I’m shocked by the level of anti-Israel hatred expressed in letters and articles in The Echo since the printing of the advertisement from the AJA. I am particularly shocked by the radical words of editor Hans Lovejoy in last week’s Echo, as well as the ‘opinion piece’. How are these completely one-sided and anti-Israel words helpful?
There was a similar advertisement printed from the pro-Palestinian side (this time a full page) 15 June, 2022. Why was there no such backlash from people stating that that advertisement was full of lies and hate speech when that went to print?
I don’t personally think the ad was necessary, and I don’t think The Echo should print ads from either side, but the statements made in the AJA advertisement are very basic facts and this shows how far from reality many people are removed.
This is a terrible war and would not have happened if Hamas had not carried out the unspeakable atrocities on 7 October. This invasion of Israel, planned by Hamas for years was unprecedented in its savagery.
Israel left Gaza in 2005 completely removing huge Jewish communities, at times by force, and leaving all infrastructure in the hope that it would be a solid move towards a permanent peace. It is a complete and utter tragedy that the opposite has occurred.
Palestinian civilians are suffering terribly and many blame Hamas (not Israel) for their dire situation. Everyone wants the war to end but no country on earth would tolerate the ongoing attacks from these extreme Jihadist groups, so I don’t know why people would think Israel should?
Palestinians and Israelis deserve this living hell to end. We should be coming together as a community working towards peace, not this!
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. 
