Arms are being put before lives

■ FOREIGN Secretary David Cameron has said the UK will not follow the US in stopping some arms sales to Israel – but why is this country still giving any support at all to Israel, when its government has openly stated its intentions to prevent Palestinian statehood and is currently killing thousands of people?

Perhaps it is simply a case of greed, with profit from the arms trade being too lucrative to lose.

Joyce Barker, Manchester

■ While Pro-Palestinian student solidarity camps have swept across the US with demonstrators demanding universities divest from firms backing Israel, the backlash from authorities has been telling.

Brutal tactics against these students have been repeated across the country.

If the US believes repression will end their solidarity with Palestine, it has learned nothing since the Ohio National Guard killed four students for protesting against the Vietnam war at Kent State University in May 1970.

Sasha Simic, North London

■ David Cameron’s refusal to halt some arms sales to Israel isn’t at all surprising. It’s almost certainly down to the fact the Tories are in the pockets of weapons manufacturers and don’t want to upset the gravy train. Israel’s current leaders seem set on wiping out Palestine completely, regardless of the consequences.

Roy Tandy, Liverpool

■ Lord Cameron, parachuted into the House of Lords to become Foreign Secretary, is now distancing himself from Joe Biden’s stance on Gaza. But it doesn’t matter that we supply less than 1% of Israel’s defence imports as even this limited amount will be used to kill innocent civilians, women and children in particular.

Most people worldwide are saying there must be an urgent ceasefire to prevent genocide and mass starvation in Gaza.

This is being demonstrated across university campuses and even at the Eurovision Song Contest. Bobby Darin’s ‘Simple Song of Freedom’ written during the Vietnam war springs to mind.

Bill Cook, Teignmouth, Devon

■ It’s all very well calling for an end to arms sales to Israel, but what about those who are supplying arms to Hamas? If Hamas can get away with invading a country, taking lives and hostages, and are still being supplied with arms, such a policy will be counterproductive. Let’s remember who started the current conflict.

Mary Taylor Fairburn, North Yorkshire

■ A total US arms embargo on Israel, beyond what President Joe Biden has already announced, would certainly stop the slaughter in Gaza completely.

But in a Presidential election year, that sort of policy would also face immense opposition from the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Phil Brand, South London

■ History will recall how some of the world’s most powerful countries have behaved with regard to Palestinians. They made the decision that it was moral and justifiable to bomb Gaza to rubble, as well as starve and slaughter civilians who call that tiny strip of land home. Future students of history and politics will be able to scrutinise a time when human rights were only afforded to the mighty.

Sheila Wilkes, Helston, Cornwall