I have enormous respect for Jonathan Freedland, and have cherished his lucid writings on so many subjects over the years, but the duality of his analysis, which states that Israel faces “a dilemma where there are no good options, only two different routes to disaster” (Opinion, 1 December), traps itself inside a cycle of suffering, retribution and a forever war, in which civilians on both sides are the inevitable casualties.
Hamas committed terrible crimes against peace-loving Israeli men, women and children on 7 October, and I have absolutely no right to diminish the magnitude of the pain that Israelis have suffered since that hideous event. But are we to believe that flattening the house and family of a Hamas operative using artificial intelligence algorithms a hundred times each day, and the deaths of at least 4,000 Palestinian children to date, will end the future threats to Israel? Do all Israelis support this war? Are there really no other options on the table?
I am Jewish and I am bewildered. Is this not essentially a land dispute? We Jews have dreamed of our own promised land since the exodus. Now that we have it, can we not allow Palestinians the freedom to dream of theirs?
David O’Brien
Haslemere, Surrey
• Thank you, Gaby Hinsliff, for your bravery in frankly confronting a subject that most would prefer to ignore (Whatever your view of the Israel-Hamas war, rape is rape. To trivialise it is to diminish ourselves, 1 December). As you pointed out, since time immemorial, women and children have suffered horrific, brutal sexual violence in times of war. People who wish to confront the truth should read the book Our Bodies, Their Battlefield by the Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb.
Kavita Kishor
London
