Why is history so unkind to Jews?

Israel was established only after the deaths of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. It has faced numerous wars, and to this day there is resistance in the Arab world to the concept of the state of Israel. However, not all countries in the Middle East share this sentiment. Additionally, there are 2 million Arab citizens in Israel who are integrated into society.

Unfortunately, both sides have struggled to focus on the advantages of creating a peaceful relationship. It is heartbreaking that innocent people continue to die due to extremist beliefs.

History will likely condemn Israel for the displacement and deaths of countless people, including children, in this horrific war. It will forget that Israel did not initiate this conflict. The world will inevitably focus on the larger number of casualties in Gaza, and play down the fact that Hamas has no interest in finding compromise with Israel.

While Israel has no choice but to confront Hamas, we must also hope that the end of the war will mark the beginning of a new era. Both sides need to move away from hate and fear, and start listening to one another, accepting each other’s legitimate claims.

This is the only way we can hope to see a peaceful relationship between the Jewish and Palestinian peoples.

Eva Fried, Southbank, Vic

The religious beliefs that Dutton ignores

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demands that national cabinet discuss “concerns raised by Australia’s Jewish community about their safety”. What about concerns raised by Australia’s Muslim community about their safety? Dutton wants “a statement [where all] confirm their support for Australia’s Jewish community, condemn antisemitism in all forms, and declare any attack on Australians for their religious beliefs unacceptable”.

I’m Jewish, and disgusted by Dutton’s mindful omission of Muslims from his statements. Perhaps he doesn’t read the news: the increasing reports of Islamophobic attacks on Muslim homes, businesses and communities, including one well-publicised case of death threats causing a Muslim family to move to safety. No condemnation from Dutton; not even a simple acknowledgement.

I strongly condemn the Hamas massacres. I also condemn strongly Israel’s destruction of Gaza, killing thousands of children and women, and I wonder where are the black, white, green, and red Opera House sails.

It’s impossible to be Jewish and ignore the plight of our Muslim sisters and brothers. I mourn with all.

Judy Bamberger, O’Connor, ACT

Still waiting for Qantas to cough up

After receiving an email this week from Qantas offering to refund a travel credit, I was tempted to overlook the fact that this should have been done some three years ago, when first incurred.

Does this reflect a genuine change of heart and customer-centric approach? Regrettably, my experience after calling the specified number tells me that it is the same Qantas.

After navigating the plethora of options, I was placed 31st in a queue to speak to a “real person”. The credit remains untouched. Why on earth wouldn’t there be an email option, and why wouldn’t they have resourced the call centre appropriately?

It’s easy to see this as a cynical exercise to be seen to do something after the shellacking at the Senate inquiry and AGM.

Sean Littlebury, Brighton, Vic

Overlooked clues to inflation ‘puzzle’

Your columnists periodically consider inflation, and typically they report hunting through vast quantities of economic data, trying to find the answer to the inflation puzzle.

They worry about wage increases, oil price increases, entrenched inflationary expectations, immigration, supply bottlenecks, etc. Occasionally they get closer to the mark by worrying about fiscal stimulus, but rarely take the next step of considering how the fiscal stimulus was financed.

These columnists confuse relative price changes and inflation. Wage increases, oil price hikes, government subsidies and tariffs on, say, power generation, cause relative price changes. They force an adjustment in the overall production and consumption structure of the economy, but don’t change the currency’s purchasing power. The currency may be spent on a reweighted basket of goods according to the consumer’s ability to pay, but no more.

Inflation, on the other hand, reduces the purchasing power of the currency. That has insidious consequences. A weaker currency is generated by an increased money supply. The inflation puzzle to me is why so few people analyse the changes in the money supply and the financing of that fiscal stimulus as the obvious starting point of the inflationary process.

David McNeice, Balwyn North, Vic

David McBride deserves to be free

I am alarmed by the impending trial of David McBride, who blew the whistle on criminal actions within the military while on active service. Mr McBride asserts he only went public after attempts to gain justice through military channels and the police led nowhere. All submissions and petitions to the government to stay proceedings have been rejected.

Contrast this with our prime minister’s recent lobbying of Joe Biden to abandon proceedings against Julian Assange. What rank hypocrisy! If we value our democracy and public moral standards, whistleblower protection is essential. Release David McBride.

Trevor Kohlhagen, Batemans Bay, NSW

Nothing wrong with high-speed humour

I feel a bit sorry for Andrew Hyles, the acting CEO of our nascent High Speed Rail Authority, when he says he does not find ABC’s Utopia particularly funny. Perhaps it’s simply too close to the bone.

When I showed my friend Professor Andrew McNaughton – formerly technical director for HS2 and currently chairman of Network Rail (High Speed) in the UK – the episode on high-speed rail in Australia, he was so doubled up with mirth, he practically slid onto the floor. And when they ran an episode on Western Sydney Airport and I was a member on the business case and master plan team for WSA, I felt obliged to tell the project director the next morning that I hadn’t breached my confidentiality agreement.

More seriously, having led five or six studies for government on high-speed rail for Sydney-Newcastle, I can at least say Mr Hyles’ team has focused on the key sector as a starting point – although $500 million won’t even “touch the sides” in terms of delivering meaningful travel time savings.

Peter Thornton, Killara, NSW

The way of the dragon

“Hidden dragon: inside the mind of Xi Jinping” (November 15) misrepresents the dragon. In Chinese culture the dragon is a benevolent force. It doesn’t “assert its will” but is a guide for action. It’s the combined actions of many – a democratic force of nature, if you like.

Darian Hiles, Adelaide, SA

Donald in deep doo-doo

Your correspondent Bruce Helibuth (Letters, November 14) is clearly unhappy with David Rowe depicting Donald Trump standing in ordure. I can only agree with him in asking for more “balance”. Standing in excrement is definitely too kind a depiction of a man recently convicted of sexual assault who describes his political opponents as “communists, Marxists, fascists and radical left thugs that live like vermin”.

Ralph McHenry, Brighton East, Vic