Letters: Israel was right to flag Taoiseach’s soft words, given plight of hostages

Words matter, and the use of poetic prose to describe the release of Emily Hand was weak and did little to reinforce the point that she was brutally abducted and held hostage by Hamas.

The failure to call out Hamas for what it is – a terrorist organisation – is not a topic of choice or debate. The EU has designated Hamas as such, and Ireland is a member state. The lack of political condemnation or public pressure from all political parties to release the hostages leaves Ireland’s image as a viable peacebroker in tatters.

The lack of words also matters. The constant use of words and phrases such as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” so frequently printed in your letters and shouted on the streets are equally damaging. They are used to demonise and de-humanise Israel and Israelis, even though they are guilty of neither charge.

This kind of language serves only to incite further hatred and distort the reality on the ground. Those committing genocide do not provide human corridors to escape the fighting and they do not warn the public of impending attacks.

There is no comparison between the atrocities committed by Hamas and its followers on October 7 and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. This current conflict is the result of continued attacks on the state of Israel and there cannot be a blind refusal to acknowledge this publicly.

We witnessed what can be called ethnic cleansing on October 7, but this seems to have been forgotten in the barrage of falsifications levelled at Israel. As always, this conflict will fall heavy on those civilians living in Gaza, but their lives, like so many, are just collateral damage for Hamas and a political endgame for the left.

Chris Harbidge, Terenure, Dublin 6W

Attack on Leo Varadkar is more to do with the state of internal Israeli politics

Malachi O’Doherty’s defence of the Taoiseach in the war of words with Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen is spot on (‘It’s Israel that needs a reality check after criticising Varadkar’s hostage comments’, Independent.ie, November 28).

Leo Varadkar has, to be fair, shown real international leadership since the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas. That he is now being attacked by Mr Cohen as having lost his moral compass and needing a reality check may have more to do with the latest opinion poll to come out of Israel than any personal vendetta.

That poll says the Likud party of Benjamin Netanyahu, of which Mr Cohen is a member, would lose almost half of the 32 seats it currently holds in the Knesset if a general election were held in Israel today.

One thing is for certain, though: we can never again trust the words coming out of Israel after this horrific war ends.

That reality may be slowly dawning on some of the leaders in a country that has repeatedly flouted international law and bulldozed the homes of so many innocent Palestinians long before this war began.

Then there is the internment of thousands of Arabs in the West Bank, many of whom are women and children, to further their political aims.

Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry

Our leaders must heed public’s concerns about the issue of immigration

I find your paper to be unbelievable. You have a bias towards your view of open-border mass immigration.

You have attempted to portray anybody who protested about asylum centres opening in their locality as far-right.

Your contributors have the same left-wing mass immigration views, and there is no balance.

People now have serious concerns about the scale of immigration into this country, but the Government refuses to heed them.

There is pressure on social services due to the increase in population in a short period of time.

If the Government does not listen to people’s concerns, immigration will become a major issue.

Peter Woods, Drogheda, Co Louth

The term ‘far right’ is a convenient excuse to avoid tackling thugs and thieves

If I had a euro for every time I’ve seen or heard the phrase “far right” in the mainstream media I’d be an extremely wealthy man. Conversely, I’d be an extremely poor one if I had a euro for every time the “far left” is mentioned. The blatant bias is mind-boggling.

The so-called far right is minuscule in Ireland. However the potential for growth is there, especially as the legitimate concerns about immigration of ordinary Irish people are repeatedly ignored by the establishment parties.

This far right spin is a convenient deflection from the appalling failures of policing in Dublin and other Irish cities over many years.

It is still not too late to reclaim the streets from the opportunist rioters and looters. A concerted effort is needed and needed now. Given the records of successive justice ministers, I am not overly confident.

Michael McGrath, Kilrush, Co Clare

Cutting their benefits and packing them off to the Army will teach the louts

Following the rioting in Dublin, there has been a lot of talk in the media about a solution to the problem.

One suggestion I have made is to stop social welfare payments to any recipients for six months. Another suggestion is to conscript such offenders into an army penal battalion.

In such a force, discipline would be severe until these cretins learn to respect people, property and the law.

John Fair, Castlebar, Co Mayo

Restaurant staff need to look at the menu of words in addressing customers

I want to make a plea to all who work in restaurants: Stop calling your customers “guys” unless they are indeed all guys. Whenever I go to a restaurant with a female companion or in a mixed-sex group, we are usually addressed as guys.

If waiting staff were to address a mixed group as “you girls”, I imagine they would be pulled up sharpish and unlikely to do so again.

However, for some reason staff think it is OK to call everyone guys.

When I ask about this, I get a blank look or am bizarrely told it is “politically correct” or “it’s just a plural”.

No, it is not. The usual plural of you is also you, and I would prefer the colloquial ye, yis or even youse instead of you guys.

Sean O’Byrne, Sallins, Co Kildare