Thank you Mary for your letter in last week’s Echo supporting Israel in its efforts to remove Hamas and other radical Islamist groups from power in Gaza. This will benefit Israeli and Palestinian civilians and will contribute to the safety and wellbeing of the wider world.
In reference to the opinion piece ‘Managing free speech and truth’, it was more balanced than much of the ranting against Israel that more often than not does not even mention Hamas or other radical Islamists, and only targets Israel in their condemnation. Thank you to these contributors.
The conflict and ongoing war is definitely not a ‘fight over real estate’. If it was, the Arabs would have agreed to peace with Israel when the UN partitioned the land giving the indigenous Jews a tiny fraction of the land of historical Palestine, after the new country of Jordan/Transjordan had already been given the bulk of the land of Palestine.
As for releasing Marwan Barghouti who is serving time in an Israeli prison for murdering many Jews, why would Israel do that? He is not Nelson Mandela, he is a criminal murderer.
It is the same twisted logic that people have in thinking Israel should have agreed to the deal put on the table by Hamas this week. Hamas wanted the release from prison of 500 terrorists who had carried out the largest mass murders of Jews over the past years, in exchange for the 134 Israeli babies, children, elderly and adults who were peacefully at a music festival or quietly at home posing no risk to Palestinians. A fair deal is needed here.
Many Israelis don’t like Netanyahu and in their next elections, they are sure to get rid of him but what about the Palestinian side? They do not have the right to evict Hamas or other Islamist groups and will be imprisoned at the very least, for saying anything against their bloodthirsty terrorist leaders, or more than likely murdered which has happened time and time again.
This is a terrible, terrible war and let’s hope it ends in peace, not just another ceasefire that will only be broken by Hamas or other Islamist groups with yet another war against Israel as soon as they replenish their weapons of terror. I feel terrible for the suffering of innocent Palestinians and Israelis alike. Peace now.
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. 
