I’m a Christian based locally and have been reading recent letters in The Echo, including those from John Scrivener and Danny Wakil, with growing unease. Israel is often painted as the villain, while some basic facts quietly disappear.
Israel is tiny – only about forty times the size of Byron Shire – yet for decades has been ringed by groups and regimes that openly say it should not exist at all. Despite this, it remains a noisy democracy and, right now, is helping dismantle an Iranian regime whose leaders chant ‘Death to America’, and brutalise their own people. The recent targeted strikes on Iran’s leadership and nuclear network were aimed at freeing Iranians from a dictatorship, not destroying their cities.
Think about our own freedoms: women in shorts on Jonson Street, pink‑haired baristas, rainbow flags, same‑sex couples at the Mullum markets. None of that would last long in Tehran or under Hamas, but it flourishes in Israeli cities.
You can criticise Israel, and you should care about Palestinian suffering, but if you had to choose to live under Israel, Hamas, or the Iranian regime, which streets would you really rather be walking?
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. 
