Madam, - Monty Ross's attempt (April 1st) to counter Paul Gillespie's closely argued opinions (March 27th) falls down on several grounds.
He correctly points out that "popes, cardinals, bishops, prime ministers and royalty " have been guilty of anti-Semitism in the past, but fails to point out that such elites nowadays are likely to trip over one another in according impunity to Sharon's rogue state. He claims that "Israel was not created by Zionists, but by a thousand years of European Christian persecution and emulated by Islam" but fails to point out that Muslim states frequently provided Jews with sanctuary from European anti-Semitism.
The circumstances of Israel's creation and its subsequent ruthless and lawless expansionism are the cause, rather than the effect, of occasional violence against Jews emanating from Islamic and other sources.
However, while overt anti-Semitism is a rare aberration in Europe, subject to occasional surges (which usually coincide with particularly criminal operations of the Israeli Occupying Forces), Islamophobia and Arabophobia are steadily on the rise and are often regrettably present in official discourse.
This is even more so the case in the US.
Mr Ross contends that "Zionists. . .are trying to save. . .the physical lives of Jewish people." Ironically, the one place on earth where such lives are now at risk is the Israeli state.
Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Mr Ross should be campaigning for a democratic, law-abiding Israel, free from the neo-colonial rampaging of racist generals, and at peace with itself and its neighbours. - Yours, etc.,
RAYMOND DEANE Chairman, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dublin 1.