The situation in the Middle East has thrown up many issues, one of which has become a major talking point in British politics – the refusal by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to call for a ceasefire.
That issue was addressed on Friday by Herald columnist Andy Maciver, who explained why he thought Sir Keir was right to take that stance.
Today, one of our readers delivers an angry response.
Andy Stenton of Glasgow writes:
"Andy Maciver's column is so one-sided it's outrageous, extremely disappointing and infuriating.
It's not the divide within the party that concerns me, but your writer's interpretation of the Israel-Gaza war.
UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer joined Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden in refusing to call for a ceasefire. Mr Maciver says that's a "correct" decision and Labour's Scottish leader Anas Sarwar, the United Nations and others, are "wrong" to want one.
That's an opinion. Everyone can have one, even if it's wrong.
But then he falls into a familiar trap: believing what the media pounced on immediately after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 to make blood-curdling headlines. He repeats the claims that Hamas "slit the throats of babies" though Mr Biden and even Israel have pulled back from those reports after failing to find evidence.
Read More: Cat Boyd: Keir Starmer's tough guy act over ceasefire shows his real weakness
A ceasefire suggestion is "an impossible delusion in the case of Hamas," he writes, but fails to mention Israel has stated it doesn't want one anyway.
He also says Hamas doesn't want a two-state solution... but "wants Israel gone and Jews dead". However, he fails to report similar rhetoric regarding the Palestinians from Israel's leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who want Gaza cleared.
That's why they are ordering families in the north to move south, where it's safer, but they are still likely to be bombed, and sending back the Palestinians who work in Israel, despite the possibility their homes have already been destroyed.
Now the Israeli Defense Force is being aided by Jewish settlers in occupied territories who feel free to attack and kill Palestinians at will.
In any language other than that of politicians in the UK and US that is ethnic cleansing and would be considered anywhere else in the world a war crime.
Why can't Mr Starmer, Mr Sunak and Mr Biden understand that? Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf do.”
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