Letters: Israel is a terrorist state, bent on genocide

The Israeli military (I can’t call them a Defence Force) is perpetrating more than two Dunblanes every day. And here in the UK, and even more so in the US, our political leaders look the other way and mutter inanities about ‘Israel’s right to self-defence’. History will not be kind to those cold-hearted cowards.

What can I, a private citizen, do? Not much. I already avoid buying goods made in Israel and plans for a holiday that would include another visit to the wonderful old city of Jerusalem have been abandoned.

I’ll also continue to argue that Israel, under its present regime, should be isolated. It’s a terrorist state bent on genocide and should be treated as a pariah by governments and businesses. The daily massacres of innocent children have to be stopped.
Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

When will we finally call Israel out?
WHEN are we going to finally call Israel out?

I don’t want to hear any more about legitimate defence. That is long past. What is happening now is collective punishment on an entire population.

I don’t want to hear any more about Hamas exaggerating the number of deaths. The destruction speaks for itself. When a land is razed to the ground, then deaths can be counted in countless thousands.

I don’t want to hear any more about Hamas using civilians as human shields. Where do we expect them to go in this tiny enclave? 

I don’t want to hear any more about targeted bombing. Bombing and aerial strikes are a blunt weapon of destruction and indiscriminate death.

I don’t want to hear any more about eliminating the terrorist threat. Israel has effectively embarked on a recruitment drive for Hamas and other organisations, which will ensure that Israelis are hated across the Middle East.

Yes, Hamas committed an appalling atrocity on October 7 last year. but there is context to everything. Restrictive border checks, arbitrary arrests and incarceration, indiscriminate and uncontrolled occupation of the West Bank, settler violence towards Palestinians unopposed and occupation of their land. And maybe, the fact that Israel has asserted the right to own the land and create a state in its own name rather than sharing it with its neighbours.
Israel has a right to exist but not an exclusive right.
Trevor Rigg, Edinburgh.

Urgency of NHS Scotland reform 
WHY are Labour and the SNP so muted about necessary reform of NHS Scotland?

Wes Streeting has just announced that, as part of a package aimed at ensuring there is zero tolerance for failure, hospital chiefs in England will be fired if they do not cut waiting times. 

Managers at NHS trusts will be denied pay rises or sacked if they are persistently failing to improve waiting times and stick to budgets, with turnaround teams of successful leaders sent in to replace them. Streeting said there is a “moral necessity to get better value for money out of the health service”.

Compare this bold action plan with what politicians in Scotland have been saying. As part of Reform Scotland’s excellent NHS2048 consultation, Jackie Baillie said that Labour wanted to reduce the number of territorial boards, review the number of special boards and establish a National Clinical Council that would put clinicians at the top table to inform decision-making. 

Representing the incumbent SNP government, Kate Forbes suggested four parameters to the consultation – zero tolerance of moving away from the founding principles of the NHS; that the NHS exists for the patients and not the government; that we need to listen to the janitors, carers and nurses who know exactly what’s going on; and don’t just rearrange the deck chairs while the ship sinks. 

Both of these contributions, from two of Scotland’s leading politicians, are strong on motherhood and apple pie but virtually silent on policies that will result in much needed reforms. 

Streeting says that the NHS has a duty to patients and taxpayers to live within its means.We need to face up to the fact that there is presently uncapped demand for NHS services but finite supply of resources.

This is the time, well ahead of the noise of a pending election, to flush out from the political parties what they would put in their manifestos. 

Sir Ewan Brown, Edinburgh.

Nothing succeeds like Hegseth
GW Weir (letters, November 14), displays considerable ignorance in dismissing Pete Hegseth as being inappropriate to fulfil a defence role in Mr Trump’s cabinet because he is a TV news host and happens to have some personality.

Had Mr Weir removed his political bias and managed some research beyond over-reacting to a brief media newsflash, he might have discovered that Mr Hegseth graduated from Princeton University and has a post-graduate Masters from Harvard; worked as a capital markets analyst; was commissioned into the National Guard; saw multiple periods of active service in Iraq and Afghanistan; and was decorated during that service, including two Bronze Stars, reaching the rank of Major.  He was then Executive Director of a Veterans Organisation before his now 10-year media career.

By contrast, our Defence Secretary in the UK is John Healey. Mr Healey also went to university, studying politics. He worked as a journalist for one year, then for 15 years as a campaigner – first for various charities and then for the TUC – before being an MP for 27 years.

In Scotland we have no Defence Secretary, but our “Minister for Veterans”, Graeme Dey, was a sports journalist for 20 years, an SNP election agent for 16 years, and has been an MSP since 2011.
It is a pity that there is no-one with Hegseth’s relevant experience to fulfil either of these roles in the UK or Scotland.  
Steph Johnson, Glasgow.

Naked ambition of SNP hopefuls
THE list of those putting their hat in the ring as potential SNP candidates for the next Holyrood election tells us a lot about their attitude to Scotland and its government. Scandals, suspensions and police investigations are not going to stand between them and their ambition. As for the one aiming for the top, apparently rules can be adjusted to suit and those in his way better watch out. 

It seems not to have troubled any of these hopefuls that the SNP government has utterly failed Scotland in so many ways. They assume enough will continue to turn a blind eye to the reality of the SNP’s poor delivery, based presumably on the wonders they promise if Scotland turns its back on the rest of the UK.

Hopefully the people of Scotland, whoever they usually vote for, have seen more than enough of the SNP’s arrogant sense of self-entitlement and its demonstrable record of incompetence, to know that now is surely the time for change.
Keith Howell, West Linton.

Narcissistic egotism at its worst
SO Stephen Flynn wants to join the part time MP MSP club. What an insult to all MPs and MSP s who put all their energy and concentration into one demanding full-time job. 

This demeans all his colleagues as he is basically saying, I am better than you because I can do two jobs – sorry, three, leader of the Westminster  party too – and take both salaries. This is narcissistic egotism at its worst and shows the arrogance of this man and a few others. 

I voted SNP for years and because of this type of leadership and disregard for voters, this year my vote went elsewhere. The Scottish and Westminster Parliaments need to look at this problem and ensure that voters receive 100% from their MP/MSP and not a 50% part-time effort.
John McKenzie, Prestwick.

Hospices in crisis
LIKE many readers I was shocked to read that hospices are faced with an appalling shortage of funds (“Hospices facing ‘heartbreaking’ decision to turn patients away amid funding crisis”, November 14).

What sort of country are we that we cannot fully finance these vital institutions? Something has gone seriously wrong somewhere. Do we have politicians who will have the compassion to address this issue fully? Or will they just pay lip service to it, and hope it goes away?
D. Mackenzie, Glasgow.