Marc Gold, of Canada Israel Committee, [letter Feb.4], acquits Israeli leaders of a longstanding history of terrorism directed at civilians. The Irgun Zwei Leumi terrorist gang, led by Menachem Begin, committed the horrendous massacre of Deir Yassin, on April 9, 1948, murdering in cold blood over a hundred innocent men, women and children, amongst other massacres. Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the Stern terrorist gang, ordered the assassination of the Swedish Nobleman, Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN mediator, on Sept. 17, 1948 in Jerusalem. Ehud Barak, dressed as an Arab woman went into Beirut in 1973 and assassinated three Palestinian leaders and the palestinian poet, Kemal Nasser. Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israeli prime minister, ordered in 1997 the use of chemical weapons in the botched attempt to murder Khalid Meshal, a Hamas leader in Amman.

The first act of air piracy in the history of civil aviation was carried out by Israel in 1954, when a civilian Syrian airliner was forced down in Tel Aviv and its passengers and crew held hostage, despite international condemnation.

The first act of shooting down a civilian airliner was deliberately carried out by Israel when a Libyan airliner was shot down by Israeli jet fighters over Sinai in February 1973, on the orders of Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, killing 107 of its passengers and its entire French crew.

Zionist terror did not spare Jews. In 1940, Menachem Begin's Irgun Zwei Leumi terrorist gang bombed the ship Patria, in Haifa harbour, killing 240 Jewish refugees, so as to put the blame on the British, for political gain.

Israeli role in terrorism and war crimes against Palestinians continues, including extra-judicial assassination, torture, demolition of thousands of homes, as well as entire villages, as in the case of the villages of Imwas[Emmaus], Yalu and Beit Nuba [my own hometown], in June 1967, on the direct orders of Yitzhak Rabin, the then Chief of Staff of the Israeli army.

This is a mere glimpse of Israel's leaders' longstanding history of terrorism. Historical facts must not be overlooked.

Sincerely,

Ismail Zayid, MD.President, Canada Palestine Association