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The ghosts of Nazi Germany and the apartheid regime in South Africa are alive and well in the State of Israel, which this week legislatively introduced new death-penalty laws which exclusively target Palestinian militants. | Eric Palm Gympie, Australia
The narrative that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is mainly about religion is not correct.
In the past, Palestine was a place where Muslims, Christians, Jews and other communities lived together peacefully, with a shared sense of communal co-operation.
What is happening today is not the result of ancient religious differences, but rather political ideas, including Zionism and settler colonialism, and their resulting systems of occupation, displacement, expansionism, ethnic cleansing and inequality. At its core, the situation shows how Palestinian identity, with its intrinsic religious diversity, is being marginalised.
The current limit on worship in Jerusalem, with holy places closed by the military or under heavy security, deepens the progressive restriction of religious freedom.
These actions not only limit access to sacred sites but also violate people’s basic right to practise their faith freely. This situation calls for a united global response. Muslims, Christians and Jews should stand together, supporting not only their own communities but also each other. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states that freedom of religion is a basic human right linked to human dignity and other essential freedoms.
Staying silent in the face of injustice allows it to continue. Protecting religious freedom is not just about access to Jerusalem’s places of worship; it means no authority can dictate who prays, when or where. | Mohamed Saeed Pietermaritzburg
US President Donald Trump is a two-faced scoundrel. He is so erratic that you can never be sure which Trump will show up. One moment he portrays himself as a peacemaker between two warring nations; the next he unleashes his armed forces on a country without any provocation.
While he was negotiating a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, and between Israel and Palestine, he behaved like a high-seas pirate, capturing Venezuelan oil tankers, attacking the country and kidnapping its president and his wife.
Smacking his lips at his easy success in Venezuela, he turned his eyes on another oil-rich country, Iran. Teaming up with his Jewish ally Netanyahu, he let rain fire and brimstone on Iran, killing its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and even bombing a school, killing 165 girls. What utter madness is it?
Then he proudly proclaims to the world: “Everything’s been knocked out in Iran.” His Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, sounds even more belligerent over the loss of six American lives. “We’ll hunt you down and we’ll finish you!” he warns. How concerned he is about the loss of American life. Yet more than 70 000 Palestinians have perished in the Gaza war.
I wonder what Fifa president Gianni Infantino must be thinking, seeing Donald Trump waging a war against Iran. He fell for the wiles of Trump. He thought Trump was a wonderful man of peace and awarded him the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize. Looks like he is still an Infantino. | Thyagaraj Markandan Kloof
DAILY NEWS