Criminal siege

Published: 9 September, 2010

• IN her outpouring of bile against Gideon Levy (Adding to the growing wave of anti-Israeli hate speech? September 2) Nicole Segre asserts

“Far from being admired as a brave patriot... Levy is widely despised in Israel... for extreme anti-Zionist views.”

Can this be the same Gideon Levy who is a major columnist and an editor of Haaretz, the oldest and most widely respected newspaper in Israel?

Could she also point to the part in Judge Goldstone’s UN report on Gaza where he accuses Hamas of deliberately neglecting to put women and children out of harm’s way? (Citing Goldstone is a bit rich as Israel refused to co-operate with his inquiry in any way and has since subjected Goldstone to a campaign of vilification almost breathtaking in its viciousness).

Rather Goldstone, in dispassionate legalese, describes a litany of war crimes and atrocities against unarmed civilians: the shooting in cold blood of entire families; indiscriminate use of white phosphorous bombs; the bombing of schools and hospitals; the wholesale looting of civilians’ belongings.

The list goes on and on.

Perhaps Ms Segre could also explain why the word “dehumanised” should not apply to a society that allows such barbarism by its armed forces, and a society utterly complicit in the three-year long siege of Gaza in which malnutrition rates among children soared to 75 per cent before the onslaught of Operation Cast Lead, and which has maintained its utterly illegal and criminal siege to this day.

Actually I think “dehumanised” is far too polite a description. 

She also states the Palestinian leadership has refused to recognise Israel.

Er, Arafat did precisely that on signing the disastrous Oslo accords, and a fat lot of good that did him.

She denies that Israel has dissidents. Maybe she could refer again to Goldstone’s report (paras 1725/6), where he points out that protesters “were subjected to attempted or actual repression, and that the rights of association... had been violated.” Enough, Ms Segre, enough.

KEN JONES, NW1