In response to the letter in last week’s Echo from Jennifer Bush, as usual, it’s a one-sided anti-Israel view. I always have something to say that is pro-Palestinian, yet you can’t utter even one word about the evils of Hamas who planned this war meticulously for years and executed it with as much savagery and slaughter of Israeli civilians as possible.
Yes, as I have said countless times, I do feel terrible at the tragic loss of life in Gaza. This war is unlike most wars. In Ukraine, both Russia and Ukrainians wear military uniforms and protect their civilians.
As you well know, Hamas fights from thick urban areas and forces their women and children to protect them as human shields and they are shot by Hamas if they try to save their own lives. They have complete disregard for Palestinian civilians. You preach here without knowing the facts. Do you know how many Palestinian civilians detest Hams and know that they are fully responsible for this terrible war?
You bring up numbers as if it were a soccer game. There would be hundreds of thousands of Israelis killed if they didn’t have defensive systems to counter the countless tens of thousands of rockets fired by both Hamas, Hezbollah etc at Israeli civilian populations. The war is against Hamas, not Palestinian civilians. Hamas is a key source of the death toll figures, and everyone knows they lie about the figures.
You bring up the Sabra and Shatila massacre, perpetrated by Christian Lebanese fighters, and nothing to do with Israel or this war, yet everything in your eyes is Israel’s fault.*
The majority of Israelis are of Middle Eastern origin, not European, one of the classic misleading statements people peddle. The facts do not support you, Peace only has a chance if you start using facts.
Danny Wakil, Billinudgel
*Ed: According to Wikipedia: ‘In February 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission found that Israeli military personnel had failed to take serious steps to stop the killings despite being aware of the [Lebanese Christian] militia’s actions, and deemed that the IDF was indirectly responsible for the events, and forced erstwhile Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon to resign from his position ‘for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge’ during the massacre.
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. 
