I WILL try to write this carefully, as I suspect my words may be taken to mean something they do not. First let me clearly and unequivocally state that I have no dislike or disagreement with the Jewish people. I believe that following their treatment at the hands of others it is right that the State of Israel was created and that it remains as a place for the Jewish people to live and decide their own future. Around the world the Jewish people are hard-working, honest and contribute to the wellbeing of all of the states where they reside.

I do, however, have strong concerns about the actions and policies pursued by the government of the State of Israel. I believe that the State of Israel oversteps the bounds of decency when it comes to the treatment of those that are not of a Jewish faith within and around the borders of Israel. I believe that the Palestinian people who were supplanted to make way for the Jewish state are now treated as a hindrance and obstruction to the colonisation, by a single group, of all of the land between the River Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the exclusion and eradication of all others.

The Palestinians are shamefully treated and herded, like the Red Indians before them, into reservations behind six-metre-high fences and not permitted to freely cross the land of their forefathers. They are not allowed to buy land in Israel and what land they do have, even beyond Israel's official borders, is often taken at the whim of those that want it to build and expand settlements. If they resist they are treated as terrorists. If they protest about the inhumane treatment they receive they are treated as terrorists. When they react with ill-directed missiles from within their reservations they are visited with the might of the most effective killing machinery.

The state of Israel is beyond any international rule of law, as the United States will support it in any actions, no matter how heinous, that they undertake. The real crime of anti-Semitism is conflated with the honest opinions stated above and it has now become a crime to criticise that actions of the government of Israel.

DS Blackwood,

1 Douglas Drive East, Helensburgh.

NOBODY who can read a map can deny that geographically Israel has expanded over time by occupying lands originally within the borders of neighbouring countries. The conduct of the Israeli government in respect of its treatment of indigenous Palestinians does not have universal support even within those of the Jewish faith, yet reportage in the UK and US media does not always suggest this. For example On June 9, 2013, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews assembled on the streets of New York City to protest against the existence of the State of Israel yet it received scant coverage if any by the mainstream media. Had such a demonstration taken place in London or Glasgow there would have been cries of anti-Semitism.

Some would interpret as anti-Semitism the simple observation that Israel receives in excess of $3 billion of military aid annually from the United States, most of which takes the form of weapons systems and arms. Anti-Semitism must not be tolerated but it must not be used as an excuse to stifle legitimate concerns over the conduct of the State of Israel and its relations with its neighbouring countries.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.

THOSE who live in the Westminster bubble like nothing better than to make a mountain out of a molehill. The latest example of such hyperbole is the “crisis” of a previously unheard-off new Labour MP, Naz Shah, being vilified for some actions before she even became an MP, expressing on Facebook some unpleasant prejudices about Israel and its government in unwisely extreme language.That was very foolish, but it is hardly a major crisis for the entire Labour Party. She has had the party whip withdrawn, and Ken Livingstone has also been suspended from the arty for attempting to defend her (“Corbyn denies party in crisis as Livingstone is suspended”, The Herald, April 29). Hardly the political calamity some are suggesting.

Criticising any elected national government for some of its actions is a perfectly normal thing to do, and many have in fact done so about the Israeli invasion of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the excessive armed response to rocket attacks on Jerusalem. Such criticism is primarily political, and is not based on religious prejudice or anti-Semitism just because Jerusalem is a Jewish city. It is simply showing humane concern for the thousands of innocent victims, expressed by many in this country and around the world.

When we rightly criticise our own government for some of its recent military intrusions and their disastrous effects on innocent civilians, no one suggests that those express who such views are being anti-Christian because Britain is at least nominally still a Christian nation. Mind you, the Government’s callous refusal to accept a single one of the thousands of unaccompanied child refugees now languishing in appalling conditions in refugee camps across Europe could justifiably be labelled anti-Christian. In the latest “crisis”, pots and kettles come to mind.

Iain AD Mann,

7 Kelvin Court, Glasgow.