The report "Netanyahu vows 'total victory' in US speech" (July 26) included the words "Speaking for nearly an hour to frequent applause from US lawmakers as well as stony silence from many leading Democrats".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
I have seen video footage of that speech on both the ABC and SBS. Both show that the enthusiastic applause came almost exclusively from Republican members of the House.
Most, if not all, Democrat members sat in silence, perhaps too polite to make known their reactions to Mr Netanyahu's words.
Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
![Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture Shutterstock Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/RXMuw2JbrrS7ELSxSY9rkR/f3230388-01ae-4d1c-a9a4-c6e9d7dee9dd.jpg/r0_0_3840_2159_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Sanctions not enough
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has levied sanctions against "seven Israeli individuals" and "one entity" for "violent attacks on Palestinians [including] beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians, resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death".
Across Masafer Yatta, Palestinian landowners and Palestinian and international volunteers are attacked daily. This week we helped prevent the demolition of two multi-generation family homes (each holding 10 to 20 people).
Still, the Israeli Army demolished a substantial garden shed and another home.
Summer camp activities for children are disrupted; weddings are invaded; Palestinian shepherds are prevented from grazing while Israeli-supported settler-shepherds invade Palestinian lands with their Israeli-paid-for flocks and consume Palestinian wheat.
This doesn't begin to describe the overwhelming "terror" imposed by settlers on Palestinians every day.
And the response by the Palestinians: Courage, non-violence, dignity and steadfast belief and knowledge that this is their, Palestinian land.
While I welcome sincerely minister Wong's sanctions, they don't begin to address the daily horror imposed by the Israeli-sponsored occupation enterprise.
Sanctions must be placed on Israeli leaders for their overt and covert sponsorship and encouragement of occupation.
Judy Bamberger, at-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, West Bank, Palestine
The Project 2025 threat
Right-wing apologist Kym MacMillan is worried about the threat to democracy posed by the former Biden-Harris presidential ticket (Letters, July 25).
I wonder if he's read the 900-page Project 2025 manifesto without considering the implementation of its contents a threat, not just to democracy but to all civil rights and just about anything sane people hold sacred?
Or does he, like so many of the like-minded Trump cultists in America, believe the former president's claim he had nothing to do with it, doesn't know what's in it and doesn't know any of the authors, even though most of them used to work for him?
That's hard to swallow.
Keith Hill, Kenmore, Qld
Benefit of the doubt
Hubris, arrogance, ego and entitlement are all words levelled at Joe Biden before and after his withdrawal from the US presidential campaign. However, maybe, just maybe, Biden genuinely thought he was America's best chance of avoiding another four years of the monstrous Trump, and that hubris et al played no part in his thinking.
I, as a man in my 70s, am embarrassed, in company, by the occasional inability to recall the right word. I can only imagine the anguish Biden must have felt when much worse happened to him in front of hundreds of millions of people. Maybe, just maybe he thought it his duty to endure that anguish to keep Trump from destroying America.
Peter Moran, Watson
The good old days
All this nonsense about "grumpies" and their complaints or praise about today's alleged pop stars is driving me bonkers.
I started my radio career in the 1950s, when singers really were singers and able to be understood. The bands sounded like a band should; melodic, with professional arrangements that made you "feel" the melody and the beat.
Remember Kay Starr, Perry Como, The Kingston Trio, Teresa Brewer, Mitch Miller's Chorus and Orchestra, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, The Four Lads and Doris Day?
Then there was the uniqueness of Frank Sinatra and that young bloke from Memphis who was the greatest of them all.
Eric Hunter, Cook
Send us a letter to the editor
- Letters to the editor should be kept to 250 or fewer words. To the Point letters should not exceed 50 words. Reference to The Canberra Times reports should include a date and page number. Provide a phone number and address (only your suburb will be published). Responsibility for election comment is taken by John-Paul Moloney of 121 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra. Published by Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd.