Like millions of others, I find it heartbreaking that, to quote George Williams writing in his letter today to SMH, "Jillian Segal, the special envoy to combat antisemitism, feels the ABC pays too much attention to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) when reporting on infant and childhood deaths in Gaza (“Segal says Gaza ‘over-represented’ in ABC coverage”, July 9)."

The abhorrent situation in Gaza, on the West Bank, now in Southern Lebanon, cannot be justified by any measure. These actions do not “protect” Israel; they have made it feared as a profound disrupter of hope and peace. This is the responsibility of a STATE, no matter how shamefully it tries to hide behind the cloak of religion.

To use the still potent "antisemitism" threat to protect the actions of a far right wing government that is both extremist and openly racist, that is committing ecocide as well as genocide (no arable land remains in what’s left of Gaza, and very little clean water), that is itself one of the world’s top ten arms exporters (7th), and has the military backing of the most powerful nation on earth, was barely acceptable after the hideous Hamas attack.

It is anything but "acceptable" now.

CHILDREN - and stateless citizens of all ages - are dying, rendered homeless, orphaned, dispossessed, denied healthcare, adequate nutrition, shelter, in numbers unprecedented in modern times - to achieve what? 

The "Greater Israel" expansion, with its shocking pseudo-religious claims of “divine entitlement”, is illegal and widely condemned by all major global institutions.

When it comes to the actions of the Israel lobbyists in Australia, including the “antisemitism envoy” herself, it is imperative that this out-of-control barbarity is acknowledged as unreasonable and harmful to all Israelis, to all Jews everywhere.

Loyalty to an idealised Israel is one thing. Defending monstrous harm is quite another. Only such an honest, humane acknowledgement will help to restore public faith in those who genuinely love Israel, and still have hopes for it - under a radically different regime.

Little else but some public DISTANCING by leading Jewish figures, including Segal, from the State of Israel’s actions, will resolve the confusion in too many minds between being "Jewish" (honourably so) and being an unconditional supporter of sustained inhumane actions guaranteed to attract the world's condemnation.

PLEASE, please, whoever we are, let us speak out courageously against harm…WHOEVER is doing it. Please do not blame the victims of racism and bigotry. Please do not dehumanise children, their families, their teachers, health workers, neighbours…or ignore their rights to citizenship, dignity - and life itself.

We are in this like together. Whoever we are.