Ignorance can be deadly: Letters, 24 December

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Here you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.

Ignorance can be deadly

History repeats itself.

"There will be peace in our time" - those who read about real history will remember when those words were spoken. Maybe only some months before World War II.

The words were spoken by those who wanted to ignore all the signs of Hitler getting ready for war. We all know about the results of that ignoring.

So, two days ago, we read: "So why should Iran not have nuclear weapons?"

Serious or tongue-in-cheek, but some people are actually defending that.

If it was not so deadly serious it would be a laugh, but the ignorance is too frightening.

And then pointing the finger at Israel as "the real danger", stoking the fires of rampant anti-Semitism.

Which nation would stand by idly when they have 1000 rockets fired at them within one week, as happens from Gaza?

Once again, the ignorance is highly disturbing.

Next we will hear the mantra in our papers that "the Holocaust never happened", with which the Palestinian people and children are being brainwashed with by terrorist leaders.

Who is getting deluded?

Wake up, people of New Zealand.

Adrian Vannoppen, Tauranga

Support Israel

M Brooks is wrong (Letters, December 19). Palestine once referred to the current area because the Romans named it so, which is meaningless. Major belief is that Palestinians are Egyptian Arabs who settled from east of the Nile in a narrow band up to Jaffa.

Israel was so named in about 2000 BC. The Bible, generally accepted as the most reliable record, refers to Israel more than 2300 times but Palestine is mentioned only six, and is always referring to the land described above.

Brooks speaks of much bloodshed; the Palestinians from Jordan and Syria started it when they attacked the Jewish state immediately after it was formed in 1948.

Blame them for the bloodshed and for the Israeli bloodshed in thousands of rocket attacks, suicide bombings and murderous night incursions slaughtering whole families.

Israel didn't kill thousands at Ground Zero, hundreds over Lockerbie, try to kill hundreds at Rome and Entebbe airports, nor did it blow up underground stations, airports and trains in London, Madrid and other cities.

Would Brooks like to live under the rule of jihadists? This would happen without Israel between us and them.

Palestinians are an invention, wanting what Israel has slaved to produce and only wanting Jerusalem because the Jews have got it.

Lynne Gautier, Auckland

Light display

I see the traffic interchange at the Brookfield Shopping Centre hasn't been included in this year's Christmas Light Trail.

Pity. It is an amazing display (especially at night) of alternating green and red lights with the occasional flash of amber.

And there's plenty of time to take it all in without even having to get out of your car. Stop at one set of red lights and enjoy before moving on to the next set, and so on. Wonderful.

B Conning, Brookfield

Keep on caring

How heartening and humbling it has been to see the masses of volunteers helping out in all sorts of ways to alleviate the fall-out from the grounding of Rena.

At the time, I couldn't help but think of a quote from Samuel Johnson: "Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us."

Let us hope that the legacy of Rena will be that that our community cares more for our environment.

Many of our local treasures such as Kaiate Falls are unsafe for swimming, and gems such as Lakes Rotorua, Rotoiti, Rotoehu and Okareka will all likely be unsafe over summer.

Following heavy rain, warning signs are sometimes placed at Maungatapu Rotary reserve warning bathers of the risks of entering the water. According to Tauranga City Council's own literature, about 60,000 cigarette butts are littered every single day in Tauranga, most ending up in our waterways and harbour.

What the Rena response has showed us is that as a community we do care. We are not willing to just sit and watch when our environment is at risk.

But for us to keep the Bay beautiful, we need to continue caring.

There are many ways we can show we care, and one easy way is volunteering with one of the many environmental groups around Tauranga.

To find out more about getting involved in local environmental action, contact the Tauranga Environment Centre on 578 6664.

Mary Dillon, Chairperson, Environment Centre, Charitable Trust