Letter: Innocent people will suffer but this is a war Israel has to fight

It is depressing that the same dark forces that stoked the ovens at Auschwitz are still there and raising their ugly heads.

You can only shake your head in disbelief at the wickedness of men’s hearts.

Once again the world is being urged to rally against fascism, but it’s a different world. It is a world no longer sensitive to the truth, has no real sense of right and wrong and struggles to tell the difference.

There is no objective truth so the public has been coached by the media to believe the lie. Truth is in the eye of the beholder and what you make it. This leads to confusion.

Israel is now at war and wars aren’t pretty, the innocent will suffer as well as the guilty, but it’s a war Israel has to fight. They’re damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

If they don’t hit back with considerable force they will be perceived as weak and it will embolden their enemies to carry out further acts of terrorism.

If they do hit back their every action will be put under intense scrutiny by a media not remotely impartial, and less than sympathetic.

Last century the world looked on as six million Jews were murdered, and Jews learned the hard way that if they were going to survive they had to shift for themselves.

This was an unprovoked attack against its citizens and unarmed civilians. Missiles have been raining down on Israel from Gaza for years and Israel has exercised admirable restraint. Their tolerance and restraint have been pushed to the limit and have now run out. They have nothing more to give only their sons and daughters.

Their response should be measured and directed at chosen targets, but that is not always possible in the heat of war.

Mistakes will be made, and they know that the media now largely on their side, and a fickle public, will melt away and change sides.

Anti-semitism comes in many different forms. Many will deny it but it all comes down to that. In some it expresses itself in raw hatred, in others it’s fuelled by ignorance.

Before this war is over Israel will find out who its real friends are, and they won’t have many. This could change the whole world order and we in Ulster won’t be exempt.

We’ll all have to choose and we need wisdom to get it right. It’s not a time for knee jerk reactions.

Clive Maxwell, Bleary