For all its faults, Israel has been a scapegoat

The Age

20-06-2025

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MIDDLE EAST
Patrick Kingsley's article, (' Israel has shifted Middle East dial ', 20/6), is refreshingly incisive in that it effectively challenges the narrative that Israel has been an imperialistic tormentor of Arab nations.
As he points out, over a period of 20 years the region's only democratic state has, relative to its potent military strength, acted with restraint, its containment policy having allowed Hamas in 2006 to control the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah to operate in southern Lebanon and Iran's dreadful mullah-led regime in concert with the malign Revolutionary Corps to exist relatively unhindered.
Meanwhile, Arab nations characterised by a mix of quasi-feudal, oil-rich and misogynist potentates have been viewed as lacking in agency; when, in reality, they have oppressed their populations terribly.
In the case of Iran, a nation with a proud Persian history, the Western world has largely ignored the terrible consequences of its Islamist rulers' brutal oppression of a sophisticated populace since the late 1970s. Trump's dithering over whether to act decisively against a regime that has through its proxies been the scourge of the Middle East for too long says it all.
Israel, for all of its faults, has for too long been a convenient scapegoat.
Jon McMillan, Mt Eliza
Trump has his finger on the trigger
Samuel Colt, the American who made the mass production of guns viable, had a famous quote: ″⁣God made man, Colt makes them equal″⁣. US President Donald Trump with his statements appears to be channelling this notion with his threats of aggression towards Iran.
History indicates that negotiating with a gun held to your head is a pointless exercise, while popular wisdom indicates that you should never point a gun at someone unless you are prepared to shoot.
Therefore, the person with the gun to their head should always assume the gun isn't loaded. The gun holder has only two options – either pull the trigger or capitulate. Is Trump willing to pull the trigger and plunge America and the Middle East into chaos? The rest of the world should hope not.
Peter Roche, Carlton
Australian troops must be kept out of any conflict
The late Tom Uren was a mentor to our current prime minister. Uren was a pacifist who decried the call to arms to pointless conflicts. I sincerely hope that his influence on Anthony Albanese lingers in his thinking to prevent the possibility of sending our young people to the Middle East at the behest of the US.
Peter Taylor, Midway Point, Tas
Does Iran have weapons or not?
Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying – since 2012 – that Iran is only weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon.
I'm not sure which timetable he's checking but surely they would have had several by now? And have possibly used them? Doesn't this bring one to the conclusion that maybe they don't?
David Jeffery, East Geelong
Ask Australian-Iranians
Amin Saikal has written that there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear bomb (Opinion, ″ ⁣Few believe Iran has nuclear weapons. We can't afford to repeat the Iraq War lie ″⁣, 19/6).
However, there is plenty of evidence that it has enriched uranium well above the level required for peaceful purposes. Also, it has given many millions of dollars of weapons to its proxy militias in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. These militias could then use it to make ″⁣dirty″⁣ radioactive bombs.
Saikal seems to be taking the line that this is like the war in Iraq, for those non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
This could actually be read as a call for the left in the West to support Iran, a totalitarian regime that has not even bothered to provide its citizens with bomb shelters. Iran has been calling for ″⁣Death to America!″⁣ and ″⁣Death to Israel!″⁣ from its inception.
There are plenty of Iranians now in Australia who have good reasons to fear this regime. Ask them what they think.
Pia Brous, Armadale
Lack of moral authority
In his opinion piece condemning Israel's strikes on Iran's weapons-making capabilities, Amin Saikal (20/6) – as a counterpoint to US support for Israel – cites 'Russia and China [who] have condemned Israel for starting the war (with Iran)', as supposedly credible moral authorities. Is he serious?
These are two brutal regimes: One actively waging an unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine, the other engaged in the systemic oppression of Uyghurs and Tibetans. Invoking them to moralise on Israel's actions against Iran – a regime that funds and arms terrorist proxies across the Middle East, and openly professes its ambitions to annihilate Israel – is astonishing.
That Saikal relies on the support of such regimessays more about the weakness of his argument than it does about Israel's right to defend itself against a brutal dictatorship hell-bent on its destruction.
Jonathan Bradley Slade, Toorak
Deal making
How about this deal? Trump tells Israel to stop bombing and Iran to stop retaliating for two weeks so Iran can come to the table whilst not under attack. If Israel doesn't stop, then the US doesn't help Israel and it is on its own. If Iran doesn't stop or doesn't come to the table then the US will join in the war.
Surely, this gives both parties something to think about and is not so one-sided?
Aren't good deals about negotiation, give and take with a win/win for both parties, not win/lose.
Mira Antonioum, Brighton