LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Babies are dying because mothers can’t produce milk

EDITOR – Israel’s genocide in Gaza, built on decades of apartheid and settler-colonialism, has killed over 31,000 Palestinians and injured some 80,000.

Palestinians have been killed while escaping shelling, taking refuge in hospitals and schools, or waiting for aid. UN experts are now calling for an arms embargo on Israel while it is on trial at the International Court of Justice for plausible genocide. More war, bombing, and denial of food and medical supplies for Palestinian people is illegal.

The UN’s leading expert on the right to food said he had never seen a civilian population made to go so hungry so quickly and so completely, that is the consensus among starvation experts. Israel is not just targeting civilians, it is trying to damn the future of the Palestinian people by harming their children, he said.

Babies are dying because their mothers are too malnourished to produce milk. In northern Gaza, one in six infants are suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting.

The actions of Israeli soldiers is barbaric, killing unarmed civilians is a crime against humanity exemplified as we saw a crowd of people who tried to get flour and canned goods from a rare aid truck in northern Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire, killing 100 Palestinians and wounding 750 more.

A nearby journalist watched Israeli tanks then run over people in the street.

In late January, the United Nation’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel’s government to act immediately to prevent genocide, including to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.

Amnesty International said Israel’s government has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply with the ruling. They report that the situation has instead been exacerbated in the month since the ruling, with Israel’s government restricting the already-insufficient aid trucks entering Gaza by a further third.

Far from paying heed to the ICJ ruling, tech corporations like Google and Amazon are enabling Israel’s AI powered live streamed genocide by providing the cloud platform for Israeli occupation forces under Project Nimbus.

The US president Biden must stop this genocide and find the courage to halt the transfer of armaments to Israel immediately.

Daniel Teegan,

Union Hall.

Looking for traditional Irish recipes for new food book

EDITOR – My name is Nadja Hayes. I am a German writer living in Clonakilty for over 15 years and currently working on a book about Irish food culture.

This book will include cultural and historical information, stories, and recipes. To complete this book, I am looking for traditional Irish recipes that ideally have been handed down in families and come with a bit of a story.

With this letter, I am hoping to reach readers of The Southern Star who would be interested in contributing one of their favourite recipes, including some background info about themselves, their family or any other interesting fact about the recipe.

Any enquiries and suggestions can be made by email to [email protected].

The book will be published in the German language in autumn 2024 and distributed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Nadja Hayes,

Clonakilty.

Four stark choices now faced by the Irish electorate

EDITOR – The electorate of Ireland will be faced with four stark choices this year:

1. A socialist government – a farmer with two cows will shoot one, milk one cow, and give them milk away free and take a State pension of €100 a week for a few years.

2. A fundamentalist Green government – a farmer with two cows will shoot both (they are destroying the environment), bury the cows and grow trees in their place.

3. A far right government – a farmer with two cows will be unable to milk his cows because someone has burnt down his milking parlour and sheds.  He has also shot the dark-skinned driver of the milk truck.

4. A centralist, moderate government – a farmer with two cows will milk both, sell the milk at 47 cents a litre, make a profit, pay his taxes and eventually buy a third cow.

Michael Hallissey,

Mayfield,

Bandon.

Superb service and brilliant staff at Bantry General

EDITOR –  I had a recent  experience of using the Bantry General Hospital and I must say from the time I stepped inside the door, the staff and all the personnel involved were only superb.

I could not praise them enough for their kindness and help. Our hospitals and the general health services are much maligned and criticised unjustly and yet they offer a world class health service.In particular, Bantry Hospital, in the heart of West Cork, should in no way be downgraded and with an election coming up, it should be highlighted to all the political parties and politicians going forward in the election.    

Jeremiah McCarthy, 

Tawnies Grove,

Clonakilty.   

Even Israeli athletes must remain ‘active reserves’

EDITOR –  In view of recent controversy relating to Israel sport and IDF,  it might of interest to your readers to know that military service is compulsory in Israel, except for Israeli Arabs and those with exemptions.

Once the military service is completed - participants remain on ‘active reserve’.

Therefore those involved in sport will either be serving or active reserve members of the Israeli Defence Forces.

Michael A. Moriarty,

Rochestown,

Cork.