Re: Segev omits facts, May 12.
To say that the conflict between Israelis and Arabs is complex is to make a profound understatement. As such, the parameters for debate on the issue are rightfully broad, giving way to a broad spectrum of legitimate views that individuals may hold on the topic. That said, certain arguments can still fall outside of the spectrum and should to be called out for what they are: ill-informed and unjustifiable. Keith Bradley's letter stating that, due to an absence of foreign aid, "Palestinians can only afford suicide bombers" is an example of such an argument.
Bradley seems to be suggesting that the culture pervading Palestinian society, one that endorses and glorifies those who choose to indiscriminately murder innocent Israeli civilians by blowing themselves up in public places, is simply a byproduct of an economic calculus of what the Palestinians can "afford." To excuse -- and seemingly legitimize -- such horrific behaviour on such flimsy grounds is inexcusable, and tantamount to saying that al-Qaida was justified in blowing up the World Trade Center with airplanes because Osama bin Laden couldn't afford ICBMs.
Moreover, in making his claim that foreign aid to Israel should be eliminated and Israel's military should be reduced in light of the inbalances at play, Bradley conveniently ignores a number of pertinent facts: namely, that the Palestinians, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, squandered billions of dollars of foreign aid, and that the Palestinians currently receive much more potent military equipment than "Second World War obsolete rockets" by way of arms-smuggling via Egypt and clandestine training by the likes of Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
At a time when the Iranian president threatens Israel with nuclear annihilation, and the Syrian government is caught building a nuclear weapons facility under North Korean supervision, it is flagrantly foolhardy for anyone, Bradley included, to suggest to Israel that it should reduce its military.
Steve Werier
Winnipeg
PREVIOUS
