Richard, let's cut out the obloquy
y. A few days ago you described me as 'blinkered'. Now you are calling John Hawkes 'odious'. Is it necessary to attach epithets to contributors you disagree with?
I have already stated my view, having known you for a long time, that you are not an anti-Semite in the sense of someone who is prejudiced against Jewish people. And I don't equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. But sometimes opposition to Israel crosses the line, namely: unrelenting criticism of Israel to the exclusion of other countries involved in ethnic conflict, judging Israel by standards which are not applied to other nations, minimising the trauma inflicted on Israel by the pogrom of October 7, ignoring the threat to Israel represented by countries like Iran which is developing nuclear capability and which arms proxies committed to the destruction of the Jewish State, making false and incendiary accusations of genocide against Israel, accusing the Israelis of weaponising the Holocaust, joining marches organised and attended by anti-Zionists aka anti-Semites, calling on Israel to institute a ceasefire without making similar demands on Hamas. These are just some of the things I object to. John Hawkes will have his own views, which may or may not accord with mine.
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