Letters | Israel is not the aggressor
- Readers discuss the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and the meeting between China’s foreign minister and a former Australian prime minister
My country, the US, has given billions of dollars to Gaza in the past decades. Much of it has gone to Hamas, which seems to care little about ordinary Palestinians. Hamas has used the residents of Gaza as human shields, building tunnels beneath hospitals, schools and in residential areas.
My friend in California is a Palestinian-American – and very much not pro-Israel – whose father came directly from Gaza. He fled because he’s Christian, and Christians have been persecuted there, and because the Palestinian Authority, then followed by Hamas, did nothing to improve the economic plight of the people.
My hypocritical government supports Ukraine (as do I) without the same demands for “proportionate” military response in counter-attacks against Russia, where civilians are in the direct line of fire and not forewarned of impending attacks.
I coached several Ukrainians in my 4.5 years in China who attest to the corruption of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his associates. They only support him because of the invasion by Russia.
I loved my experience of teaching and coaching in mainland China and in Hong Kong. The Chinese people are awesome. But the Chinese government’s close ties with not only Russia but also states such as Iran, North Korea and Cuba, which have been designated state sponsors of terrorism by the US government, and its engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, is repulsive to me and to many Americans.
No country or system of government is perfect. All are imperfect, including my own. Yet some states are overtly choosing alliances with dangerous countries.
Pat Evans, Fresno, United States
Australian opposition must end its anti-China approach
One wonders if Simon Birmingham, the opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman, would object so strongly if Keating were invited to a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Joseph Ting, Brisbane, Australia
