OPINION

Echoes of Hiroshima

Re: "Japan needs true vision of peace", (Opinion, July 31).

It has been 80 years since the two atomic bombings of Japan, and we should remember the consequences.

On a recent trip through the Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum, it was so easy to see how horrible it was for the civilians, the innocent, and, worse still, the children. It is an event that should never happen again, and yet, Putin has mentioned the possibility, and the bombs are still ready to go.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." And those who ignore it and make threats are evil.

Re: "Hamas exploits humanitarian aid", (Opinion, Aug 1).

According to Israeli ambassador Orna Sagiv, Hamas "deliberately engineers civilian suffering to preserve its rule", suggesting that the current Israeli military strategy, with the avowed intent of destroying Hamas, is failing since, according to Ms Sagiv's logic, Hamas remains an effective organisation.

Yes, Hamas's atrocity on Oct 7, 2023, was despicable. It is hard to believe how the vaunted Israeli security services, who so successfully penetrated Hezbollah and the Iranian military, could have been so "unprepared" on that day.

And let us not forget here, as reported in the Jerusalem Post (March 12, 2019) and other media, that it was Benjamin Netanyahu himself who helped finance Hamas in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Perhaps the ambassador can remind us of when the Israeli state offered the Palestinian people an olive branch while not simultaneously allowing right-wing settlers to bulldoze olive groves and houses in the ongoing pogrom in the West Bank.

Double-standards reign supreme in Israel, witness the recent release of Yinon Levi to "house arrest" and a charge of manslaughter after he shot Odeh Mohammad Khalil al-Hathalin dead. It is a simple law of nature that violence begets violence, and taking an eye for an eye merely blinds. When will the Israeli state learn that bombing a people will never make them think well of you?

My sympathy to all Israelis and supporters in the diaspora who, in their hearts, know what should be, but due to circumstance must pretend they don't.

Once again, my attempt to post a comment to an article was met with frustration. Clicking the little comment box resulted in the comment column appearing, but any attempt to actually post a comment was impossible. Whether this was due to the Post blocking comments or the poor internet locally is undetermined.

I do know that a recent speed test revealed that 3B was getting download speeds of less than 4mb/s. And since TRUE Online and AIS both are unable, or refuse, to provide service to my location, less than 1km from Victory Monument, I am stuck with the service provided by my building.

This is in addition to the constant intrusion of suggested stories in the lower right-hand corner of the comment column, which closes the column if one tries to close the story box. And now we have the little blurb that asks us to disable our ad blocker to "Enjoy the full Bangkok Post experience".

Can't wait to see "The full experience!"