I have been a reader of The Echo for over 30 years and I’ve always admired the contribution your publication has provided to the local community. The tone of the paper has always been supportive and inclusive of various community groups, kept the locals abreast of important developments and news in the area and generally opted for apolitical goodwill stance on most issues.
I was horrified to see an advertisement by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA). Whilst I believe in free speech I could not help but view this anything more than blatant propaganda, coming from a known Zionist organisation desperate to try and turn the tide on the growing disgust from the rest of the world relating to the Israeli government and the IDF’s actions in occupied Gaza specifically the murder of over 6,000 innocent children.
The entire advertisement is full of inaccuracies and outright lies. The layout of the piece is drafted as if to lay out fact after fact.
1. For over 75 years Israel has refused to recognise the Palestinian state and has occupied and controlled the territory for the entirety. Netanyahu himself said there will be no Palestinian state after Israel ceases hostilities. Israeli settlers continue to take land designated to the Palestinians under the 1993 Oslo Accord. This is an absolute lie.
2. Which peace offers and under what terms? It’s important to understand the terms Israel demanded as part of a ‘peace’ offering including refusal to allow Palestinian refugees to return to Gaza, Israel maintains all sovereignty over the land, air and sea that borders Gaza, refusal to police the illegal settlements, control over individual movement – there’s a long list.
4. Israel did not hand the keys back. It removed its settlers and military from inside Gaza but has systematically cut Gaza off by controlling all land, air and sea space on the borders of Gaza. Palestinians have no freedom of movement, the Israelis control electricity and water supplies into Gaza as well as prohibiting many basic supplies. Basically it’s run like an open air prison.
5. What Hamas did on 7 October was reprehensible but as yet there is little if any proof of mass rapes and beheadings. Every innocent life on this planet matters, yet there now been an inequitable number of civilian deaths on the Palestinian side with no end in sight.
6.The fact that the AJA advertisement continually refers to the Palestinians as Gazans shows they don’t acknowledge them as Palestinian people. The Israeli government was quite open about their intent to destroy as much of Gaza as possible with many of the highest-ranking politicians (including Netanyahu) openly saying they would happily destroy or relocate the entire population of Gaza, for which they are subject to a case in the ICJ.
The final line is what really got me the most – the AJA’s conclusion that ‘Hamas is responsible of all Gazan deaths’. I don’t think Hamas was dropping the dumb bombs on hospitals and refugee camps or killing innocent civilians in sniper fire, etc. This denial by the AJA of Israel’s culpability, and shifting of blame, is abhorrent.
I expected more from such a usually lovely community-driven publication than this ad. I hope you reconsider your advertising policies in the future.
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. 
