Letters published seem to be ‘pro-Israel’
In recent weeks, the Guernsey Press has printed several letters from readers who appear supportive of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Each one tends to open the same way, with a graphic description of the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October – atrocities for which, of course, Hamas should be condemned.
In the paragraphs that follow, however, your correspondents – while rightly denouncing terrorism – fail to mention Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza, or acknowledge the fact that a densely-populated strip of land has been turned into an open-air prison. Nowhere in these letters are we told that, for decades now, any form of Palestinian resistance, including non-violent protest, has been lethally suppressed.
And as for what happened after 7 October, the letters you choose to print never contain the words ‘collective punishment’, a term which the UN Security Council has used to describe Israel’s response to the attack.
We have to look beyond your letters page to read about Israel deliberately bombing hospitals, mosques and refugee camps, firing white phosphorus at non-combatants, and killing, at time of writing, nearly 100 journalists.
Time and again your correspondents choose to omit these vital but inconvenient details in favour of repeatedly asserting that anyone in Guernsey who dares to publicly register a moral objection to a nation state deliberately killing 20,000 civilians, including nearly 10,000 children, is a sanctimonious, virtue-signalling terrorist sympathiser.
I suspect your letters page reflects the nature of correspondence received. Given that UK polling shows that a majority of the public support a ceasefire, I wonder how many islanders have decided against writing to you because they are worried about the consequences of their name appearing underneath a letter which condemns both Hamas and Israel for killing innocent men, women and children? There is a reason I have asked for my name and address to be withheld.
I do question why the Press continues to print the ‘pro-Israel’ letters described above.
Not only are your correspondents making broadly similar points, but they are making them in response to an event, Guernsey For Gaza, which happened two weeks ago – an eternity in news terms.
There are, however, plans for another peaceful march in support of a ceasefire, and I wonder whether one effect of recent letters pages will be to reduce turnout. I hope that isn’t the case.
Name and address supplied