The upside-down morals of the Middle East that Israel has to deal with every day
Anyone who travels by plane anywhere will know this drill.
Laptops out, toiletries (under 100ml) in plastic bag, belts off, watches off and (sometimes) shoes off.
Also, if you visit any major tourist attraction, government building or sporting event in the world it’s the same drill, scans and bag searches.
It’s the price democracy’s pay for standing up to terror.
That’s why the latest violence in Israel caught my eye.
I was saddened to learn that on July 14 two Israeli police officers were murdered on Temple Mount, Jerusalem by three Israeli Arabs who had smuggled automatic weapons into the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Israel then introduced metal detectors to prevent weapons being taken on to the site and that led to Palestinian leaders calling for violence against Israel.
As a direct consequence of that call for violence a family of three, sitting down to Friday night dinner, were slaughtered by a Palestinian terrorist on 21 July.
I was amazed that the security measures that we now must regard as standard were not already in place.
And secondly, I was appalled that a group of people who want to be seen by the world as viable leaders of a new Palestinian state behaved so recklessly that it led to the murder of an innocent family.
It puts into perspective the upside-down morals of the Middle East that Israel must deal with every single day.
Doris Cotton, Co Antrim