Israel bashing in the UK

With her close acquaintance of the media bias in the UK, Melanie Phillips got it right in “Going onto the front foot on the battleground of the mind” (May 26) with regard to the Israeli response to the latest demonstration of Israel bashing in the mainstream UK media.

Carrying on with her cricketing metaphor, we have to go after the bowler, using his spin to our advantage by disproving the fake news distributed by Hamas. Put the media on the back foot by pointing out their bias.

We need the courage of the leaders of UK Jewry to start adopting the same more aggressive stance shown lately in pursuing the antisemitism endemic today in the Labour party led by Jeremy Corbett, in speaking up for Israel, which under the guise of human rights and international law is being charged by the intelligentsia in the media and from the ivory towers of the universities as an oppressive colonialist power with no claim to its historic homeland.

Israeli representatives usually never get a fair chance to present their case on TV, and when they are allowed to do so, are usually confronted by aggressive interviewers, whereas the Palestinians get a free ride with very little challenging of their fake news. We need to present a united front, stressing our historical and legal rights to this small slither of territory, as well as the simple basic truth that there will never be peace until the Palestinians and their supporters agree to our right to self-determination in a Jewish state.

TONY FRANKLIN Ra’anana