I agree with the editor’s note appended to the letter of Burkhard Waltrup (Echo, Jan 21). Blaming all Jews for the actions of the Israeli government is obviously antisemitic, though I don’t see how that relates to his letter.
The evidence of Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation, extermination, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, is so egregious, extensive and demonstrable that it has resulted in proceedings under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice, and criminal indictments against senior Israeli officials by the International Criminal Court.
And yet we’re expected to believe that criticism of Israel’s criminal conduct is antisemitic and potentially illegal. This is the insanity of a political milieu that seeks to normalise genocide and criminalise criticism of Israel. This credo is clearly antisemitic itself, since it implies that if you criticise Israel you’re hating on all Jews, as if all Jews are somehow implicated in, represented by or responsible for the crimes of the Israeli government and armed forces.
Which is exactly what Israeli officials like Isaac Herzog did when they blamed all Palestinians for the actions of Hamas on October 7, and used that as a pretext for the genocide in Gaza. Israel acts as if it can secure its future only by relentlessly attacking its neighbours and exterminating the Palestinians. But in the long run, friendship and respect between nations is vastly preferable to hostility and contempt.
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. 
