LETTER: Israel issue is meaningless to the poor

Most people would know the age-old saying about glass houses and stone throwing.

SA’s death rate attributable to murder is widely accepted as 75 a day. Israel’s accepted equivalent rate, but including deaths in the Gaza war, is also about 75 a day.

This figure is disputed by leading international military experts as it is based on Palestinian estimates and is believed to be exaggerated. Nevertheless, to take comparisons between the two countries a little further, Israel has a powerful military, while SA has incredibly, through massive neglect, destroyed its own military, and is now defenceless.

SA’s unemployment rate is 33% (43% at the expanded rate), while Israel’s is between 2% and 4% depending on the methodology used. SA has unreliable water and electricity supplies, with poor rail and port infrastructure. Israel has reliable power, water and port and rail services.

Israel’s wartime growth rate is 1%, which equals SA’s average annual growth rate over the past 10 years during peacetime. Looking at growth per capita, war-torn Israel outstrips SA.

Taking into account all of the above, it’s inconceivable that President Cyril Ramaphosa feels moral justification in sitting in judgment on Israel. It’s time for our president to apply his mind on practical steps aimed at solving our economic plight, and making inroads into our shameful unemployment rate.

In so doing he can stop wasting taxpayers’ money on a distant case that is meaningless to most impoverished South Africans. Which gallery are we trying to impress with our misplaced diplomatic skills and Middle East stone-throwing? I’m afraid the emperor really has no clothes.

David Wolpert
Sydney

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