Letters to the editor, October 20 2023

Revd Dr David Goodhew
St Barnabas Church
Middlesbrough

My heart aches for the Jewish community and the appalling treatment that is being meted out by so many naive and ignorant individuals, who do not understand or care about what is right and wrong.

Reading the news, I said to my husband, “How must the Jewish community be feeling watching these events being permitted?”

While I very much believe in freedom of speech, I cannot accept that such abuse is being allowed to continue.

Every schoolchild should go to Auschwitz to get a reality check on the evils of humanity. That memory will remain with me to my dying day and brought such sadness to myself, husband and daughter. All these ignorant individuals who are fighting for a cause they really don’t understand, because they live in an echo chamber would get a reality check from the horrors of what we learnt.

My family and I send our prayers and support to the Jewish community and reassure you that I believe those who spout this hatred and support evil beyond measure are very much in the minority in this country.  Sadly, they just speak the loudest.

Tina Spencer-Owen
London

I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Jewish people for the loss of life by that barbaric attack from those vile creatures from Hamas.

I am not Jewish or religious but will stand shoulder to shoulder with any Jewish person and offer my full support.

I sincerely hope IDF remove every Hamas terrorist from the planet.

I am sick of our inept, spineless politicians who panda to minorities like the terrorist supporters who gathered in London on Saturday, knowing nothing would happen to them.

Phil Hoggett
London

I am not Jewish and I’m one thousand per cent on your side. After the horrific attacks by Hamas I have turned to the Jewish Chronicle and to Ha’aretz for fair information unblighted by antisemitism.

I’m not a keyboard warrior, being habitually appalled by the coarsening of discourse brought about by social media. But I do speak up for Israel to my immediate circle. Anyone who doesn’t like it can do one.

I’ve absolutely no patience with the thinly veiled antisemitism at the BBC, The Guardian and elsewhere, the moral vacuity, the ignorance of history let alone context, the absurd and sickening what-aboutery.

I’ve been moved to tears of grief again and again by the terrifying spectacle of a modern-day pogrom. I know European history, having made it my business to know it. I’ve read deeply and extensively about the Holocaust.

I know why the state of Israel exists and must exist and must be defended. I know why Jews can’t trust anyone to give a damn what happens to them. As we see again now.

I’ve donated a (for me) substantial amount to the UJIA appeal to help the victims of this hideous attack.

Am Yisrael chai!

Grace Andreacchi
London N7

I write to you as a black British man of African heritage to offer my condolences, prayers and support to the people of Israel.

Words cannot express my shock and horror at these most tragic events. There is no justification for this murderous act of evil on innocent Israelis.

I have been critical of Israel in the past but this is no excuse for the sickening jubilation by pro-Palestinian/Hamas supporters. It is unacceptable that Jewish schoolchildren are being advised not to wear their school blazers in London, our capital city that has welcomed millions of immigrants since 1945.

The Israeli response was predictable and Hamas knew it. There was no way Israel was going to sit back and do nothing. No country would sit back and do nothing while its citizens were murdered in cold blood.

Hamas crossed a line and Israel is determined that this line should never be crossed again by Hamas or any other adversary.

We are all humans and are of the same colour underneath and this world belongs to all of us. Thank you and God bless.

Kanayo Udeh
London NW10

I note, with some sadness, that the rally supporting the victims of the massacre by Hamas terrorists was largely unattended by non-Jews.

I also see the anaemic response (if you can all it that) to this tragedy by the Muslim Council of Britain, which does not even mention Israel, as par for the course.  They are unfortunately indicative of some members of that organisation, everyone sees this. Please be assured, as an Ahmadi Muslim, I reject both the act and any excuses for barbaric behaviour.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) himself predicted:

“A time will come when nothing will remain of Islam except its name and nothing will remain of the Quran except its script. Mosques will be full of worshippers, but as far as righteousness is concerned, they will be empty and deserted. Their ulema [religious scholars] will be the worst of creatures under the canopy of the heavens. Evil plots will originate from them and to them will they return.”

Hamas, which claims to follow Islam, seems to be hell-bent on fulfilling this prophecy.

Now is the time to stand with our Abrahamic brothers, with a show of love and compassion, that demonstrates both rejection of these acts and solidarity with the Jewish communities in the UK.

There will be time and space to discuss context and the inevitable response by the State of Israel; however, I promise you sane rational people see this for what it is — barbarism. There are Muslims, Arabs and other Gentiles who want peace and security.  They know and abhor barbarism and will continue to stand for a non-violent path in the hope of a negotiated final settlement.

I offer my support, locally, with any Jewish community centre and will happily stand guard where the police are afraid or unwilling to do so.

Naeem Ahmad
Cornwall