Madam, - Vincent Browne (Opinion, February 1st) writes that "in challenging the legitimacy of the State of Israel, Iran. . . is advancing a reasoned opinion supported by historical fact". Now, I know Israel is far from perfect and my history may not be perfect either, but I did think it was "historical fact" that the UN General Assembly voted in 1947 to approve the establishment of the state of Israel which duly came into being on the expiry of the British Mandate in May 1948.
I also seem to remember that, much more recently, Iran has been calling for Israel to be "wiped off the face of the Earth".
I am sure Mr Browne knows all this, which is probably why he devotes a few lines to the notion that his opinions might be regarded as anti-Semitic, before he launches into his main discussion about Iran's development of nuclear energy and, possibly, weaponry. I hate to disappoint him: he seems to be muddled and misinformed, rather than anti-Semitic. - Yours, etc,
HEATHER ABRAHAMSON,
Roebuck Lawn,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14.