We shouldn’t justify apartheid and genocide.

The Manager
Voice of Barbados (VOB)
c/o Starcom Network Inc.
River Road
St. Michael
Barbados, W.I

Dear Sir/madam

I was appalled to learn that on Sunday 5th November, VOB used its popular phone in programme, Brasstacks, to provide a platform to supporters and representatives of the apartheid Israeli government to justify the crimes this state is currently committing in Gaza that have outraged decent people in all corners of the world. These include the deliberate bombing of civilians in refugee camps, hospitals and ambulances resulting in the killing of thousands of people, including at least 4000 children. It is difficult to understand what would prompt the management of VOB to offer a platform to such people to try to justify these crimes. Do you think it would have been appropriate during the massacre of children in Soweto by the apartheid regime of South Africa to invite apologists for that apartheid regime onto radio in Barbados to “explain that the crimes they were committing were all the fault of Nelson Mandela and his terrorist ANC”?

To make matters worse, it is reported that the moderator reprimanded one of the panellists for comparing the activities of the Israeli regime and its supporters to those of Hitler and his Nazis. Again, it is difficult to understand what would have prompted the moderator to do this. At the most charitable, it would be that he had failed to do the necessary research to prepare him for discussion of the topic and so was acting out of ignorance. If he had done the research, he would have known that Zionism is a racist and anti-semitic political movement started in 19th century Europe that has nothing to do with Judaism, Christianity or the Bible.