LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Incitement contributes to Palestinian grievances

Dear Editor,

We need not doubt [Eyal] Wormser’s sincerity (“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated. What happened Oct. 7 wasn’t”, Oct. 18), but the story he tells is untrue and wrong. How, when Israel this month kills more Palestinian civilians than Palestinians kill Israeli civilians, can anyone still dare apply that frightful adjective, “terrorist,” to Palestinians alone? The minister of national security in today’s Israeli government, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has openly called time and again for terrorist action against Palestinian civilians. As the Globe and Mail once wrote of him, “Ben-Gvir has been indicted 46 times for attacking Arabs, for incitement to racism, and for support for a terrorist organization.” And Israel’s bombs now do his work. Wormser may not see the effects on livestream, but Palestinian grievances against Israel are much greater than Israeli grievances against Palestinians can ever be, even if deaths on the more powerful side are better known.

Dan Freeman-Maloy* 

Montreal

*The writer holds a doctorate in Middle East politics from the University of Exeter and is the director of strategic operations for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.