Letters: The evils of war have brought nothing but horrors on all humans – it’s time for peace

Palestinian women and their children walk through destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Jebaliya, northern Gaza Strip. Photo: AP

Letters to the editor

As I watched D-Day commemorations and the stories told by veterans, I thought that after the horrors of World War II, and other wars, that enough would have been enough.

When will those who execute wars understand there are no winners? They inflict misery and pain on others because of some innate hunger to maintain power at all costs.

How many more wars do we need before we understand that it doesn’t change the fundamental principles that bind us as a world family?

That family cohesion is always under threat by the evil that men do, men of power who surround themselves with their cabals of slavish onlookers and enforcers.

When will they see that we are all part of a bigger project and not the tunnel-vision focused autocratic or theocracy of the few?

We are much better than this. Instead of wasting vast trillions on making weapons of mass destruction that ultimately destroy lives, we should invest in peace.

We must, as a world family, start to invest in peace and to listen to those whose fervent wish is for peace.

We must shut out the angry, hate-ridden rhetoric of the few who are deluded in thought, deed and word that violence is the way forward.

A quote from John F Kennedy: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

Christy Galligan, Letterkenny, Donegal

Government must revoke all dual-use licences for exports to Israeli state

As we mark UN International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, Unicef reports that over 14,000 children have been killed in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, and that this figure accounts for 44pc of fatalities.

Statistics cited by Al Jazeera indicate that about four children die every hour because of the actions of the Israeli military. Unicef reported that over a thousand children had one or both legs amputated within the first two months of the carnage.

It is normal to feel compassion, anger and revulsion upon reading these statistics, but there are concrete measures that we can implement to end this victimisation of innocents.

A recent Uplift investigation revealed that dual-use exports from Ireland to the Israeli state (products and components, including software and technology, that can be used for both civil and military purposes) increased by more than a factor of six during 2022-23, amounting to €70.4m last year.

Dual-use exports to states outside the EU are subject to a licence by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The department has confirmed that since last October, it has issued eight dual-use licences for exports to the Israeli state, for a total value of €32.1m.

Most (6/8) of these licences were issued since January, long after UN experts warned that “the failure to urgently implement a ceasefire risks this situation spiralling towards a genocide conducted with 21st-century means and methods of warfare”.

Last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris declared that “there is an onus on every country and on the European Union to use every lever at our disposal to bring about a ceasefire”.

There is no excuse, then, for the Government not to immediately revoke all dual-use licences for exports to the Israeli state.

Brian Ó Éigeartaigh, Donnybrook, Dublin 4

Flying the Palestinian flag at Leinster House does not get Ireland off the hook

Having recognised Palestine as a state, and therefore a state currently under genocide, it’s incumbent on us to support them in every way.

Minister Eamon Ryan tweeted: “No airport in Ireland, or sovereign Irish airspace, is currently being used to transport weapons directly to Israel, despite claims otherwise.”

Two words worry me, “currently” and “directly”.

Mr Ryan should inform us that Shannon Airport is a military-free airport.

​Now that the US has pumped billions of dollars in war weapons to Israel to attack a nation smaller than Munster, how can we recognise Palestine and not recognise America’s unconditional supplying of military hardware for the destruction of its children, women and men?

Simply putting up the Palestinian flag doesn’t get us off the moral hook. Either we are all in or we’re playing a two-faced game.

John Cuffe, Co Meath

Guilty Trump must pay his debt to society and spend time languishing in prison

Now that former president Donald Trump has been convicted in New York in the falsified business documents case, everyone awaits Judge Juan Merchan’s sentencing scheduled for July 11.

Most legal specialists consulted on the subject believe the sentence will be light, considering various mitigating factors, and that incarceration would be a surprise.

But why do these luminaries of the law not take into consideration that the criminal Trump shows no remorse, and worse, that he does not even recognise his guilt, even saying the trial was rigged? What do magistrates usually do when they come across a case like this? They impose an exemplary sentence, to show the culprit that he is paying even more for his debt to society due to a refusal to recognise his fault.

This is why Judge Juan Merchan must send Trump to languish in jail, while he examines his conscience.

​The Democrats are certainly hoping for prison. Pollster Jean-Marc Leger wrote: “A conviction is one thing. Incarceration is another. Polls show that this would be a breaking point. Imprisonment would spell the end of Donald Trump’s political career.” Something to rejoice about.

Can you imagine the criminal Donald J Trump in the White House? If this happens, the presidential election will be marked with a black stone and will forever remain shameful for the US. A criminal who does not believe in democracy should not become president of the most powerful democracy in the world.

Sylvio Le Blanc, Montreal (Quebec) ​

Deepfakes of politicians are the least of voters’ worries ahead of elections

With the improvements in AI, there is a fear of deepfakes of politicians being used to interfere with elections.

Politicians’ images could be copied and then fake messages will be used.

But wait, isn’t that already happening? We have fake messages – actually, just lies – being spread by many candidates before elections.

To discount the worry about deepfake videos, we can just assume all politicians are lying and we will be right far more often than wrong.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia