LETTER: Weapons sales show elections more important than lives

Sydney Kaye seems to suggest in his letter in defence of Israel’s war in Gaza that genocide is a question of numbers (“Inventing the facts”, April 10). The Rwanda genocide he mentions laid waste to 11% of the population, so can we assume that if Israel kills 230,000 Gazans that might satisfy Kaye’s definition?

Most of the Western world, including Israel’s allies, openly suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet operates with genocidal intent, meaning they want to kill or remove as many Gazans as possible from the strip.

The huge death toll of women and children clearly gives the lie to the number of Hamas fighters who it could claim as legitimate targets. Add to that 200 aid workers, 100 journalists and dozens of Israelis — including hostages — killed by friendly fire, and you have a picture of a military operation out of control.

Continued supply of arms from the US, UK and EU to Israel is a mistake as this is the only leverage they have. These suppliers starve Ukraine of munitions, proving that elections are far more important than lives.

Bernard Benson
Parklands 

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