LETTER: Code words for genocide

Terry Crawford-Browne’s letter refers (“A free Palestine from the river to the sea”, November 17).

The phrase used in this headline has long been regarded by the majority of Jews as a call for ethnic cleansing and genocide. The events of October 7, when Hamas conducted mass rapes, murdered about 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, proved these fears to be well founded.

This has nothing to do making an argument for a binational state between Israel and Palestine, however absurd that argument may be after the events of October 7. Business Day can choose to publish such an article as it can be a valid opinion. However, it cannot publish articles or choose headlines that contain a phrase associated with a call for genocide. An SA newspaper that understands the power of words and coded language should know better.

Laurence Milner 
Illovo

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