Views on Israel are outlandish delusions

SONNY Myerson and Johan Visser should know by now that Al Gafoor is a mine of misinformation, (“Gafoor inaccurate on Israel”, and “All sides relevant in Middle East”, Cape Argus, April 18).

To have a debate with Gafoor is akin to banging your head against brick wall 100 times and hoping for a different result every time, as Einstein once noted.

Gafoor keeps beating the same drum, saying that Israel is solely responsible for the situation in the Middle East. I’m not going to repeat Myerson’s remarks. But Gafoor is a conspiracy theorist of the first order with his outlandish delusions, especially when he says the Jews are intent on monopolising (controlling) the world’s banking institutions and world trade (he forgot to mention the media). His ideas come from the so-called Illuminati, a figment of the conspiracy theorist’s imagination.

I admire Visser for trying to encourage a debate that will contribute to a lasting solution. However, as long as there are people like Gafoor, who have a one-eyed view of the world, it is not likely to happen. In any event, it is up to the Israelis and the Arabs, especially the latter, who have shown their obduracy. Not Israel.

As a reminder, in 1994 then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize following the signing of the Oslo Accords, “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”.

I suspect Arafat signed the agreement with his fingers crossed.