To add to their demise, the moderates have been undermined by Western nations, most notably US President Trump, who cut all funding to the Palestinian Authority at the request of the American religious right. In the vacuum, the now-impotent moderates have been upstaged by the extremist Hamas backed by the vile Shiite regime of Iran. As for their timing, the imminent treaty between Iran’s chief rival, Saudi Arabia, and Israel may have something to do with it.
All this geopolitics aside, it’s time the West, including Australia, genuinely support the moderates on both sides.
Most Jews and Arabs want peace. War is hideous, but sometimes forces solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Let’s hope this war is a wake-up call and we recognise that the extremists on both sides must be sidelined.
The illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank must be stopped and the Palestinian Authority must be allowed to give its suffering people something substantial to counter the call of Hamas extremists. It’s time to make peace great again!
Simon Alderton
Murwillumbah
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
