March 13, 1996
Editor
Toronto Star
Toronto
Dear Sir:
During World War II Germany was condemned by Allied propagandists mainly
for her alleged harsh treatment of non-Germans who came under German control.
The suppression of free speech, imprisonment without trial, laws against
intermarriage, torture to obtain confessions, medical experiments, racial
pride, execution of "resistance fighters" etc. were all portrayed
as ample justification for war and for vengeance.
One of the more evocative examples of German brutality was the razing of
the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia as collective punishment for the
assassination by two resistance fighters of the German Governor of the
country.
Today, we have an almost exact parallel in Palestine. Aggression, occupation,
subjugation, freedom fighters, collective punishment, imprisonment without
trial, torture to obtain confessions, medical experiments, concentration
camps, razing of villages, nationalist arrogance, laws against intermarriage
and-worse than the most heartless German Gestapo tactic-the shooting of
children in the streets of their homeland.
This time, far from going to war against the offending regime we grant
it favors, praise its accomplishments and pluck, and condemn its victims
as "terrorists" when they have the courage to resist.
When I enlisted in the RCAF Aircrew I was a young idealist willing to risk
my life (as were my friends, many of whom died) to rid the world of injustice
and to rescue the righteous Jews from Hitler's clutches. Is it any wonder
that we veterans feel betrayed?
Sincerely,
Ian Macdonald