Worldwide boycott of Israel needed to stop genocidal attacks on Gaza

No words will bring back the civilians murdered by the Israeli state, nor the thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children.

All nations must now stop supplying Israel with weapons that are being used to target civilians including journalists, doctors, nurses and anyone else the Israeli troops want to murder. Aid workers are one of the biggest targets as Israel wants to starve the Palestinian people.

READ MORE: Israel achieved its goal with the killing of aid workers

As well as an immediate ban on all weapons to Israel, this country has to be excluded from all international events – whether sporting, cultural or other. A worldwide boycott of Israel is desperately needed – it was the only way to break the evil apartheid regime in South Africa and similar actions are desperately needed to stop Israel in its continued genocidal attack on the Palestinian people.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley

I REFER to the latest mistake by the Zionist Israeli Defence Forces, which told the world bombing aid workers was a mistake. The reason the IDF refuses to allow the press into Gaza or Israel is precisely because it is committing offences against the UN humanitarian rules.

They knew where the aid workers were, where the security vehicles were and how many security vehicles accompanied the convoys. To say there was a mistake is not simply a case of an Israeli spokesman “misspeaking” (more commonly known as a lie). It was a deliberate action by the IDF to kill the aid workers. And it is time that the rest of the world stood up against the killers in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Hebron and wherever else the assassins are hiding in plain sight.

According to the experts, the risk of nuclear attack is rising. The genocidal Israel must be stopped before it destroys ALL life on Earth. This means ALL nations have to desist from sending any more weapons to Israel. Read my lips – no more weapons to warmongers. The Zionists are not victims, they are perpetrators. What they are doing is NOT self-defence, it is attacking innocent civilians. Palestinians have a right to defend themselves.

Once again I have to add that I am NOT antisemitic – as that is the common accusation levelled against sensible folk who criticise Israel – I am pro-justice.
Margaret Forbes
Blanefield

LIKE many others, I am confused about what exactly constitutes a hate crime. The Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions all state that if you are not one of them you will burn in the fires of hell for all eternity. As an atheist, I have to just accept this hateful belief.

My understanding now is that if I wish Christians, Muslims or Jews would burn in the fires of hell it would be a hate crime and I would be prosecuted. Why do organised religions get away with such horrendous statements?
Harry Key
via email

WHETHER it’s the global rise and rise of the rabid right (Orban/Erdogan) or Bond-villain style oligarchs and deluded billionaires (Semion Mogilevich/Elon Musk) or the industrial destruction of the psycho strongmen (Putin/Assad/Netanyahu), the human horror and sense of inevitable catastrophe is matched in my mind only by the current state of so-called “normal” politics in the West – as here in the UK – which seems focused on placating what we used to think of as the fringe elements.

READ MORE: Palestinian hits out as UK's Israel stance shifts after UK aid workers killed

Whether it’s the legacy media dancing to Farage’s drumbeat or oh-so-sensible reporting on the latest Suella Braverman ravings; whether we are served another spaghetti-mess excuse for the latest rabid rantings of the likes of Lee Anderson or Mark Francois, the lunatics have not just overrun the asylum, they seem to have persuaded a large number of people that madness is the new normal. Hatred is the new humanity. Spite is the new compassion. Are we really still debating the Rwanda lunacy as if it’s a real policy, or discussing Gaza as if it’s a pub brawl? Or massive growing inequity as if, hey, it’s just one of those inexplicable things that is probably the fault of the poor anyway. “Pass me a few more shares in a privatised industry, old chum …”

As local elections loom in England and Wales in the context of national and international madness, we’re not so much between a rock and a hard place as between an incoming avalanche of loose dog turd and a tsunami of untreated sewage.

To quote the fictional Théoden (Lord of the Rings, above), “How did it come to this?”
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh

READING Martin Hannan’s piece on Tuesday I was casting my mind back to when women’s (ladies’) rugby started. I remember refereeing games between Langholm Ladies, Melrose Ladies and The Royal Dick Vet Ladies. For the 1994 World Cup, I remember the Border rugby clubs and others coming quickly to the rescue regarding “hosting” the teams from different countries. Langholm RFC one, hosting a team in club rooms at Milntown.

I was contacted by Jim to referee a couple of games in the Borders, one at the Greenyards and the other at Netherdale, the latter the semi-final between England and France (I think). Prior to that World Cup, I remember going up to Burnbrae to referee Scotland v Wales in a biting cold blizzard – 1993 November-ish!

The women’s game has come on leaps and bounds since then. Congratulations to all players and coaches involved over the years.
Ken McCartney
Hawick