IT is shocking that the Labour Party is tearing itself apart because The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and the core of his leadership are so afraid of being called “antisemitic” that they refuse to see what is in front of their eyes. Meanwhile, even when facing personal tragedy, Humza Yousaf displayed the kind of dignified statesmanship that would be intrinsic to a modern independent Scotland.

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It seems that every statement coming from what the Israelis strangely refer to as their “defence” force begins with something about their first aim in Gaza being to “protect innocent civilians”. The result of their actions makes it quite clear that Israel does not consider one single man, woman or child in Gaza to be “innocent”.

The general public, many of whom expressed outrage and indignation about the Russian attack on Ukraine, must now stand up for Palestine and call for an end to all criminal actions perpetrated by the state of Israel. We must put pressure on all of our elected representatives to support that call, whether they sit in the Scottish Parliament or the Parliament in London.

I stand with Palestine.

Ni Holmes
St Andrews

BENJAMIN Netanyahu has now announced that he intends to keep control of Gaza once he has won this war. Does this not explain his indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, in contravention of international law?

Time and again, the Palestinians are told to move south before the bombs drop, often with very little time to comply, and no possibility of doing so. Result – more and more traumatised civilians are herded ever more tightly into smaller and smaller areas, where they are still bombed anyway, a simple way for Netanyahu to kill an even greater number with each bomb. Those who survive will instead be killed by the denial of the basic necessities to maintain life. How much longer will it take him to have Gaza virtually cleared of Palestinians?

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Is this not ethnic cleansing or even genocide under international law? Surely this announcement reveals that annexing Gaza and combining it with the existing illegal settlements has been his objective from the start?

I suspect that there must be many who, like me, rejoiced that justice had been achieved at last for the Jewish people when they were given a homeland but who now have lost all sympathy as the persecuted have become the persecutors, literally with a vengeance.

L McGregor
Falkirk

WORDS cannot express my utter disgust and fury felt towards the government of Israel. The US, the UK and the EU are all complicit in the murderous slaughter of Palestinian children and the attempted genocide of a people. No-one condones the actions of Hamas but for how long can you humiliate a nation and deny its people basic human rights? Netanyahu gave an address to the Israeli soldiers prior to the ground offensive into Gaza. He delivered it in Hebrew, a passage from the Old Testament in which he called for the slaughter of men, women and children, oxen too. If there is a Hell, I hope he rots there.

Jane Bullock
via email

THE UK Home Secretary has been very loud in her protests about the scheduled Palestinian gathering and march due this coming weekend. Her description of it as a “hate march” is itself a provocation in my mind.

I am not Jewish nor do I have any connection to the parties involved in the current Gaza-Israel conflict, but it does seem to me that the UK Government is really trying to curry favour with its bigger “friends” such as the USA, by being loudly on the side of Israel. If only the Westminster government could take as much interest in its own country and pay a little more attention to the myriad problems that afflict it.

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I really find Ms Braverman’s comments recently about refugees, asylum seekers, and especially rough sleepers offensive in the extreme. Presumably she is trying to position herself ready for the next leadership contest by appealing to the Tory right wing. Fortunately, we don’t all slavishly follow her party line. I only hope that the next General Election comes soon and with it our chance at independence.

Monica Wells
Deskford, Moray

NADINE “ditzy” Dorries’s new book, The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, is further evidence of her complete and unreserved support of Boris Johnson.

She is currently doing the rounds of radio and TV stations vigorously promoting her book, spouting utter nonsense about conspiracies that were responsible for the downfall of Johnson.

Johnson was the architect of his own downfall because of his long-standing troubled relationship with the truth, his customary inattention to detail and a low ceiling of competence.

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Conservative politicians were heartily sick with having to appear on television and radio news programmes having to defend the indefensible, ie Johnson’s latest gaffes, U-turns and unguarded and questionable so-called witticisms/crass remarks.

Johnson’s lack of fitness for top office – he was also an incompetent Foreign Secretary – was exposed by his lack of intellectual rigour and due diligence. In other words he never mastered his brief, which was screamingly obvious.

Boris Johnson was not the victim of any conspiracies dreamt up by Nadine Dorries in order to flog a book, rather Boris Johnson was exposed for what he is – a ridiculously over-promoted journalist.

Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh