This is a letter I sent to the Canberra Times on the 5th of January 2009.

What gives world leaders the right to play with the lives of so many people? What give Brown, Bush or even Rudd in Australia the right to stand by and let Israel massacre innocent people and unleash such a hellish horror? If ordinary people like so many of us can make an effort to search for alternative sources of information to the mainstream media and learn about the history of the conflict, why don’t our esteemed democratically-elected leaders do the same? I don’t know which one is worse, the thought that they are all ignorant, or that they actually do know exactly what is going on and are allowing things to happen with full awareness. They could stop this attack on Gaza right now if they wanted to. But they don't and I do not understand why.

Most Jewish people still deeply distrust the world because of how it stood by, when Jews were persecuted. In fact, the existence of Israel is a direct outcome of Jewish mistrust of the world. And the world is proving the Jewish people right! But now the victims are the Palestinians. How will generations of Palestinians continue to be a part of the world knowing that we all abandoned them to their fate, that no one cared, that all Western leaders did was to do Israel’s bidding? How will parents be able to explain to their children why they mattered so little? Back in the 30s and 40s it was the Jewish people that didn’t matter, now it’s the Palestinians.

If our leaders can do nothing useful maybe its time we, citizens started to take more responsibility. We simply can’t leave the world in the hands of these people. They are not serving our best interests, they are leading us to disaster in Middle East politics just as much as they do on the issue of global warming. If there is anyone left on this planet 200 years from now, they will no doubt look at our time as another dark age.


Page content last modified: 5 January 2009