EAMONN TIERNEY,
Sir, - Dr Noreen O'Carroll, press officer of the Israeli Embassy, is to be commended for her condemnation of the Israeli government, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in particular (July 26th), for the air strike in Gaza when so many innocent people were killed.
Imagine the outcry if the British government decided to bomb an IRA activist's house and killed 17 civilians in the process.
Not all Israelis agree with Sharon's murderous intentions. President Moshe Katsav had the courage to condemn this latest act of barbarism. It is about time The European Community defined its polices on Israel. European sporting bodies could make a start by expelling Israel from their competitions. - Yours, etc.,
Beverly Avenue,
Dublin 16.
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Sir, - In all the words written on the Israeli attack on Gaza, I have not read any in defence of Salah Shehada - which would suggest the Israelis got the right man.
Any casual observer of the Middle-East knows that those who plan and carry out attacks on Israel or Israelis must expect retribution. Salah Shehada knew this, yet he chose to live in a densely populated area. Perhaps he thought that the moral opprobrium which would attach to the Israelis for carrying out an attack of the kind that killed him would prevent them from doing so.
Evidently he miscalculated. The fact is that he allowed no moral impediment to interfere with the attacks he organised and ordered and it is therefore ironic that his supporters are condemning the Israelis for adopting the same stance.
He must share some of the responsibility for the carnage in Gaza. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN McMAHON, Elmwood, Naas, Co Kildare.
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Sir, - To describe the murder of innocent women and children in the Gaza bombing as a "mistake too far" is truly astonishing. That an Editorial (July 25th) in a newspaper of the quality of The Irish Times should so describe this latest manifestation of Israeli brutality is deeply depressing. - Yours, etc.
BARRY HEALY-DOYLE, Dublin 8.