Sir, – In a letter signed by a large cohort of left wing TDs and Senators urging an arms embargo of Israel, Israel is referred to as “the apartheid state” (October 28th).
This assertion is demonstrably untrue as any objective observer could see, yet the signatories of the letter join a long and sordid list of people who continue to publicly use this slur in an effort to demonise Israel.
There are other countries on this planet where the word apartheid could indeed be used, but it is telling that I have never seen a letter signed by so many Oireachtas members urging any kind of boycott of those nations. As president-elect, Michael D Higgins said this weekend, words matter. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
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Kilkee,
Co Clare.