Letter-writer Ross Wedlake encouraged the Winnipeg Free Press to ask pointed questions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In response, HRC asked pointed questions to Mr. Wedlake. We wanted to know, among other things, why damaged olive trees stir more of Mr. Wedlake’s sympathy than targeting innocent civilians with Gaza rockets.
Blaming all ills
Re: Pointed questions (Oct. 2) Here is a pointed question for letter-writer Ross Wedlake. Is he aware of the League of Nations mandate unanimously calling for the recognition and reconstitution of the Jewish national home, of its implicit ratification by Article 80 of the UN Charter, of the provisions of the international laws of war which make the aggressor accountable for his aggression, or of a Jewish presence in Israel going back thousands of years which, indeed, gives Israel a legal claim to the territories?
Israel was existentially threatened by its neighbours decades before it captured the territories, for which Wedlake blames all ills. It is when destroyed olive groves stir more sympathy than the repeated targeting of Israeli schoolchildren by Gazan rockets that one questions the scales used in "speaking out against injustice in our world."
Finally, questioning the actions of Israel is not anti-Semitic. Rather, it is the act of singling Israel out from the nations of the world for selective condemnation and opprobrium that is considered discriminatory and hateful.
MICHELLE WHITEMAN
Montreal
HRC Regional Director Michelle Whiteman’s letter published today in the Free Press can be found here.
