Middle East conflict reminds us all of the need to live and let live

As always Henry Ergas produces from his deep well of scholarship and understanding a thorough and concise window into the differences between the motivation for conflict of the two opposing sides (“We must defend the custom of just war and restraint”, 21/5). The modern Judaeo-Christian West has gone to great lengths to arrive at the philosophy of live and let live. If we do not remain united in this goal, we risk finding ourselves at the mercy of those who would kill to remove all who do not believe and support their ideology. Palestine is receiving plenty of support in the form of deadly weapons from Iran and its allies, but if it spent more of its resources on the education and wellbeing of its people in Israel they would progress further within the Jewish-run state.

Jennifer Mullins, Mollymook, NSW

Both Jewish fundamentalism and Islamic fundamentalism share in the hope of a messianic future centred on the holy city of Jerusalem. But unless there is an honest attempt to compromise on their respective prophetic traditions, such as the occupation of the land itself, a political compromise will forever remain painfully elusive.

Vincent Zankin, Rivett, ACT

War games

Dimitri Burshtein’s commentary (“The key to China’s military mind is the party’s defence”, 21/5) makes interesting reading. Surprisingly, Burshtein makes the point as others have done that China is not the enemy, communism is. The Pentagon’s war games have consistently shown that the US will lose a war with China in the East and South China seas. Any such war will end up as a nuclear war and mutual annihilation. Thus the US will never start a war with China over Taiwan or Hong Kong. We should not waste our time and energy, and damage our relations with China by beating the drums of war.

Bill Mathew, Parkville, Vic

Jab nonsense

(“Vaccine passports ‘risk a two-class country’ ” 21/5) reports that some premiers and businesses are supposedly warning Scott Morrison against a vaccine passport. What absolute rubbish. My wife and I have been involved in international travel for more than 50 years. In 2005 we were among 24 Australians on a tour in South America, for which we had to have documentation proving we had the yellow fever vaccination. If not, we would possibly have been prevented from entering some countries and we definitely would have been refused entry back into Australia if we had vis­ited a yellow fever-known country and not had the vaccine.

Peter Jamieson, Carrara, Qld

Enough with the patronising and ageist groupthink of the Morrison government and its “expert” advisers in relation to vaccines. There is no “hesitancy” or “communication breakdown”. Give people over 50 the chance to get an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna and you’ll get knocked down in the rush. Apparently this will happen later in the year, although it’s happening right now in the US, Canada and Singapore.

Vaccines that are mRNA-based can be tweaked in six weeks to cope with variants/mutations. AstraZeneca? Six months. The government backed the wrong horse and now is flailing around, trying to kick the victim and save face. Would the ALP fare any better? Two words: pink batts.

Baden Eunson, Brighton East, Vic

Regular waste

Reading senator James Paterson (“SAS still a place for the best”, 21/52) on the SAS selection process, I now see my almost 25 years’ service in the regular army was a waste of time. Why bother being an infantry soldier, a sapper, a gunner or a signaller when all that matters in future conflict is the asymmetrical capabilities of the SAS?

You could infer from the article that the army’s actual role is not to fight for, capture and hold ground but to provide a pool of partly trained, putty-like candidates for a selection process.

John Mosel, Nundah, Qld

Think again

With the huge number of jobs not being filled right now, some criticise our young people for being lazy and unmotivated. I don’t think that is fair.

Because the tourism and hospitality industries, like the farm industry, in many places in Australia are seasonal, we have always relied on young people from overseas willing to travel the country, new immigrants or those from the Pacific Islands.

For young people to take a gap year before they start higher education takes a reasonable amount of preparation. Most young Australians take a working holiday overseas before they do it here and are more likely to travel Australia in their retirement years. If we want young people to fill the jobs void, we will have to come up with some innovative ideas. One solution is to look at the illegal immigrants already in Australia and give them work opportun­ities to become citizens.

Glenys Clift, Toowoomba, Qld