Why blame Israel?

THE deaths and injuries along the Israel-Gaza border are unnecessary. Part of the problem is that the media is blind-sided by the propaganda campaign waged by Hamas, particularly when it has 500 000 deaths in Syria, in Arabon-Arab violence, demanding its attention.

How much of the international outrage is motivated by a genuine concern for the best interests of the Palestinians, and how much of it is anti-semitism, driving a visceral hatred of the Israeli state?

One would expect that those who care for the well-being of a community would urge them to refrain from behaviour likely to have negative consequences for them. This is not happening.

Since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas, a terrorist movement, has used its position to carry out attacks against Israel, firing more than 12 000 missiles at Israeli towns, carrying out attacks from densely populated residential areas so that when Israel retaliated, civilian casualties were inevitable.

Those who react by lying and demonising Israel whenever it responds to such lethal acts make themselves complicit in endorsing and encouraging them. RODNEY MAZINTER Camps Bay