Atrocities in Gaza are not about the ‘fog of war’

While some of George Brandis’ comments are valid,his excusing of the effects of Israel’s actions on the basis of the “fog of war” does not stand up to objective scrutiny (“Some perspective on Gaza,please”,December 11). When you prepare for an invasion for days or weeks,knowing full well the inevitable collateral consequences,tell the Gazans to move south for their own safety,bomb the main escape route,then bomb the safe place you told them to go to,leaving them without any of the essentials of life,that is not the fog of war:that is calculated reprisal. Surely the “civilised world” has moved on from the Hiroshima or Dresden approach?Kevin Hunt,Kenthurst

George Brandis misses the point. Israel and Britain created Hamas,or at least the reason a group like Hamas exists. In 1937,the British Peel report recommended a two-state solution. Nobody listened. When Israel was formed,the discussion of a two-state solution was stopped. The Israeli occupation of the three areas – Gaza,West Bank and Golan Heights – has been condemned by the UN. Israeli settlements have been declared illegal. Will killing Palestinians stop or encourage more resistance against Israel? Actions by Hamas and the IDF are both outside the rules of war. It is not antisemitic or Islamophobic to say so. The time has come to look at the core problem,which is the lack of a two-state solution. That will be the only thing that can stop the bloodshed.Neville Turbit,Russell Lea

If my neighbour’s son brutally murders my son,am I justified in killing the rest of that family as retaliation? I think George Brandis thinks that’s OK. The atrocities created by Hamas are unforgivable. The atrocities committed by Netanyahu’s government on civilians in Gaza are also unforgivable. His analysis lacks perspective and his comparison lacks justice. George Brandis’ article does little to advance a solution but a great deal to promote division.
Geoff Hermon,Maraylya

Brandis’ argument is that supporters of the Palestinians in the Hamas/Israel war do not take into account the horror of the original Hamas attack,and thus are being unfair. My question to Brandis is why did Hamas attack in the first place? It was not because they hate Jews,it is because they hate Israel. The world supporting Israel is no solution to a 70-year problem. It is time the US,Britain and the UN stepped in and demanded a two-state solution and enforced it.Stephen Wallace,Glebe

I always find reading George Brandis hard work. But he is often uncomfortably right;never more so than today. Palestinians in Gaza have overwhelmingly voted for Hamas and even in the West Bank Hamas is very popular,probably more so than the Palestinian Authority,their secular government. The Palestinians’ plight – three generations in refugee camps – is shocking and unjust,as is Israel’s settler movement. But the Palestine/Israel problem will neither be resolved by Israel and the Palestinians nor the US and Europe. It will only be solved by the UN Security Council,with the veto power of the five permanent members revoked.
Carsten Burmeister,Mosman

Coalition’s nuclear vow is just an empty promise

The support for nuclear energy from the federal Coalition in the quest for zero emissions is disingenuous in the extreme (“Coalition MP talks up triple nuclear option at COP28”,December 11). Knowing full well that installation of nuclear reactors involves time frames in the decades,the Coalition is attempting to ensure fossil fuels will continue polluting the atmosphere in the interim. The rejection of renewables for Australia by the Coalition is illogical given our incredibly favourable suitability for solar and wind-powered electricity.Roger Epps,Armidale

Nick O’Malley has reported that a Coalition government would sign a pledge to triple nuclear energy output if it is elected. As we have no nuclear power plants in Australia,this promise is as hollow as those of Tony Abbott when he promised no cuts to health,education and the ABC. The pledge that will have real consequences and that Australia,together with another 117 nations,has signed is the one to triple the world’s renewable energy output.Peter Nash,Fairlight

Coalition MPs’ “pledge” at COP28 to sign up to tripling our nuclear energy production if re-elected should be a frightening warning to all voters. Current nuclear plants are hugely expensive,produce the most expensive energy available and have all the safety issues associated with radioactive fuel,spent nuclear fuel,and the possibility of catastrophic failure as we’ve seen in multiple nuclear plants around the world. Any nuclear option will be not just years but decades too late to help us replace our ageing and failing coal-fired power plants,and appears to be yet another Coalition stalling move to protect the fossil fuel industry,as it has done for the last decade.
Alan Marel,North Curl Curl

It was interesting to read that the Coalition plans to back nuclear power if re-elected. I look forward to their economic analysis of the proposal,especially how they will fund thousands of years of expenses from the probable 50-year expected life of a nuclear power station. Burying the waste is a useful fiction,implying that the waste problem can be cheaply solved. The reality is that no matter how the waste is stored,it has to be documented,monitored and secured for thousands of years. Such work incurs costs and requires insurance – workers’ compensation,public liability and performance guarantees for a start. When the Coalition produces a quote from an insurance company to insure against all such risks,for perhaps 10,000 years,all to be covered by just 50 years of premiums,I’ll take them seriously.George Rosier,Carlingford

Police faults are more shocking

The idea that the police commissioner has no knowledge of complaints lodged against Alan Jones and that the police force can actually dissuade a complainant from filing a report at a police station is even more shocking to me than the nature of this case by itself (“Schoolboy went to police over Alan Jones indecent assault allegation”,December 11).Cristina Corleto,Stanmore

It remains to be proven that the allegations regarding revered shock-jock Alan Jones are true. Just wondering if anyone has suggested a chaff bag as a solution? Also hoping that none of his friends or relatives will “die of shame” if the allegations are investigated and proven.Lorraine Hickey,Green Point

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb often appears much like the three simians. She failed to know about the Clare Nowland incident and now it’s the Jones’ assault reporting. If you see,hear and speak nowt,and you acknowledge nowt,you can cause little in ripples. A sad case for such an authority.Janice Creenaune,Austinmer

Yet more allegations regarding Alan Jones’ behaviour. I don’t particularly care about someone’s sexuality. In fact,it’s none of my business. I do find it curious that Jones has always been quick to criticise others and call them to account,proven or otherwise. As an advocate for right-wing politics and a former private school boy,what he was doing on the board of the Talent Development Project for public schools beggars belief.Robert Hickey,Green Point

Not just two-way street

Sean Kelly (“Labor’s bid to live in its own skin”,December 11) sets up a blue-red binary. The Australian Greens,along with teals and independents,have established a parliamentary voice that may be difficult listening but,crucially,is heard.Les Shearman,Darlington

Migration muddle

The government recently doubled immigration (“Bar rises on migration tests”,December 11). Now it’s halving it. Telling us the right and necessary policy was one thing then and the opposite is now is politics,not good government. The economy hasn’t changed. If it doesn’t need those immigrants,it didn’t need them then;it was just appeasing business and the unions demanding them. If it does need them,the cut is about opinion polls that now rate the PM lower than the Opposition Leader,and there’s talk of it being a one-term government.

Even the halved rate of a quarter of a million migrants a year is still twice the rate it was until recent years and four times what the public wants,so it won’t solve that problem. And it’s many times more than can be housed by the number of homes being built,so it won’t solve that problem either.Gordon Drennan,Burton (SA)

Capture a cop-out

Nero fiddled (Letters,December 11). At COP28,numerous fossil fuel lobbyists press for delay and economically-damaging carbon capture investments. Carbon capture and storage offers cover for the fossil fuel industry to continue its pollution,poses risk of leakage,and will cost at least $30 trillion more than a pathway based primarily on renewable energy,energy efficiency and electrification,according to a new report from Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.Jim Allen,Panorama (SA)

Private business

Interesting to see that in the latest round of internecine warfare in the NSW Liberal Party,“privatisation” seems to be a dirty word (CBD,December 11).Richard White,Leura

I see that the new hard-right faction of the NSW Liberal Party is opposed to Jason Falinski’s proposed reforms because they would bring about “the privatisation of the division”. Liberals opposed to privatisation! I don’t believe it. I thought privatisation was in the DNA of the Liberal Party.John Lees,Castlecrag

Who’s a doctor?

I have no problem with medical practitioners and dental surgeons using the honorific “doctor” with or without formal PhDs (“Health insurers back claim to rename podiatric surgeons”,December 11). But to anoint practitioners of alternate wellness methodologies with a doctoral honorific is both dangerous and somewhat insulting to those who have completed rigorous university degrees. And it will be some time before society becomes comfortable addressing a practitioner of medical procedures as doctor unless they are “real” doctors.Trevor Somerville,Illawong

Self-mauling

I hate to admit it but I was wrong (“Reports in Tokyo say Jones has Japan job”,December 11). I have been defending Eddie Jones for months. “He has only been helping Japan choose a coach,” I said. “Just wait for 2024 and 2025,” I said. I went into bat for him at the Porto Rugby Club when the Wallabies kept their faint hopes alive. “Sack him,” the Portuguese rugby nuts cried. “He must know what he is doing – he is here for the long haul,” I said.John Haskell,Parkes

Ceiling smasher

Whoever succeeds three-time Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk will have much to live up to (“Departing,in tears and triumph”,December 11). She achieved so much that was crucial. This included astute handling of the pandemic despite vicious unwarranted criticism,banishing gay conversion therapy,legalising abortion,securing compulsory preferential voting and fixed four-year voting terms,and winning the 2032 Olympics for Brisbane. By smashing one glass ceiling after another,Palaszczuk has surely been an inspiration to women,especially the younger generation.Ron Sinclair,Windradyne

Photographic memory

It was such a pleasure reading Richard Glover’s reminiscences of growing up in a newsagency (“Ciggies,nudie mags,souvenir spoons:These are the things I was raised on”,December 9). In the ’50s,mum and dad had a toy shop,and then moved into newsagencies in 1963. Pushing your trolley full of papers,blowing your whistle,yelling SUNMIRRORR at the top of your voice. Was hoping they would buy a pub when I was 18,but no,I got the next best thing:a photographic cadetship on the Daily Mirror in the ’60s. The next 50 years were spent enjoying work as a photographer.Neil Duncan,Balmain

Kate’s calling

If Kate McClymont has always had a raised eyebrow,then it suggests she was born to be an investigative journalist (“Schoolboy went to police over Jones claim”,December 11).Michael Deeth,Como West

Labour of love

For true love,one not only needs to peel an orange for you,but they also need to remove the seeds (“Pulp fiction or the juice on love?”,December 11).Mustafa Erem,Terrigal

Water cooler

I am surprised that none of the interviews and articles I have seen so far on how to cope with the heatwaves mention the easiest and cheapest way to cool down;a cold shower or bath (“Reckon we beat the heat? Turns out we’re just having a breather”,December 11).Victor Bivell,Abbotsford

Mega madness

Living in a megacity such as Sydney is a personal choice (Letters,December 11). I experienced this in the early 1970s and made the decision it was not for me or my family. The push for gentrification and traffic congestion should make anyone think about residing in such an environment. The continued push to establish housing estates across the Cumberland floodplain is surely madness.Bruce Clydsdale,Bathurst