Letters: Hundreds of thousands speak up for voiceless in Gaza, but EU can do more

Irish Independent

04-07-2025

No one can say for sure how many unarmed civilians have been killed by Israel's missiles, drone bombs, tank shells and shootings. The current estimate is at least 55,000 people dead.
Many more have been maimed and left homeless. There are also many dead under bombed buildings.
On May 29, volunteers near the Palace of Westminster read out the names of 16,000 children killed in the war in Gaza. It took 18 hours.
It was to also highlight the starvation of Palestinian children and the indiscriminate bombing in Gaza.
On June 7, around 300,000 people marched in Rome. They believe Italy's government has been too silent on the war in Gaza. One of their banners read: 'Stop the massacre, stop complicity.'
On June 15, about 150,000 people marched in The Hague. Meanwhile, 100,000 people marched in Brussels.
The EU is not united in taking action against Israel's horrific war in Gaza. EU countries including Ireland and Spain speak out independently. So does Norway.
The founders of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which came into being in 1951 and evolved into the EU, worked for economic co-operation for peace in Europe.
They are long gone, but I hope they would want the EU to be a strong voice for a tormented population in Gaza. The war is aimed very much at them, possibly to push them out of Gaza where they have lived legally for generations, as recognised by the UN.
I hope Hamas will return the remaining Israeli hostages. It needs to show humanity too.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mary Sullivan, College Road, Cork
Complex history of Israel's war in Palestine goes back a lot farther than 1948
Your editorial of July 1 ('Netanyahu must be stopped, and only the US has the power to do it'); Sam Kiley's comment piece ('Trump isn't the guide out of horror landscape that Palestinians and Israelis so desperately need', July 3); and Raymond Deane's letter ('Peace does indeed need two sides to make it work, so why let Israel off the hook?', July 3) all illustrate clearly the frustration of people all over the world at the atrocious and by now undeniable genocidal attacks on innocent Palestinians, our fellow human beings.
Mr Deane, like many, thinks the Israel war on Palestine began in 1948.
In 1960, Jamal Nasir (1922-2014), a former justice minister and acting foreign minister of Jordan, published The Embittered Arab: The Bitter Story of the Holy Land. In it, he stated that the war began in 1920.
This book details historical events in Palestine, from the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the aftermath of World War II (the British-Palestine Mandate) and the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The only respite from violence in Palestine was from 1939 to 1945, because of Arab support for the Allies.
Chapter five in the book finishes with Dr Nasir's warning: 'Public opinion in the world should realise that Israel is marching with dreadful certainty to a clash over her determination to embezzle and to encroach on Arab territory and rights in the Middle East, which is more likely, than any other single event, to precipitate a Third World War.'
I sincerely hope this is not a prescient warning.
Declan Foley, Melbourne, Australia
Jews were expelled from Arab countries en masse over two millennia ago
The history of Israel did not begin in 1948. The Jews were twice expelled from their lands over time, in 586BC by the Babylonian empire and in 70AD by the Romans. They spread throughout the Middle East and Europe.
Over 950,000 Jews were expelled by the Arab countries between 1925 and 1950, when 70pc of Jews returned to Israel.
Let's not forget the Hebron Massacre in 1929 when 69 Jews were slain by Arabs.
The history of this complicated conflict between Arabs and Jews started long before 1948, but it suits some to suggest otherwise.
Anthony Costello, Galway
Kneecap failed to see that profanity can be a useful tool when used sparingly
Mary Kenny is right to argue that swearing, when used sparingly, can carry weight ('Swear words can signal lack of respect, but foul language sometimes has its uses', July 3).
I've always found that when someone who never curses suddenly does, it makes me focus. The word lands differently. It means something.
That's precisely why I found the Kneecap Glastonbury performance so off-putting – it was not the sentiment, but the sheer volume of profanity.
It was gratuitous, repetitive and ultimately dull. It reminded me of Madonna on the Letterman show in the 1990s, when she used the F-word 13 times in a single interview.
Swearing may have its place, but like most things in life, less is more.
Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh
A memorable seven-day forecast on dreary Ireland from a sorrowful mother
Reading Ian O'Doherty ('Welcome to the Irish summer, when the showers of rain become slightly warmer', July 2) reminded me of a story from many years ago. It goes as follows.
A young man, an only son, emigra­ted to America, leaving behind his sorrowful mother, who had been recently widowed.
His mother, in a letter to her son, said the weather hadn't been too bad in recent times. It had only rained twice last week, once for three days, and then for four days.
In his return letter to his mother, the emigrant son replied that she was very lucky indeed that it hadn't poured rain for the whole week.
Tom Towey, Cloonacool, Co Sligo
Reeves's tears are reminder of Thatcher's comment on politics lacking sympathy
There is much we still don't know or understand about what happened in Westminster on Wednesday, when UK chancellor of the exchequer Rach­el Reeves was in tears beside prime minister Keir Starmer.
I am reminded of the words of former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher: 'There are no personal sympathies in politics.'