Like Hamas, Hezbollah is deliberately inciting Israel

With Hezbollah and Hamas drawing Israel closer to war, the graphic photographs of the Gaza conflict, and now Lebanon, that have saturated our media since October 7 don’t tell the full story.

They overwhelmingly show the utter devastation of Gaza and Lebanese villages with Hamas and Hezbollah asking the world to blame it all on the Israelis.

The world should be reminded that when Israel left Gaza voluntarily in 2005, it left a thriving First World agricultural community, freely gifting the people of Gaza billions of dollars of infrastructure and port facilities with huge potential for prosperous Mediterranean trade.

During the 18-year period to October 7, Hamas reduced Gaza to a human wasteland and destroyed Gaza’s economic prospects while using billions of dollars of international aid to build tunnels and stockpile weapons.

Gaza was an impoverished human hellhole long before the October 7 massacre, and Lebanon is not much better.

Based on the way Israel developed Gaza before Hamas took over, an Israeli victory against Hamas and Hezbollah can only benefit the region’s wretched, needy population.

John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic

Why isn’t Penny Wong calling in the Lebanese ambassador to warn him about allowing Hezbollah to escalate the war by launching a deadly missile strike at a soccer field in northern Israel and killing innocent civilian children?

I thought targeting civilians was a flagrant violation of international law. What say you, Foreign Minister?

Robert Krochmalik, Pearl Beach, NSW

Greg Sheridan (“Hezbollah draws Israel closer to war”, 29/7) paints the correctly ominous picture of an emboldened terrorist Hezbollah mob intensifying violence against Israel.

The entire world is unstable. Each geographical region is challenged by an aggressor. While the US fights internally, great strides are being made by China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and all their proxies. Separately and together.

It seems that this liberal-democratic monolith, ruled by extreme left-wing power-hungry delusional fools, refuses to learn from poignant historical examples.

The terrorists are on the move and with the open border policy and successful propaganda are well placed within the US to foment terrible destruction.

Aviva Rothschild, Caulfield Nth, Vic

Memo to all the screamers and bleaters who call for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians: you are being played for fools.

Palestinians do not want a state of their own. They ferociously rejected the idea in 1948, and have done so ever since. Their latest slogan about freedom from the river to the sea confirms this. The maps they show do not include two states, only an Israel enlarged to include all the territory of the former UN mandate. Gaza and the West Bank have vanished from those maps. There is no room on them for a Palestinian state.

So the screamers and bleaters have some thinking to do. They’ve disgraced themselves by wilfully ignoring the terrorism by Gaza Palestinians on October 7. They’ve revealed their childish sentimentality in their wailing about the inevitable results of the war Gaza Palestinians started and have obviously lost but won’t stop. They are fools.

GTW Agnew, Coopers Plains, Qld

I hope Lebanon takes careful note of the Gaza situation before it allows Hezbollah to continue its behaviour. It is important to note Hamas, with the October massacre, deliberately incited Israel to attack it in Gaza. This resulted in the destruction of much of Gaza and the tragic deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. But were these civilians innocent? As individuals, yes, but it should always be borne in mind that harbouring criminals puts one at risk when the criminals themselves come under attack. The history of Germany and Hitler is a case in point. After WWI, Hitler came to power with widespread support from a population still aggrieved by their county’s loss in the war. This support ultimately led to the deaths of about 60 million people.

So the people of Lebanon should be wary: they must bear responsibility should another national tragedy like the Gaza one result from Hezbollah’s actions against Israel.

Ian Napier, St Peters, SA