My friend Willsman is not anti-semitic

YOU are to be congratulated for your balanced coverage of the whole issue of anti-semitism and the Labour Party and Iain Macwhirter has made a very useful contribution to this discussion (“If Labour cannot solve this problem, Britain will suffer”, The Herald, August 1).

Yes, the Labour Party does need to sort it out, and quickly, for the good of the country. These efforts are not helped by those who argue the Macpherson principle means that any allegation must be true.

As Mr Macwhirter points out, it actually says such allegations must be investigated. It could hardly be otherwise: does anyone really believe that an accused person is automatically guilty, without even hearing their defence?

Or to take another example, Luciana Berger says Peter Willsman questioned the existence of antisemitism in the Labour Party, but he actually argued against it being widespread. She has pointed to two councillors and 252 others under investigation (that is, not actually resolved yet). But Mr Willsman did not say it doesn’t exist. He said he had never personally come across it in his own life. And it has to be noted that 254 out of half a million members cannot really be described as widespread. But where it does exist it must be rooted out.

I have known Peter Willsman for more than 30 years. He is a life-long activist seeking greater party democracy. That is why some people have got it in for him, not his rant about Donald Trump for which he has apologised. If he had ever uttered any racist or anti-semitic comment I would not have been a friend.

Maria Fyfe,

10 Ascot Avenue,

Glasgow.

I REFER to Iain Macwhirter’s very balanced article Labour’s inability to draw a line under the accusations of anti-semitism.

Well over a decade ago I paid the first of several visits over a number of years to Bethlehem and Jerusalem seeing for myself in particular the plight of the Palestinian Episcopalian and Lutheran churches which are partners of the Church of Scotland. I have been supportive of their struggle ever since. Does this make me antisemitic as some would suggest? I must disagree.

In this context I wish to draw your readers attention to a letter composed by a group of British Palestinian organisations, academics and authors, in which they assert, and I summarise, that it is “their right, and the right of those who support their cause, to raise matters about current and past events in the life of the Palestinian people” ... “every British citizen having the right to hear about the reality of the Palestinian people’s ongoing dispossession”.

John Milne,

9 Ardgowan Drive,

Uddingston.

IT was sad but not surprising to read that acts of terrorism by Muslims receive 357 per cent more press attention than other terrorists, as was reported in a recent study by the University of Alabama.

It is about time the media questioned the role it plays in society. Is terrorism not another form of attention-seeking? Terrorists are willing to die for the attention they crave. But here we are, feeding them exactly what they are after.

Back in 2016, two years before this research came to light, the Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community astutely noted: “Publicity is the oxygen sustaining most terrorist or extremist groups.” And I totally agree. The media needs to drown out the voices of hate and elevate the sound of reason.

This weekend, the media has a chance to receive the answer to the question it actively or passively puts to people. Is Islam a religion of peace or violence? One of the biggest questions facing us is being answered by one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in Britain. Thirty-five thousand Muslims this weekend in a Hampshire farm will get together to show the true teachings of Islam. And I am travelling from Dundee to help organise it.

But the real question is, does the media have the audacity to swim against the trends it creates and look to see if they can find the time to challenge common narratives around Muslims, for once?

Adnan Shahzad,

10F Arklay Terrace,

Dundee.

WHILE I suppose few would condone many Israeli actions on the West Bank, I wonder what Scotland would do if England, say, was sending hundreds of rockets across the border and killing people in the Borders? There would undoubtedly be calls for retribution.

Leaving aside the separate issue of the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, let’s hear both sides of the problem; many countries in the area, or at least certain factions within them, are intent on destroying Israel.

This country has some of the best hospitals and universities in the area and doesn’t just treat its own citizens.

So please let’s hear a more balanced discussion.

William Campbell,

59 Woodhead Avenue,

Kirkintilloch.